Landmine Blasts on Albania-Kosovo Border Blight Survivors’ Lives

"I have great difficulty walking. I am afraid that my legs are getting infected, because the prostheses are hurting me," Koloshi told BIRN.

Koloshi is just one of hundreds who have been crippled by the explosion of mines laid by Yugoslav forces during the Kosovo war in 1999 in the Albania-Kosovo border area, where there are 30 villages divided between the municipalities of Kukes, Has and Tropoja.

After NATO began its bombing campaign in March 1999 to make Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end his violent repression of Kosovo Albanians and pull his forces out, the border area with Albania was subjected to systematic bombardment by Yugoslav Army artillery and there were Serbian paramilitary attacks inside Albanian territory.

Over 3,350 shells were dropped on the border area and a large number of anti-personnel mines were laid, resulting in a lot of unexploded ordnance. After the Kosovo war ended in June 1999, it took a decade for all these potentially lethal devices to be removed by mine-clearance experts.

Since the end of the war, more than 268 people have been injured, including 34 who lost their lives, 12 who lost their sight, 54 who were severely crippled and 168 others who suffered other injuries. The worst-affected area has been Tropoja, with 140 injured, followed by Hasi with 88 and Kukes with 40.

For those who were injured by Serbian mines in the area, the nightmare has continued ever since, as healthcare services are almost non-existent in the area and they lack the vital care and rehabilitation they need to live normal lives.

'Half my pension goes on medicines'

Yugoslav Army soldiers arrive at the Yugoslav-Albanian border crossing at Morina, near Kukes in April 1999 to lay mines along the...