On March 15, 2008 at approximately 12:15pm, there was an accident at a munitions depot in Gerdec which was destroying old ammunition. This accident resulted in a series of explosions – the largest registering 2.5 on the rector scale was heard and felt 20 km away. The number of dead and the extent of property damage are still unknown. (Unofficial count: 27 dead, 300+ injured, 300 house destroyed, 2000+ houses damaged).In Albania, it is very challenging to accurate information as for the most part, reporters only report on stories they are paid to cover. As a result, what is reported on TV or in the papers must be carefully evaluated and you must never be too quick to jump to conclusions based on ‘facts’ in the news.

Although limited information is available at the moment, this is a real tragedy on two levels and the following is a brief recap of what has been reported so far.

On the national level

• The prime minister’s immediate reaction was he knew nothing of the operation and it was not the government’s responsibility as it had been contracted out to an American company.
  • The contract was to an Albanian company.
  • The US company finished its work in December and there was a formal closing ceremony attended by the Prime Minister.   This formal closing celebration was a result of the project completing under budget and 9 months early.
  • One of the dead at the depot is the prime minister’s brother-in-law.
• In December of 2007, two US companies finished their contracts and asked for extensions for more work, but the contracts for additional work were given to an Albanian company. The two US companies were SAIC and Southern Ammunition Company, Inc. (SACI). These get confused easily.
• Two contracts, one with each company SAIC and SACI, have been produced but the signatures and contract language are very suspicious. Both companies deny any involvement with the Gerdec operation or signing the second contracts.
• The Albanian company performing the destruction of the munitions is owned 75% by a person with very strong underworld ties and 25% by the president of the US company, SACI.
• There are rumors of arms trafficking – selling ammunition in Afghanistan.
• The Defense Minister has resigned, but the pressure on the Prime Minister has increased.

On the local level

• Many (maybe most) residents do not trust the banks after the collapse in 1997 and so they keep their saving in their homes. For those immediately near the munitions warehouse, everything is gone.
• Looters were able to get into the villages by foot trails immediately after the explosion, but the villagers were being blocked by the army on the main roads.
• There is no way to prove what the villagers claim to have lost.
• Women and high-school aged people were being employed in the factory for 150 euros per month. Of the 120 people employed by the company, only one was paid with benefits. The rest were contract employees with no benefits and no or limited training.

The exposure of so many suspicious items in contracts and conflicting stories has further separated the people from the government. What do you say or do in a place where corruption is so prevalent? It is so disheartening. The people trust neither the institutions nor the people in government. And now, they understand just how venerable they are, everything is suspect, even the ones crying out against the corruption – they are just considered the other side of the transaction, part of a choreographed scam.

The outrage of the people is amazing, but there are no institutional systems that let them act on this outrage. It is an interesting time here in Albania.