Removing mines to make families safe in Kosovo

Local legend has it that the Accursed Mountains in the western Balkans got their name from the day the devil escaped from hell and created the jagged massif that marks the southern range of the Dinaric Alps.

The mountains meet at the border of Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo, where the small city of Peja is the gateway to hiking trails, climbing and other mountain pursuits. Both locals and increasing numbers of international tourists – looking for less-travelled destinations – come through pretty Peja to enjoy the peaks.

Peja hasn't always been such a desirable destination. As a town close to the Albanian border, Peja and its people suffered badly during the Kosovo War of 1999, when 80 per cent of its homes were damaged or destroyed.

Peja has been rebuilt and is now famous throughout Kosovo for its local beer and its stunning scenery. The missing link for its full recovery has been the presence over the last 25 years of unexploded cluster bombs on the slopes overlooking the town.

The HALO Trust started clearing around Peja in 2006 and in June this year completed the clearance of a steeply-sloping area of national park known as Zatra. The Zatra operation started in 2020 and involved the survey and clearance of an area the size of 53 football pitches, most of it heavily wooded and at a dizzying, vertiginous angle.

“It’s very steep and which made it hard to use a large detector held by two people often we had to use small individual ones,” says Luigj, HALO’s Team Commander on the clearance task. “The potential for an accident on the slopes was very high but we managed to keep everyone safe.” In the course of their clearance of the Zatra area the team found 26 unexploded BLU-97 cluster bombs – also known as submunitions.

“We have local trails people can do in a day, regional trails for several days and international trails that range through Montenegro and Albania as well as Kosovo that take 10-12 days to complete," says Virtyt. "Those are increasingly popular with international visitors from Germany and the rest of the world.” Already Peja has seen its tourism grow and last year the city had 150,000 visitors.

On the very edge of the Zatra clearance area, the sound of children having fun rings out as they fly through the air on zipwires and wooden climbing frames amongst the trees. They are playing in an adventure park that is part of the Alpine House Ranch owned by local businessman Xheladin.

“We had more success in our businesss because the land has been cleared of explosives,” says Xheladin. “When it was cleared, people became more confident to move freely. This neighborhood is Zatra and it is a part of National park. People in Zatra from now on can move freely and feel safe because of HALO.”

“We are grateful and thank HALO very much for this job. It is in the general national interest, but also for the community living here.”