Montenegro Earns Cash From Old Yugoslav Arms

Montenegro stands to earn about 6.6 million euros in 2014 from sales of surplus weapons and military equipment stocked in the military depots for decades as wartime reserves of the former Yugoslav Army.  

A Ministry of Defence report, which BIRN  has seen, says the Montenegrin Army sold around 7.8 tons of obsolete munitions, 468 pieces of weaponry and other combat assets for 3.1 million euro.

Through a brokering company, the army sold a war ship for around 2.5 million euro to Kenya. Another 614 military vehicles have been sold for an expected gain of 350,000 euros.

The Montenegrin Army has so far collected only half of the total amount of around 6.6 million euro it earned from the sales, however, the reports reads.

Following independence in 2006, Montenegro had over 12,000 tons of ordnance in military depots. Nearly 9,800 tons was seen as surplus.

This ammunition, some of it 20 to 50 years old, is well past expiry date. As it started degrading, the ammunition become unstable and was seen as posing a security risk.

Over the past years, Montenegro has sold or destroyed most of its out-dated military equipment. However, in October, the Defence Minister, Milica Pejanovic Djurisic, said the country still had over 3,000 tons of surplus weapons and ammunition stored in depots.

"We still need to destroy another 1,400 tons," the minister observed.