ALBANIA DECLARED MINE FREE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000777

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TAGS: PGOV MASS PREL AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA DECLARED MINE FREE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

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1. (U) Albania took advantage of the Cartagena Summit on a Mine Free
World to declare completion - one year ahead of schedule - of a
nine-year project to clear all landmines from its territory to meet
its obligations under Article 5 of the Ottawa Convention banning
landmines. Since Albania met is requirements under Article 4 in
2004, Albania is now one of only two countries that have declared
themselves mine-free since the formation of the Convention. As a
result of the 1999 Kosovo war, around 15 square km along the
Albania-Kosovo border were identified as contaminated by landmines.
In February 2000, the Government of Albania signed the Ottawa
convention and began a project with substantial U.S. funding to
clear the border area by August 2010. In October of this year, the
GOA cleared the last parcel of land and returned it to the local
population. During the 9-year project, 12,452 landmines were
discovered and subsequently destroyed. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs' official statement, presented December 1 at the Cartagena
Summit, is attached below.


2. TextBQQAnti-Personestructiry; take the Qecessary legislative acts to implement the
Convetion; provide the due care and assistance to the mine
survivors, etc.

Since the ratification of the Convention, Albania has shown a great
commitmet to comply with the above obligations in particular with
the clearance of all mined contaminated areas under its territory or
jurisdiction.

Albania had to deal with the mine problem since the end of the
Kosova conflict in 1999 when a total area of about 15.25 square
kilometers of border line in northeast Albania was initially
identified as contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnances.

The establishment of the national structures of the Albanian Mine
Action Committee and the Albanian Mine Action Executive responsible
for the formulation and implementation of mine action policies and
programme, were essential in ensuring the sustainability of Mine
Action Programme in Albania, capable to deal with the consequences
of the mine contamination.

In 2006, the Albanian Government with the technical assistance of
UNDP and based also on the Nairobi Action Plan formulated the
National Mine Action Plan for Completion 2007-2010, which was
included under the UNDP Completion Initiative. The Plan outlined in
detail the implementation mechanisms and the capacities needed to
fulfill the Article 5 obligations. The main goal of the plan was to
declare Albania free of mines by the end of 2009, ahead of its
August 2010 Article 5 deadline.

The Government of Albania is proud it could announce in this
historical Summit the long awaited statement that after almost a
decade of work, we have fulfilled our obligation under Article 5 of
the Convention, by completing clearance of all known mined areas
under our territory.

Several demining organizations have worked in Albania since the
outset of the clearance operations including: RONCO, Help Germany,
Swiss Foundation for Demining and Dan Church Aid. Since 2004, Dan
Church Aid has been the only, active demining operator in the
country. The clearance assets of these organizations included
manual deminers, demining machines and mine detection dogs. From
2007 onwards DCA has operated with only manual demining teams and a
fully nationalized programme with only one expatriate Programme
Manager.

A total of 12,452 anti-personnel mines have been found and destroyed
in more than 16 million square meters, now released as free of mines
and unexploded ordnance. The last mine accident recorded in the mine
contaminated areas in Albania is in June 2005.

Building the national capacities has been one of the key features
and contributors to success of the Mine Action Programme in Albania.
Sustainable capacities for monitoring and coordination of Mine
Action activities, humanitarian demining and victim assistance
through various projects have been built at the national and local
level with the support of various international donors. The major
challenge lies ahead of us now is to making an effective use of

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these capacities in other similar projects in Albania.

It is never enough, to recognize that these remarkable achievements
would have been impossible without the outstanding support of our
donors and partners.

We cannot conclude our statement without conveying a sincere
thanking to our loyal donors from the beginning of the programme,
such as: the European Union, the Governments of United States of
America, the Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdom, Canada,
Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Norway,
Austria and Turkey for their steady contribution. Words of
appreciation also go for our invaluable partners: the International
Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance in Slovenia, the
UNDP, UNMAS, UNICEF, Dan Church Aid and the Swiss Foundation for
Demining, RONCO, HELP, the Geneva International Centre for
Humanitarian Demining, ICRC, the ALB-Aid and the Albanian Red Cross.


Thanks to this support, we could finally return a mine free land to
the people and also be proud of contributing to another success of
the Convention.