UN PILOT PROJECT FOR WEAPONS COLLECTIONS IN ALBANIA HOLDS FIRST MEETING
Press Release
DC/2626
UN PILOT PROJECT FOR WEAPONS COLLECTIONS IN ALBANIA HOLDS FIRST MEETING
19990129 NEW YORK, 27 January (Department for Disarmament Affairs) -- The four partners in the United Nations pilot project for weapons collection in Albania got together for the first time in a meeting attended by representatives of 37 Member States and various United Nations departments and agencies. The meeting took place on 27 January at Headquarters in New York. In his capacity as Chairman of the Group of Interested States, Dieter Kastrup, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations, presided over the meeting. The Group provides political and financial support to practical disarmament measures such as those for weapons collection in Albania.The Gramsh Pilot Project was proposed by a United Nations Evaluation Mission led by the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala, after visiting Albania in June last year at the request of the Secretary-General, who was approached by the President of Albania, Rexhep Meidani, for assistance in weapons collection from the civilian population.
Participating in the meeting on 27 January were: the Chairman of the Albanian National Steering Committee, Arben Demeti, Minister of Local Government of Albania; the Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha Dhanapala; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Assistant Administrator, Anton Kruiderink; the Chief of the Conventional Arms Branch and Department of Disarmament Affairs representative in the National Steering Committee, Swadesh Rana; and Jan Walhberg, UNDP Resident Representative in Albania.
Mr. Dhanapala highlighted two unique features of the Gramsh Pilot Project: the Department of Disarmament Affairs-UNDP partnership; and the innovative approach of offering development incentives in return for voluntary surrender of weapons. Mr. Kruiderink pointed out that several countries were awaiting the outcome of the pilot project in Albania so that they could also benefit from similar projects.
The National Steering Committee Chairman, Mr. Demeti, pointed out that even during preparatory work on the project, security conditions had improved in the district and criminality had fallen. He announced that the official launching of the Project had taken place a day earlier with the objective of disarming 3 of the 9 communes of the district of Gramsh.
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Jan Walhberg explained that the Project was composed of three parallel activities; a disarmament aspect; a development aspect; and a public awareness side. He noted that, in identifying development incentives, the Project had given priority to the establishment of telecommunications and basic infrastructure, including road building. He noted that it would be important to replicate the program and expand it in areas adjoining the Gramsh district.
Swadesh Rana recalled her recent visit to some of the remote parts of the Gramsh district. She noted that only a small percentage of the weapons were in the hands of criminals and that many in civil society kept the weapons as a matter of personal security in areas remotely connected to Tirana and to other parts of the district. She emphasized the need for income-generating and employment-creating developmental work as particularly suited to Gramsh district, where unemployment runs at nearly 40 per cent.
Towards the end of the meeting, Ambassador Kastrup, in his capacity as representative of the country, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, announced that he hoped the European Union would make a financial contribution to the Project. The decision will be taken at the European Union disarmament working group meeting, which is going to take place on the 5 February in Brussels. The Government of Norway announced that it would make a financial contribution of $100,000 for the Project. The representative of Belgium announced that his Government would contribute $140,000. The representative of Japan announced her Government's intention to make a financial contribution. The UNDP has already committed $500,000 for the project.
The district of Gramsh lends itself well for a weapons collection project based upon community involvement. With its nine communes and 98 villages headed by village leaders, it provides a readily available structure for direct participation by people in the collection of weapons from the civilian population. Roughly 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the estimated 500,000 weapons taken away from the military depots in Gramsh in 1997 are expected to be collected from the civilian population of Albania. Somewhere between 8 to 10 per cent are believed to have been taken away from depots around Gramsh.
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