GOA Acknowledges Risks to Inhabitants within 800 Meter

UNCLAS TIRANA 000404 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: MASS NATO AL SUBJECT: GOA Acknowledges Risks to Inhabitants within 800 Meter Radius of Gerdec Explosion Site. ¶1. (SBU) Prime Minister Berisha responded May 27 to Charge Cristina's May 2 letter in which the Charge asked the PM to warn area residents and other citizens of explosive and environmental dangers in an area up to 800 meters from the blast zone. Berisha stated that the GOA will actively inform citizens of the risks involved in moving back into this area. Shortly after arrival of the letter, the PM called the Ambassador and said that the Albanian State Police will also establish a presence in the area. Defense Minister Oketa took full responsibility of the smaller Security Exclusion Zone surrounding the core of the blast area when he signed the Gerdec Addendum to the existing Technical Arrangement for Small Arms Destruction on May 2. PM's letter acknowledging GOA responsibility for the area immediately outside the Security Exclusion Zone finally clears the way for the U.S. demilitarization contractor to begin clearing unexploded ordnance from the site. ¶2. (SBU) Begin text. Dear Mr. Cristina, I thank you for your letter of May 2, 2008, and for the excellent commitment and cooperation you are offering for the project of the clean-up from dangerous remains of the explosion area in Gerdec. I avail myself of the opportunity to thank the United States, their President and Government, the U.S. Congress and U.S. Embassy Tirana for the considerable help that the United States has given and continues to give to Albania in her efforts to eliminate old ammunition inherited from the communist regime period. Using the occasion, I would like to ensure you that the Albanian Government is conscious of the dangers that continue to exist for the people's lives or their property at the zone around the damaged territory. For this reason: The zone of 300 meters from the explosion crater, within which will work the firms contracted from the U.S.A., is considered Closed Territory for Security Reasons, and the Ministry of Defense will take measures for the security of this zone, and for not allowing unauthorized persons to infiltrate it. The Albanian Government is also conscious of the dangers that continue to exist for people's lives or their properties due to unexploded remains that might be situated around the damaged territory up to a 800-meter radius from the explosion crater, and (GoA) will take measures, including placing warning signs for informing the public within and outside this territory, so that the inhabitants or owners of the surfaces within it be informed for the dangers of living in this zone, up to the time when it gets certified as secure by international experts. The Albanian Government is conscious of the responsibility for ensuring people's lives and their property in this territory, and will not in any occasion place the responsibility on the Government of the U.S.A., or on any of the contracted firms for the clean-up of this territory, in the case of the damaging of an individual or property in this territory. By ensuring you once more that the Albanian Government will take the indispensable measures to guarantee the needed safeguard and control of this territory up to the moment that it will be considered not dangerous by experts of the field, I thank you for the attention that you are paying to the progress of this extremely important project, I avail myself of the opportunity to reaffirm the assurances of my highest consideration. Yours, Sali Berisha End text. WITHERS