Contaminated by: cluster munition remnants (light contamination).

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 deadline: 1 August 2020
(Unclear whether on track to meet deadline)

The Republic of Montenegro has estimated that 1.7km² of land contains cluster munition remnants. No clearance or survey took place in 2015.

Recommendations for action

• Montenegro should clarify the location and extent of suspected and confirmed cluster munition remnants.
• Montenegro should identify and apply as soon as possible the resources necessary to fulfil its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 clearance obligations.
• Montenegro should submit its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report for 2015, which is overdue.

Contamination

Montenegro has estimated that 1.7km² of land contains cluster munition remnants.[1] Contaminated areas are located in two municipalities and one urban municipality (of a total of 23 municipalities). According to Montenegro’s most recent Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report (for 2014), 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]

However, there are differences between this list and the list of areas that Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) identified as suspected or confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants in its detailed non-technical survey (NTS) conducted from 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 at April 2013[3]

In addition, the survey indicated that cluster munition remnants might also be present in two areas of Plav municipality: Bogajice and Murino. Due to snow, however, it was not possible to survey these areas.[4]

The differences between Montenegro’s Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report data and NPA’s survey data are due largely to the fact that the Article 7 report (for 2014) 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, Sipacanik, in the municipality of Tuzi, was unintentionally left out of the Article 7 report.[6]

The NPA survey found a total of 1.72km² suspected or confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants as at 30 April 2013.[7] Montenegro reported a slightly lower figure of 1.7km² in its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report for 2013,[8] which was subsequently decreased by 6,500m² in 2014 following a small amount of clearance resulting from the discovery of two unspecified items of unexploded ordnance (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 different types: BLU-97A/B, BL755, MK-1, and MK118.[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 visible submunitions were destroyed.[12] Following Montenegro’s independence, cluster munition remnants removal was conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in response to notifications from the general public.[13]

Program Management

In 2006, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Administration established a Department for Emergency Situations and Civilian Safety. However, it lacks human resources and equipment. Due to a shortage of funds, responsibility for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) has remained with the police[14] who set up a three-person EOD team.[15]

The Regional Centre for Divers’ Training and Underwater Demining (RCUD) performs the role of national mine action center.[16] This 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.”[17]

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, 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.[18] The non-technical survey was completed but funding for the second phase of the project involving technical survey and clearance, originally expected to start in 2013 and continue throughout 2014,[19] was not secured and by mid-2016 this phase had yet to commence.[20]

Land Release

No land release operations took place in 2015.[21]

Survey in 2015

No survey has taken place since the non-technical survey was completed in April 2013.[22]

Clearance in 2015

No cluster munition clearance took place in 2015.[23]

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 if it secures funding for the remaining survey and clearance.

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.