Kukes

Kukës is a town in Albania (population about 12,000), and also the district in which the town lies. The town is set among the mountains of northern Albania, near the border with Kosovo. It is famous for its role during the Kosovo conflict of the late 1990s, when it held a large population of refugees.

The town was relocated as part of a hydroelectric scheme. The old Kukes was submerged beneath an artificial lake in 1976, the lake being held back by crumbling Chinese-built dams. The new town (Kukesi i Ri - "New Kukes") was built in the 1970s. The district is improverished, with poor road connections, and major problems with crime.

Kukes was briefly on the world stage during the Kosovo conflict when many hundreds of thousands of Kosovan refugees crossed the frontier and were housed in camps in and around Kukes. There is a mosque and a closed alpine-style hotel, part of a failed attempt to establish a tourist industry[?] there. OSCE maintained a villa there. Being close to the border, the town seems to exist mainly on the smuggling of people, guns, drugs, stolen cars[?], petrol etc...

A popular spot is a place just off the main square called the Bar America where the speciality is animal head[?]. There is also a local historical museum and a carpet[?] factory.

External links

• Virtual Albania Online© - Kukësi (http://kukesi.8m.com/) - a guide to the town
• Kukës (http://www.geocities.com/albaweb2/cityguide/kukes.htm) - almost identical content to the above, but also mentions the museum