Peacekeeping: Albania Cleans Out the Closet

Archives

April 29, 2006: Albania has done a remarkable job of finally collecting and destroying thousands of tons of munitions left over from the former police state government.

When Albania's communist (actually Stalinist) dictatorship fell in 1990, left in its wake were millions of rifles and thousands of tons of other weapons and munitions. For decades, the communist dictatorship had built fortifications, bought weapons and trained much of the 3.5 million Albanians to resist an invasion that never came (or was even planned.) In the early 1990s, many of the weapons were promptly stolen and sold on the international black market. It was a gunrunners paradise for much of the 1990s. But the government eventually stepped in and stopped the arms trade. While most of the stuff was gone by then, plenty was left to collect and destroy. So far, the government has collected and destroyed 141,000 rifles and pistols and 511 armored vehicles, over a thousand artillery weapons, and 44,000 tons of munitions. All in all, an excellent peacekeeping effort.

 


Article Archive

Peacekeeping: Current 2021 2020 2019 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 


X

ad
0
20

Help Keep Us Soaring

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling. We need your help in reversing that trend. We would like to add 20 new subscribers this month.

Each month we count on your subscriptions or contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage. A contribution is not a donation that you can deduct at tax time, but a form of crowdfunding. We store none of your information when you contribute..
Subscribe   Contribute   Close