The threat of land mines and similar devices in northeastern Albania stemmed from the Kosovo conflict. After a survey by the Albanian Armed Forces in 1999, 15,250,000 square meters of dangerous areas were identified. The threat was coming from anti–tank and antipersonnel mines planted by the former Yugoslav Republic, unexploded ordnance, subammunitions from jet artillery and at least six NATO cluster bombs launched into
Albania.
An additional complication was the lack of minefield data in Albania. No mines or similar devices have been planted by Albania itself. In fact, NATO asked the country’s internal army not to intervene in the conflict, and Albania had to watch helplessly as its territory was filled with explosives.
