Kosovo Albanians armed to the teeth
Z. V. Vlaskalic
PRISTINA (Blic, Belgrade, September 12, 2005) - The most recent murder of
two Serbian young men and the killing of two others on the road from
Urosevac to Strpce in the south of Kosovo and Metohija only confirms the
UNDP and Light Weapons Agency in Pristina that the south Serbian province is
"the area with the most illegal weapons in Europe".
The report by UNDP and the Light Weapons Agency in the capital of Kosovo
states that there are currently "between 380,000 and 460,000 pieces of
illegal weapons - mostly rifles and guns" here.
The report, entitled "Kosovo and Weapons", says that illegal arms merchants
have brought large quantities of weapons to Kosovo. What is certain is that
there were fewer weapons in June 1999 and that they subsequently entered
Kosovo and Metohija, states the report, mostly from Albania.
One month-long "weapons amnesty" campaigns have failed to yield results so
far, even when the EU offered 20 million euros of aid to the municipality
that gathered the most illegal weapons, back in September 2003. The aid was
never delivered for the simple reason that the "amnesty" failed because
during the entire month, only 127 rifles were turned in throughout the whole
territory of Kosovo and Metohija.
And when we add 25,000 registered weapons, mostly hunting rifles, to the
number of almost one half million pieces of illegal arms, it is not
difficult to assess how many residents in the province have arms. Most of
the weapons are in the hands of the Albanians.
There are 20 times more illegal weapons in Kosovo than the total weapons
possessed by 18,000 KFOR troops and 10,000 members of the UN police and the
Kosovo Police Service.
On the other hand, UN police information suggests that this is where the
greatest number of criminal acts - threats, attacks, robberies and murders -
are occurring with the use of illegal weapons. The report "Kosovo and
Weapons" states "the number of incidents, attacks and murders committed with
illegal arms is the highest in the world". Although somewhat reduced, it is
still "highly outstanding", the report concludes.
BLIC
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
