UNMIK ON AIR

10^th December 2003

“Balkans a puzzle of states full of cannon”

(By Valon Syla)

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air

European historians often describe the Balkans as a puzzle of small states, awash with weapons. The wars are over today, but plenty of weapons still remain in the hands of citizens in countries like Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo, both as a result of past wars and tradition. In Kosovo alone, there could be up to 400,000 privately held weapons, according to the Geneva based Small Arms Survey, and this despite disarmament efforts including an amnesty for those who turn their weapons in.

A decade of war has created a sense of insecurity that has led to a kind of militarization of society. Many people in the region obviously feel the need to keep a Kalashnikov rifle or some other gun in their home, just in case, they say. Blerim Latifi, a sociologist at the Gani Bobi research institute says the trend started with the beginning of authoritarian rule in Serbia in 1989.

Blerim Latifi: “This was followed by the eruption of wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Then came the civil riots in Albania during 1997, during which almost all the weapons of the communist regime fell into the hands of the citizens. I think that the problem of this kind of militarization of civilians should be solved in a regional context”

The problem is how to change this mindset and how to convince people to hand over their illegal weapons. Emin, a Kosovan Albanian is not prepared to surrender his weapon, because of past experience with weapon amnesties done under Milosevic’s regime.

Emin: “We saw in September1998 how the Serbs came and the entire village handed over their weapons. Three weeks later came and burned 118 houses to the ground. We had no weapons at that time. People have been frightened since then and now they will not hand over any weapons, they can only be taken by force. There is no longer any trust”.

A similar logic operates amongst Kosovo Serbs, though for them the fear is being attacked by the majority community. This reaction from Milan, a Serb from Mitrovica.

Milan: “I did not want to hand over my weapon, knowing that 99 percent of our Albanian neighbors will not hand over any weapon… And if they do not hand over their weapons, neither will we. I heard they do not want to surrender their weapons because they do not have a guarantee of independence from the international community. And if they do not get it they will try to get it with weapons.”

The real challenge is to convince people to give up their arms. With Kosovo’s final status still up in the air, many Kosovan Albanians believe that weapons mean safety, and not a threat to security.

Which explains why a recent survey undertaken by the Small Arms Survey found an estimated 330 000 to 460 000 small and light weapons are in the possession of civilians, 300 000 of them are unlicensed. According to KFOR, their patrols confiscate around 25 weapons per week. Spokesman Chris Thomson.

Chris Thomson: “We have collected around 18000 illegal weapons, those weapons have all been destroyed. If you look at the weekly figures that KFOR covers, they are always very static. Normally about twenty rifles, 5 or 6 pistols, normally 2000 rounds of ammunition and a number of heavier weapons that we recover are again fairly static. So my feeling is that we are continuing to collect but there are still a considerable number of weapons out there.”

So it’s hardly surprising that 3 weapon amnesties in Kosovo have failed to net more than a modest number of weapons. The last amnesty organized by UNDP managed to collect a mere 155, and this despite cooperation from local agencies and civil society, as well as a hefty grant from the Japanese to reward municipalities which managed to collect a 300 weapons target.

Jeta Xharra is the Kosovo project manager for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, IWPR, which has just published a detailed report on small weapons in Kosovo.

Jeta Xharra: “The first problem was the unsuitable time chosen for the weapons amnesty. It took place when people were afraid that dialogue with Belgrade means compromise and this would result in the return of Serbian forces to Kosovo. Secondly people have very little trust in the municipalities. Many of them thought that if the money would be given to municipalities, it would disappear and it would not be invested in their communities.”

Rada Trajkovic, a prominent Kosovan Serb leader and member of the Kosovan Parliament, feels such disarmament campaigns must be rethought.

Rada Trajkovic: “I do not believe in weapon amnesties because the last ones were not successful. I think that Media support is extremely essential, and people whose families were victims of inter-ethnic conflict should be involved and appeal for an end to weapons possession.

In this context, adds IWPR’s Jeta Xharra, disarming the Serbian community in Kosovo is going to be an uphill task because they have no trust towards the Kosovan Institutions.

Jeta Xharra: “The Serb community in Kosovo will be very difficult to disarm; because they still believe and say that until the Serbian Forces come to Kosovo we will not hand over our weapons. Also I ‘am very pessimistic because the Serbs have no trust in Kosovan Institutions, no matter whether there are Serb representatives or not”

The concern is that Kosovo remains awash with illegal weapons - this means it will remain very vulnerable to any escalation in domestic tensions. The big loser at the end of the day will be Kosovo and its people, irrespective of ethnic origin.

That does it for this edition of UNMIK on Air, thanks for listening.