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Abstract
In 2003, the Albanian government declared that in late 2002 it had discovered a heretofore unknown cache of 16 tons of chemical weapons. Tirana requested and received assistance from the West in securing and destroying the materials, a task completed in 2007. Albania has been lauded for its responsible handling of the discovery and for being the first nation to complete the destruction of its chemical weapons under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). This article argues that the Albanian government has always knowingly possessed the weapons, keeping them a secret until a post-September 11, 2001 international focus on weapons of mass destruction made it politically worthwhile for Tirana to declare and destroy them. The likelihood that the governments of the West turned a willful blind eye to this chain of events is troubling for the credibility of the CWC and confidence in nonproliferation measures in general. Finally, the author recommends measures to avoid and address similar situations in the future.
Notes
1. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, "Chemical Weapons Elimination in Albania," fact sheet, August 2007, <www.dtra.mil/documents/newsservices/fact-sheets/albania.pdf>.
2. Richard Lugar, "An Albanian Success," August 31 2007, remarks as prepared for delivery at a speech in Tirana, Albania on September 1, 2007, <lugar.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=281480&>.
3. Matthew Meselson and Julian Perry Robinson, eds., "Developments in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," CBW Conventions Bulletin: News, Background and Comment on Chemical and Biological Weapons Issues 59 (March 2003), pp. 2, 6.
4. Joby Warrick, "Albania's Chemical Arsenal Raises Fears About Others: Long-Forgotten Arms Had Little or No Security," Washington Post, January 10, 2005, p. A1. See also Ivan Lebedev, "Allegedly Chinese-Made Chemical Weapons Found in Albania," ITAR-TASS News Agency, January 11, 2005.
5. Elez Biberaj, Albania: A Socialist Maverick (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990), pp. 30-31; Elez Biberaj, Albania and China: A Study of an Unequal Alliance (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986), p. 17.
6. Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History (London: I.B. Taurus, 1995), p. 209; Karl Wheeler Soper, "National Security," in Raymond Zickel and Walter R. Iwaskiw, eds., Albania: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 1992), pp. 227-28.
7. Vickers, The Albanians, pp. 186-87; Biberaj, Albania, pp. 85-87; Biberaj, Albania and China, pp. 13-16.
8. Editorial, Financial Times, "Europe's Heart of Darkness: Albania after Hoxha," August 16, 1985, Section I. See also Charles Sudetic, "The Economy," in Albania, pp. 114-15; Richard W. Carlson, "Observing the Albanian Powder Keg," American Spectator, November 1997; Miranda Vickers and James Pettifer, Albania: From Anarchy to Balkan Identity (London: Hurst & Company, 1997), pp. 210-13; Vickers, The Albanians, p. 193.
9. Whether the weapons were developed or were acquired is uncertain; the government insists no records exist. It has been acknowledged that some of the barrels were labeled with Chinese characters, but neither the OPCW, the United States, nor the EU seems interested in complicating its relationship with China by pursuing this, given China's status with the OPCW as a non-chemical weapon state. However, China did have a close relationship with Albania from the Sino-Soviet split until Mao's death and gave Albania vast amounts of military, industrial, and development aid. See Warrick, "Albania's Chemical Arsenal Raises Fears About Others"; and Zija Bahja, "Civil-Military and Inter-Agency Cooperation in the Security Sector of Albania," in Philipp H. Fluri and Velizar Shalamanov, eds., Security Sector Reform, Does It Work? Problems of Civil-Military and Inter-Agency Cooperation in the Security Sector (Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces, 2003), p. 8.
10. Alison O'Connor, "Wild Card of Europe," Irish Times, May 20, 2000, City Edition, p. 60.
11. Chris Smith, "Illegal Arms in Albania and European Security," lecture, Seminars on Contemporary Arms Control and Disarmament, Geneva Forum, Palais des Nations, Geneva, September 16, 1998, p. 16, <www.geneva-forum.org/Activities/Regional.html>.
12. Bahja, "Civil-Military and Inter-Agency Cooperation in the Security Sector of Albania." See also Carlson, "Observing the Albanian Powder Keg."
13. Lefter Zani, interview by Pino Scaccia, Rai Uno TV (Rome), translated by Rai-Uno TV (Albanian to Italian), April 17, 1997, quoted in "Vlore Rebel Leader Warns Italians against Helping President," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, trans. BBC (Italian to English), April 21, 1997.
14. Albert Shyti, interview by Massimo De Angelis, Rai Uno TV (Rome), trans. Rai-Uno TV (Albanian to Italian), April 18, 1997, quoted in "Vlore Rebel Leader Says Results of Free and Fair Elections Will Be Accepted," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, trans. BBC (Italian to English), April 21, 1997.
15. Guy Dinmore, "Vlore Gives Italian Force an Enthusiastic Welcome," Financial Times, April 22, 1997, U.S. edition, p. 2.
