Disaster Response Kosovo Project #34074

Removing mines to make families safe in Kosovo

by The HALO Trust

Project Report | Mar 1, 2024
Life in Arllat 25 years after the war

By Julia Tibbetts | Philanthropy & Communications

Naim and Drita in their yard.

Following the 1998-99 Kosovo war, much of the village of Arllat was left in ruins after heavy fighting and air strikes. Even though the fighting ended 25 years ago, the threat posed by cluster munitions remains.

Naim is a retired teacher living in Arllat with his wife, Drita. During the war, Naim worked as the head of the civil-military relations in the 121^st “Ismet Jashari” Brigade while Drita and their four children took refuge in the Berisha Mountain, along with many other families.

Refusing to let the war deprive their children the right to community, safety, and education, the teachers from the local “Abedin Bujupi” primary school in Arllat continued to teach children throughout the conflict. Moved by their dedication, Naim would eventually take over as the principal of the school following the war. As the school was about 127 yards from a hazardous area, Naim explains that the school was one of the victims from the conflict. “The school was burnt down; the entire courtyard was destroyed and filled with cluster munitions. 57 of them exploded during a military demolition, causing an accident between several soldiers and a local resident.”

HALO started working in Kosovo immediately after the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops in 1999. Since then, we have cleared cluster bombs and landmines and employ local men and women. We have also employed local men and women, creating opportunities in a country where there are few formal job prospects, particularly for women. HALO is committed to creating a safe future for the people of Kosovo.

Even though the fighting ended 25 years ago, Naim and Drita are still acutely aware of the continuing threat of contamination in the village, and Naim admits that he still fears finding explosives while planting and considers himself to be lucky to have had no accidents.

Despite the threat, Naim remains optimistic. He feels relieved when he sees HALO’s teams clearing his land and his neighbors’ and looks forward to getting his blueberries planted once HALO has finished its work.

Thank you to all our supporters at GlobalGiving for making this life-saving work possible. Thank you!

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Nov 3, 2023
Update from Kosovo

By Julia Tibbetts | Philanthropy & Communications

As Bajram enjoys the spring in the village of Arllat, where he was born and raised, fruit trees are budding, and daffodil bulbs are blooming in his family's garden. Bajram explains that his family's home and garden are only shadows of their former glory as they were painstakingly rebuilt after their land was burnt to ashes in 1999. Arllat was caught in the crossfire during the fighting in 1999, forcing Bajram and his family to flee to a village in the mountains for safety, where they remained for a year until the Kosovo ended the war.

One of Bajram's sons returned home before the rest of his family to assess the damage of the village. While attempting to clear access to the family's land, he detonated an old cluster bomb that had not exploded on impact and received fragmentation injuries to his chest and face. Thankfully, Bajram's son made a full recovery, but he still has visible scars.

After the accident, Bajram and his family was afraid to return home to Arllat, but felt they had no choice, so they cautiously returned home. As an agricultural community, Arllat villagers work the land to make a living. However, after the war, it became common to dig up cluster munitions in the soft soil. Bajram even saw children picking up the dangerous items and arranging them in a line against a wall. When HALO arrived in the area into conduct surface clearance, Bajram was relieved. The villagers could now refer explosive ordnance to experts instead of risking their lives trying to move items themselves. In September 2022, HALO returned to Arllat to clear the cluster munition remnants still around parts of the village.

Bajram is grateful to everyone supporting HALO’s work and made it possible for deminers to clear his home and garden so that he no longer must be cautious on his own land. Bajram and his wife said, "we built our new house big hoping for lots of grandchildren."

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Jul 5, 2023
Update from HALO Kosovo

By Lisa Balestrieri | Philanthropy Officer

Vezire, resident of Arllat

First of all, thank you to everyone supporting this project. I just returned from visiting HALO's program in Kosovo and got to see the impact of your support firsthand. You are truly making a difference.

One of the tasks I was able to visit in Kosovo was in Arllat. Arllat is a village in the region of Pristina, Kosovo. Because of its tactical location, the village was targeted in the 1999 Kosovo War and contaminated with cluster submunitions. This made the return of the local population after the end of the war dangerous, and the local people are still threatened by lethal leftover explosives to this day.

HALO’s work here is crucial. Abedin Bujupi, a primary and lower secondary school is only 328 feet (100 meters) away from the hazardous area. Children are especially at risk of harm as they can mistake these explosives as toys. In the past few years as the village has expanded, several dangerous explosives have been found by locals during construction work. And residents continue to find explosives in their yards and in their gardens.

I spoke with a man named Vezire, who has lived in Arllat since the end of the war with eight other family members. They have a beautiful home, with a peaceful yard filled with apple trees, flowers, bushes, and a garden where they grow vegetables like onions.

Vezire told me that the family didn’t always live in such peace. After building their home, Vezire quickly began finding cluster munitions when planting trees and working in the garden.

"We didn't know the risks of living here, until after we built our home and began finding explosives planting trees." - Vezire

Vezire found a total of eight cluster munitions himself, and thought his land was finally safe. But when HALO began clearing Arllat, deminers found two more cluster munitions in his yard. One of them was only 4 inches (10 cm) away from where Vezire had planted a tree. If Vezire had dug just slightly differently, there likely would have been a devastating accident.

Vezire and his family feel much safer since HALO has been working in Arllat. Vezire shared that he loves his home and loves living in Arllat, and he is grateful for the work HALO does for his family and for the entire village.

Apple trees in Vezire's yard

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