Albania set to destroy excess ammunition

TIRANA, Jan 19 – Albanian authorities are determined to get rid of more than 85,000 tons of arms and ammunition left during the former communist regime.
In an interview with the French news agency AFP, Albanian Defense Minister Gazmend Oketa said “at least 85,000 tons of arms and ammunition old ammunition that represents a major threat to the national security have to be destroyed” by 2010.
They represent special danger since military warehouses with explosives are located near residential areas.
Oketa said the arms and ammunition were “stocked in precarious conditions, close to inhabited areas and they are at risk of exploding.”
Last March, explosions at an ammunition disposal factory killed 26 and injured 300 people in a military depot in Gerdec not far from the capital.
Albania was invited to join NATO last year, which it hopes to achieve this spring. Eliminating obsolete ammunition is a main priority for the country and also for its NATO allies’ assistance.