16. See "The Unfolding of the Crisis" in Ettore Greco, Delegated Peacekeeping: The Case Of Operation Alba (Rome: Istituto Affari Internazionali, 1998).
17. Michel Moutot, "Albanian Volunteers Stand Guard over Deadly Stash," Agence France-Presse, April 7, 1997.
18. Jeanne Meserve, "Albania/Chemical Weapons," CNN Evening News, April 6, 1997.
19. A. Doyle, "Tirana Fights for Control after New PM Ambushed," Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia), April 8, 1997, p. 15.
20. Moutot, "Albanian Volunteers Stand Guard over Deadly Stash."
21. Adrian Brown, "Guards Too Late for Looters at Derelict Albanian Naval Base," Agence France-Presse, April 8, 1997.
22. Smith, "Illegal Arms in Albania and European Security," p. 16. See also Carlson, "Observing the Albanian Powder Keg."
23. "Montenegrin Customs Official Says No Arms Smuggled from Albania," Montena-fax News Agency, April 26, 1997, quoted in BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, trans. BBC, April 28, 1997.
24. Matthew Meselson and Julian Perry Robinson, eds., "News Chronology," CBW Conventions Bulletin: News, Background and Comment on Chemical and Biological Weapons Issues 42 (December 1998), p. 25.
25. "Berisha's War against the South of Albania Had Foreseen the Use of Chemical Weapons," Zeri i Popullit, September 16, 1997, quoted in "Press Review," Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 97-09-16, September 17, 1997, Hellenic Resource Network.
26. Meselson and Robinson, "News Chronology," p. 25.
27. "Albanian Opposition Leader, Sali Berisha, Skeptic on Proposal of PM Majko," TIR-FAX, August 23, 1999, Balkan Home Info, <www.b-info.com/tools/miva/newsview.mv?url=news/1999-08/text/aug23a.aina>. See also, "Safet Zhulali, Obituary," Washington Post, April 15, 2002, p. B4.
28. R. Jeffery Smith, "Albanian Prosecutor Says Ex-Officials Authorized Use of Lethal Gas," Washington Post, April 27, 1998, p. A30. See also Y. Bajrami, "House-Arrest for Four Former DP Senior Officials," Albanian Telegraph Agency (ATA), 98-09-18, September 18, 1998, Hellenic Resource Network, <www.hri.org/news/balkans/ata/1998/98-09-18.ata.html#17>.
29. Bahja, "Civil-Military and Inter-Agency Cooperation in the Security Sector of Albania," p. 13.
30. Sabit Brokaj, "Civil-Military Relations of Albania: Phases of Evolution," in Plamen Pantev, ed., Civil-Military Relations in South Eastern Europe: A Survey of the National Perspectives and of the Adaptation Process to the Partnership for Peace Standards (Vienna: National Defense Academy Vienna, 2001), p. 27.
31. Brokaj, "Civil-Military Relations of Albania: Phases of Evolution," pp. 1-2.
32. Eric Croddy, "Chinese Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) Capabilities," paper presented at National Intelligence Council Conference entitled China and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Implications for the United States, Washington, DC, November 5, 1999, p. 37, <www.dni.gov/nic/confreports_chinawmd.html>.
33. Croddy, "Chinese Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) Capabilities," p. 156.
34. Nicola Labanca and Riccardo Cappelli, Proliferation and Disarmament of Chemical Weapons in the NATO Framework (Florence, Italy: Forum for the Problems of Peace and War, 2000) pp. 12-13.
35. Nicola Labanca and Riccardo Cappelli, Proliferation and Disarmament of Chemical Weapons in the NATO Framework (Florence, Italy: Forum for the Problems of Peace and War, 2000) pp. 12-13.
36. John Sitilides, "U.S. Strikes Expose Emerging Regional Threats," Washington Monitor (Washington, DC: Western Policy Center, 1998).
37. John Sitilides, "U.S. Strikes Expose Emerging Regional Threats," Washington Monitor (Washington, DC: Western Policy Center, 1998).
38. Vickers and Pettifer, Albania: From Anarchy to Balkan Identity, pp. 287-90.
39. Vickers, The Albanians, pp. 226-27.
40. Michael Satchell and Elisabeth Blaug, "The Superpowers Are Discussing Chemical Weapons-But Won't Ban Them Soon," US News & World Report, October 26, 1987, p. 30.
41. "Germany Relaxes Controls on Arms Exports," Associated Press Worldstream, December 9, 1994.
42. Labanca and Cappelli, Proliferation and Disarmament of Chemical Weapons in the NATO Framework, pp. 13-14.
43. Lugar, "An Albanian Success."
44. Chris Schneidmiller, "South Korea Completes Chemical Weapons Disposal," Global Security Newswire, October 17, 2008.
45. For discussions of China's likely chemical arsenal, see Croddy, "Chinese Chemical and Biological Warfare (CBW) Capabilities," and Joseph Cirincione, Jon B. Wolfsthal, and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats, Second Edition (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2005), pp. 14, 81.