Albania held up as good example on small arms destruction

TIRANA, Oct. 1 – Albania has been repeatedly shown as a positive example of destruction of small weapons and chemical weapons. A story by Jacquelyn S. Porth of the USINFO, State Department, mentioned Albania’s efforts. Albania was mentioned, together with Ukraine, Afghanistan, Honduras, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, that celebrated the symbolic destruction of a million such weapons on International Small Arms Destruction Day July 9. In Albania, representatives from the Ministry of Defense, the ArmorGroup, UNDP and NATO gathered at the destruction site in Mengle about 1.5 hours from the capital. To mark the occasion, Deputy Minister of Defense Petrit Karabina said: “With over 500,000 light weapons in the hands of civilians, Albania recognizes the importance of collecting and destroying surplus weapons and ammunition. It is also clear that the cost of keeping these weapons is ultimately higher than the cost of destroying them. We want to make Albania a better and safer place for all our citizens.”
Left unattended, even small stockpiles of surplus and obsolete AK-47 assault rifles, grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missiles could be stolen and used to fuel regional conflicts.