Risks Presented by Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Decreasing in Montenegro

The "Taras" storage site, which has been renovated as a part of a UNDP/SEESAC, OSCE and MoD project, is now the most modern of the SALW storage sites in Montenegro.

In an interview for the Montenegrin magazine Pobjeda, Lieutenant Colonel Vukadin Tomasevic, an advisor to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Montenegro, reported on the current progress of arms reduction and storage upgrades in Montenegro. LTC Tomasevic emphasized that, since 2006, Montenegrin’s MoD excess weapons and ammunition have been reduced by 6,039.38 tonnes, or 56,1% of the overall excess ammunition.

The reduction has been achieved by means of arms sales as well as three destruction projects, namely: the OSCE/UNDP’s Capacity Development Programme for SALW Demilitarization and Safe Storage for the Republic of Montenegro (MONDEM), the Technical Agreement on the Destruction of Small Arm Weapons and Various Types of Ammunition financed by the Government of the United States of America, and MoD’s Programme of Preventive Destruction of Ammunition.   

The Montenegrin MoD has given maximum effort to destroy excess and dangerous ammunition in the shortest possible timeframe and to safely store the remaining stock. As a result, Montenegro does not possess any SALW in open spaces which could potentially be very dangerous, particularly due to the hot climate, explained LTC Tomasevic. 

The importance of ensuring adequate storage of the remaining SALW and ammunition is crucial for the safety and security in the country.

According to LTC Tomasevic, the storage site boasting the most modern safety equipment fulfilling the highest international standards is Taras. On 11 March 2010, the European Union (EU) under the EU Council Decision 2010/179/CFSP, decided to support SEESAC arms control activities in the Western Balkans, in the framework of the EU strategy to combat illicit accumulation and trafficking of SALW and their ammunition. The ‘Taras’ reconstruction was one such project that the European Union financed through UNDP/SEESAC and in collaboration with the Government of the Montenegro, the Government of the Netherlands and the OSCE.

In addition to Taras, and with the support of the EU, SEESAC successfully helped the reconstruction of the Croatian Ministry of Interior’s central ammunition storage site ‘Murat’ and is currently in the process of assisting the upgrade of  4 MoD storage sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina  and 3 storage sites in Serbia.

With two storage sites already closed and one more prepared for closure, there will soon be 7 storages sites in Montenegro. Of those, four more storage sites in the coastal area of the country are marked for closure, which will leave Taras, Brezovik and Pljevlje as the sole storage areas where the MoD’s  4,000 tonnes of weapons will be kept. The space is more than adequate as Montenegro requires less than 2,000 tonnes of SALW for its defence purposes.