Ruairi O'Connell

Guns in Kosovo

I spoke on Tuesday at the opening of new weapons storage and destruction facilities in Kosovo (see UNDP Kosovo) 

This is part of the Kosovo Government's 'KOSSAC' (Kosovo Small Arms Control) project, funded by the UK, Sweden, The Netherlands and Belgium, and implemented with the UNDP's support (see UNDP Kosovo KOSSAC) 

Kosovo, like many post-conflict societies, remains awash with small arms. After the war in 1999, many people simply buried their weapons in the ground in case they would be 'needed' again. This wasn't only armed groups like the Kosovo Liberation Army (which disbanded in 1999); it was civilians, of all ethnicities, who hold weapons for 'personal protection'.

The insecurities of the wars in the Balkans simply added to a deeper culture of carrying arms. My experience here causes me to doubt the axiom that 'guns don't kill, but people do'. I have heard of too many cases of family feuds (sometimes alcohol-fuelled) getting out of hand, and ending with someone shot (a colleague once saw, in a regional EU state, one man get up from a table in a cafe and shoot his friend dead, for having refused to allow the shooter to pay the bill). This isn't to say that life is considered cheap here - the opposite is true. It is rather to suggest that, even when there is no malicious intent or ongoing conflict, having small arms around tends to have devestating consequences.

The Kossac programme aims to give the Kosovo institutions the means to get rid of small arms. Despite some success in the past, with numerous amnesties since the conflict that have destroyed tens of thousands of guns (and 7000 from the current project alone), there still remains a large number of these weapons lying, for the most part, buried in people's gardens (UNDP suggest up to 400,000). Sadly, people hold on to them as an insurance policy, in case conflict returns. The converse is also true; if the government and people are beginning to destroy these weapons, it is a sign that they are more optimistic about the future. So the biggest surprise for me was, when delivering the speech, I saw one of the KLA's highest profile commanders (now a Kosovo MP) sitting, smiling, in the audience. Ex-KLA supporting destruction of small arms - surely a cause for optimism?

Posted at 08:28 07 March 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[5]