During the 1999 Kosovo conflict, mines were laid and sub munitions fired inside Albanian
territory. Moreover, cluster strikes were conducted on military positions along the Albanian
northeast border region, which added to the contamination of Albanian territory. The
contaminated areas covered 120 kilometres along the Albanian border from Montenegro in
the north to Macedonia in the south, starting a few metres inside Albania (minefields) and
as deep as 10 kilometres into Albanian territory (cluster strikes). After the conflicts ceased,
Albania was not able to receive any records or data of minefields, despite repeated requests
by donors and the Albanian authorities, which resulted in much slower demining rates.
