The destruction of surplus Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in Albania.

During the period of civil unrest in Albania in 1997, some 623,000 weapons were looted from the Albanian Armed Forces depots. The United Nations and the Albanian government have undertaken various weapons collection programmes and to date, approximately 200,000 weapons have been recovered.

Because of downsizing of the Albanian military capability, a large number of weapons have also become surplus to requirement. Under the auspices of the Stability Pact for Security is South East Europe, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in September 2000 between the German, Norwegian and United States of America Governments and the Albanian Ministry of Defence to permit the destruction of up to 100,000 surplus Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). The German government led the initiative and destroyed 40,000 weapons using a German military team.

The United States of America and the Kingdom of Norway decided upon a joint initiative to destroy a further 60,000 weapons. EOD Solutions Ltd was subsequently contracted to execute the destruction process. The type of weapons surrendered for destruction varied from pistols and assault rifles to recoilless rifles and heavy calibre machine guns and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers.

The Company commenced operations on 7th May 2001 and by the end of that month had succeeded in the demilitarisation of over 12,000 weapons. The company employed and trained nine Albanian staff to undertake the task. Two British technical experts from EOD Solutions Ltd who are experienced in weapons and ammunition demilitarisation managed and supervised the project. To ensure transparency to all interested parties, several verification processes were implemented.

Production averaged at 600 weapons per day, this quantity varied with the type of weapon and the complexities of the pre-destruction processes, which included safety checks and the removal of wooden and plastic furniture. To exclude the possibility of further use, the weapons were cut in a minimum of two places, through the barrel and the working parts and the trigger mechanism. An additional cut was made through the bayonet if fitted.

The contract also required the development of the demilitarisation site to establish a sustainable facility for further SALW destruction projects and eventually for the Albanian Ministry of Defence to continue destruction under their own cognisance. The project was accomplished within budget several weeks ahead of the contractual requirement.

A handover ceremony was held at the facility on 20th September which was attended by representatives from a large number of Embassies and the Ministry of Defence. Keynote speeches were made by the Managing Director of EOD Solutions Ltd Mr. Nigel Towler, the Albanian Minister of Defence and the the US Ambassador and the Norwegian Chargé d'affaires .

During his speech, the US Ambassador confirmed that Albania was the first Balkans country to instigate a unilateral programme to destroy surplus weapons. He also stated that this project and others like it, were a necessary step in the prevention of arms proliferation and cutting off supply to terrorist organizations.

The services of EOD Solutions Ltd have been retained by the customer to destroy a large quantity ammunition which is in an unstable condition.