Disposal of Over 40 Tonnes of SALW Ammunition Initiated in Montenegro

The disposal of forty (40) tonnes of surplus Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) ammunition, held in Montenegro’s Armed Forces stockpiles, began on 22 October 2014.  The destruction of surplus ammunition in Montenegro directly contributes to reducing the risk of theft and consequent illicitly proliferation of the said ammunition, thus increasing security in the region and beyond. 

 

Supported by the European Union, through the EU Council Decision 2013/730/CFSP dated 9 December 2013, the process is carried out under the EU Support of SEESAC Disarmament and Arms Control Activities in South East Europe (EUSAC) project. UNDP’s SEESAC initiative facilitated the destruction together with UNDP Montenegro under the scope of the Montenegro Demilitarization Programme – MONDEM.

 

Initiated on 22 October 2014, the disposal process will take place over the course of several months, expected to be finalized by the end of February 2015. The destruction is executed by the company POLIEX and is taking place in two factories located in northern Montenegro.In addition to the EU, the United Kingdom has also contributed funds necessary for the implementation of the disposal.

 

The disposal of the ammunition is but one of SEESAC’s destruction activities planned to take place in Montenegro within the EUSAC project. Earlier this year on 9 July – International Gun Destruction Day, SEESAC coordinated a region-wide destruction effort which saw the destruction of over 5,000 pieces of SALW – of which 1,489 pieces were destroyed in Montenegro.

 

ABOUT EUSAC

EUSAC builds directly upon SEESAC’s decade-long SALW Control work, particularly achievements made through the previous EU-funded SALW Control project, conducted during the 2010-2012 period under the Council Decision 2010/179/CFSP. The new project, which was designed in close cooperation with national authorities, will work on the following five interrelated streams of activities:

 

  • Increased security of stockpiles: through the renovation and security improvements to storages of arms and ammunition.
  • Stockpile reduction: through the destruction of surplus arms and ammunition held in storages.
  • Improved marking, tracing and registration of SALW: through the provision of support to the establishment or enhancement of existing weapons registration and record-keeping systems.
  • Improved regional cooperation on awareness raising, information sharing and knowledge transfer: through the facilitation of regional cooperation between national institutions tasked with arms control.
  • Implementation of collection and awareness raising campaigns
     

 

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