While Serbia and Montenegro are independent, Kosovo has been administered by the UN since the end of conflict there in June 1999. There are no current estimates for the number of SALW in the country but in 1989, long before the various wars, there were thought to be more than 1 million illegally held firearms in Serbia and 400,000 in Kosovo. There are currently over 1 million firearms registered to civilians in Serbia, which has less than 10 million citizens. The total number of SALWs will be much higher: for example, the Serbian police force numbers 100,000 and is armed as light infantry.

The situation in Kosovo remains serious. There are severe problems getting the Serb minority to actively engage with the predominantly Albanian parliament. There is a perception among the Serbs that UNMIK, the United Nations administrators, are preparing to separate Kosovo from Serbia/Montenegro at their expense. The fact that UNMIK police are reliant on NATO troops (KFOR) may contribute to this unease and the continuing traffic in small arms. Although the KLA militia has officially disbanded, in reality it has mostly been renamed as the KPC, while many ex-KLA members have joined the police. Nonetheless there is hope: the elections of October 2000 favoured the moderate LDK party.

Prior to and during the breakup of the Yugoslav Federation, the Serb-controlled JNA militia supplied arms to Serbian militants in Croatia and Bosnia. There are three conflict zones still unresolved:

In southern Serbia a splinter-group of the KLA, the UCPMB, are trying to annex territory to Kosovo. A ground safety zone (GSZ) was established while the UN is working for a peace settlement. Yet even in the GSZ, violent political intimidation is commonplace and mines have been laid along police/military routes.

Belgrade continues to have links with the notoriously corrupt “Republica Srpska” in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Serb and Croat militants remain antagonistic.

Another KLA splinter group, the NLA, remains active in northern Macedonia since 2001, supporting ethnic Albanians against Macedonian security forces.

A number of campaigns have been launched to tackle the SALW problem. In Montenegro, a program run by USAID/ORT advertised through the Akcija network has resulted in 17,000 weapon seizures between 1992 and 2002. In Kosovo, a Weapons Exchange for Development program, the UNDP Pristina “Kosovo Illicit Small Arms Control Project” is intending to set up a pilot scheme in the Gnijlane region or in the south, in a mixed Albanian/Serb community. In preparation, the Norwegian-funded weapon destruction facility at Obelic has been shut down and a new facility at Janjevo has been established with Dutch funding. Furthermore, SEESAC are initiating a scheme in the south of Serbia. In 2001 the US financed the destruction of 56,000 SALW and a further 4,000 weapons from the Serbian ministry of the interior were destroyed recently. An amnesty in April 2003 collected thousands of weapons.

Organisations

Peace Brigades International
Saferworld Belgrade (e-mail: saferworld-see@seznam.cz)
BICC Kosovo
BICC Yugoslavia
UNDP Office
SEESAC Serbia
SEESAC Montenegro
SEESAC Kosovo
OSCE Mission to Serbia
OSCE Mission to Montenegro
OSCE Mission in Kosovo

Other links

OSCE Mission in Kosovo factsheet
News article discussing Republica Sprska, with links to other SALW issues (April 2003) from TOL (login required)
Article on the weapons held by the NLA (2001) from Janes
‘How does Kosovo compare to other crises?’ (2000) from the Journal for Humanitarian Assistance
An article on the weapons held by the KLA (1999) from the Center for Defence Information
Article on the consequences of the peace (1999) from the Center for Stategic and International Studies