Article 4 deadline: 1 August 2020
(Should make the deadline)
Program Performance: AVERAGE[1] 

 
Recommendations

• Montenegro should clarify the location and extent of suspected and confirmed cluster munition remnant contamination.
• Montenegro should identify and apply the resources necessary to fulfill its Article 4 clearance obligations as soon as possible.

Contamination

Montenegro has estimated that almost 1.7km² of land contains cluster munition remnants. Contaminated areas are located in two municipalities and one urban municipality (out of a total of 23 municipalities).[1] According to Montenegro’s most recent Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency reports, the contaminated areas are located at Golubovci airport and a suburb of Podgorica in the urban municipality of Golubovci; the villages of Besnik, Jablanica, and Njeguši in the municipality of Rožaje; and Cakor mountain and the village of Bjelaje in the municipality of Plav.[2]

There are, however, differences between this list of areas and the areas that Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) identified as suspected or confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants in its non-technical survey conducted in December 2012 to April 2013. During the survey, NPA made 87 polygons of suspected or confirmed hazardous areas over 11 locations across three municipalities. Contamination was found to affect five communities. The results of the survey are summarized in the table below.

Contamination by municipality as of April 2013[3]

In addition, the NPA survey indicated that cluster munition remnants might also be present in two areas of Plav municipality: Bogajice and Murino. Due to snow, however, NPA was unable to survey these areas.[4]

The differences between Montenegro’s Article 7 report data and NPA’s survey data are due largely to the fact that the Article 7 report includes the additional villages of Besnik (in the municipality of Rožaje), and Cakor mountain and Bjelaje (in the municipality of Plav), which are suspected of cluster munition contamination, but where non-technical survey has yet to be conducted due to bad weather conditions.[5] In addition, it seems that Sipacanik, in the municipality of Tuzi, may have been unintentionally left out of  the Article 7 report.[6]

The NPA survey found a total of 1.72km² of area suspected or confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants as at 30 April 2013.[7] Montenegro reported a slightly lower figure of 1.7km² of area in its subsequent Article 7 report,[8] which was subsequently reduced by 6,500m² in 2014, following a small amount of clearance resulting from discovery of two unspecified items of unexploded ordinance (UXO) during construction work.[9]

Montenegro became contaminated with explosive remnants of war (ERW), mainly UXO, as a result of conflicts during the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.[10] NATO air strikes in Montenegro between March and June 1999 saw the use of 22 cluster bombs of four different types: AGM-154A JSOW guided missiles, BL755s, CBU-87/Bs, and Mk-20 Rockeyes. These scattered a total of some 4,000 submunitions of three different types: BLU-97A/B, MK-1, and MK 118.[11] Some unexploded submunitions were collected by units of the Yugoslav Army immediately after the air strikes. This initial clearance was carried out in haste, without applying international standards for ERW clearance, and for the most part only submunitions visible on the ground were destroyed.[12] Following Montenegro’s independence, cluster munition removal was conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in response to notifications from the general public.[13]

To date, clearance of cluster munition remnants according to international standards has only been carried out in one of the three affected municipalities in Montenegro. UXB Balkans conducted clearance operations in 2007, in two locations within the communities of Besnik and Njeguši (in the municipality of Rožaje). In total, some 378,000m² (0.38km²) was cleared with the destruction of 16 MK-1 submunitions.[14] 

Montenegro’s initial Article 7 report had claimed that, as of 27 January 2011, “there are no contaminated areas in Montenegro.”[15] In July 2011, however, the director of the Regional Centre for Divers’ Training and Underwater Demining (RCUD) confirmed that unexploded submunitions had been found in 2007.[16] After the air strikes in 1999, military units reportedly collected more than 1,800 submunitions, but Montenegro informed the intersessional meetings of the Convention on Cluster Munitions that clearance had not been conducted “fully according to humanitarian mine action standards” and that it planned to conduct a survey.[17] This led to the 2012–2013 NPA survey described above.[18]

Program Management

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration established a Department for Emergency Situations and Civilian Safety in 2007. It lacks human resources and equipment, however. Due to a shortage of funds, responsibility for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) has remained with the police.[19] The police set up an EOD team that currently has three trained members who conduct demolitions.[20]

RCUD performs the role of national mine action centre.[21] The Regional Centre was set up in 2002 by the government, which tasked the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration to “develop [the centre’s] organization and its specification.”[22] 

RCUD and NPA signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2012 under which NPA agreed to fund and implement a two-phase project—the “Cluster Munition Convention Completion Initiative for Montenegro”—involving, first, the non-technical survey, and then technical survey and clearance of areas where the presence of cluster munition remnants was confirmed. NPA agreed to set up a database and to develop capacity for non-technical survey and quality management.[23] The non-technical survey was completed but funding for the second phase of the project involving technical survey and clearance, has not been secured and this phase has yet to commence.[24]

Land Release

No planned land release operations took place in 2014, but 6,500m² of land suspected or confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants was cleared after two unspecified items of UXO were found in Golubovci during construction work.[25]

Survey in 2014

No survey has taken place since NPA’s non-technical survey was completed in April 2013.[26]

Clearance in 2014

No clearance of cluster munition remnants took place in either 2014 or 2013, apart from the clearance in 2014 of an area of 6,500m² during construction work in Golubovci.[27]

Article 4 Compliance 

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Montenegro is required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2020. Montenegro should complete the remaining clearance well before this deadline.

In early 2014, Montenegro indicated that clearance would be complete by “the end of 2016,” subject to funds.[28] In June 2015, RCUD reported that if sufficient funding were secured in 2015, cluster munition remnant clearance in Montenegro would be completed by the end of 2017.[29] As of June 2015, Montenegro continued to seek international cooperation and assistance to fulfill its survey and clearance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[30]