2001 insurgency in Macedonia

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2001 Macedonia conflict
(Yugoslav wars)

File:2001 macedonia police.jpg
Macedonian special police forces in Tetovo

Date	January - December 2001
Location	Republic of Macedonia
Result	Ceasefire, rebels disarmed

Belligerents

Republic of Macedonia

File:UCK NLA.jpg National Liberation Army

Commanders and leaders

Boris Trajkovski

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Civilian casualties:

70 dead (60 ethnic Albanian, 10 ethnic Macedonian)

The 2001 Macedonia conflict aka 2001 Macedonian conflict was an armed conflict which began when the ethnic Albanian NLA separatist group attacked the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia during January 2001. The conflict lasted throughout most of the year, although overall casualties remained limited to several tens for either side.

v t e Yugoslav Wars
Breakup Croatia Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina JNA campaign in Bosnia Croat-Bosniak Inter-Bosniak Kosovo Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa Macedonia

Background

On gaining independence Macedonia was set as a republic with unicameral parliament, a 120-seat National Assembly and a popularly elected President. Contrary to other former Yugoslav republics, it managed to separate from Yugoslavia without any bloodshed. For the first seven years it was ruled by former socialists, who prevented the country from being drawn into any kind of conflict. The Social Democratic Party (SDSM) could not push through the necessary reforms of the society and economy. On the contrary, during the 1990s it came under pressure for massive corruption and connections to local, Serbian, and Albanian organized crime, mainly consisting of large-scale smugglers, who acted against UN-imposed embargos on Former Yugoslavia. Consequently, this government was voted out on parliamentary elections in 1998 in favour of a coalition of nationalist Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), Democratic Alternative (DA), and the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).

Ethnic Tensions

The new government immediately faced immense problems and began losing popularity. By November 2000 the DA withdrew from the coalition and was replaced by the small Liberal Party. Political scandals and economic difficulties had a heavy impact on the government, which was considered as corrupt by the population as previous SDSM. Clearly, this situation had a severe impact on relations between the Slav Macedonian majority and ethnic Albanian minority, which were already tense ever since country's independence even if not as bad as in Kosovo. On one side, the Albanians in Macedonia demanded greater cultural and educational rights, as well as representation in the government, armed forces and police; on the other side, large Serbian, Macedonian and Albanian, but also Greek and Bulgarian, smuggling bands were active in Macedonia in the 1990s. Their business flourished as long as the UN embargos against FRY were in force, and while SDSM was in power, almost nothing was done against their activity.

However, the conflict between the Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and the conduct of presidential elections in Macedonia in 1999, exacerbated inter-ethnic tensions. Charges of violence and ballot-stuffing highlighted tensions, further increased by a flood of 250.000 Kosovar Albanian refugees on the height of the Kosovo War. Eventually even the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) became present in Macedonia, establishing bases and supply centres from which it was dispatching fighters into FRY. It did not last very long until some of Albanian bands formed their own militias: private "bodyguards" were available in sufficient number - and omnipresent whenever specific local bosses felt their rights or interests threatened. Due to the uprisings and chaos in Albania, in 1996, and then the war in Kosovo, there were now plenty of weapons available at low prices.

Smuggling has long traditions in the Balkans, and in the case of Macedonia in the 1990s even top government officials were involved in different smuggling operations with Kosovo and Albania which were mainly run by ethnic Albanians. During the crisis on Kosovo, in 1998 and 1999, large stockpiles of weapons intended for KLA were stored in depots in villages on the Macedonian border to Kosovo. Smuggling of fuels, narcotics, tobacco, white slaves, and even chocolate was widespread and top Macedonian political brass was getting financial compensation for doing nothing against such crimes. Whoever protested within the Macedonian authorities was removed from his post. This dangerous combination of ethnic tensions and organized crime now only needed a spark that would cause the fire. While redirecting smuggling channels from Kosovo to Macedonia and gearing up the propaganda machine against the Macedonian government especially among the ethnic Albanians living abroad, the NLA began attacking police and army personnel and facilities, but then also public facilities (like rail lines).

Overview

On January 2001, the NLA began to carry out attacks on Macedonian security forces, using guns, bombs and landmines to ambush patrols near Macedonia's border with the United Nations-administered Serbian province of Kosovo. The conflict soon escalated and by the start of March 2001, the NLA had taken effective control of a swathe of northern and western Macedonia. By the end of March 2001, NLA fighters had failed to take the city of Tetovo in an open attack, but were able to controll the hills and mountains between Tetovo and Kosovo.

Aftermath

Ceasefire and disarmament

After the Ohrid Agreement, the NLA agreed to cease-fire in June, however there were other agreements in August, before settling one a final one in January 2002. Under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government pledged to improve the rights of the Albanian population, that makes up just over 25.3 per cent of the population. Those rights include making Albanian language an official language, increasing the participation of ethnic Albanians in government institutions, police and army. Most importantly, under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government agreed to a new model of decentralization.

The Albanian side agreed to give up any separatist demands and to fully recognise all Macedonian institutions. In addition, according to this accord the NLA was to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force.

Operation "Essential Harvest" was officially launched on 22 August and effectively started on 27 August. This 30-day mission involved approximately 3500 NATO and Macedonian troops to disarm the NLA and destroy their weapons. Just hours after NATO wrapped up the operation, Ali Ahmeti told reporters attending a news conference in the rebel stronghold of Sipkovica that he was dissolving the National Liberation Army and that it was time for ethnic reconciliation.

Several months after the conflict, some armed provocations persisted. Small bombings and shootings used to happen. The most serious provocations happened when three Macedonian police officers have been killed in an ambush by ethnic Albanian gunmen on November 12 2001.

Casulties and displacement

Casualty figures remain uncertain. By March 19, 2001, the BBC reported that Macedonian security forces claimed five of their soldiers were killed, while the NLA claimed it had killed 11. No definitive NLA casualty figures were cited at the time. On December 25, 2001, the Alternative Information Network cited figures of 63 deaths claimed by Macedonian security forces for their side and 64 deaths claimed by the NLA for their fighters. About 60 ethnic Albanians civilians are thought to have been killed (some say 1000) while possibly about ten ethnic Mecedonian died during the conflict (Macedonian authorities did not release figures for the latter at the time, some say there were 500). http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/200112/11230-003-trae-sko.htm "What Do the Casualties of War Amount to?"], Alternative Information Network (AIM), December 25, 2001</ref> As of December 2005, the fate of twenty "disappeared" civilians —13 ethnic Macedonians, six ethnic Albanians and one Bulgarian citizen— remains unknown. By August 2001, the number of people displaced by the war reached 170,000 of which 74,000 displaced internally. As of January 2004, 2,600 remain displaced.

Alleged war crimes

Although the conflict in Macedonia was brief, it was not scant of war crimes. The most notable incident was the infamous Vejče massacre where Albanian guerillas, killed 8 Macedonian soldiers and dismembered and vandalized their corpses. On another occasion Albanian guerrillas inscribed their names with knifes on the backs on some construction workers.

Among other crimes, the NLA militants blew up a 13th-century Sveti Atanasi Orthodox monastery in the town of Lesok. In 2001, the U.S. recognized NLA as a terrorist organization.

The Macedonian side did not restrict itself to the regularities of war. The events that happened during the attack on the Albanian village of Ljuboten near Skopje in August 2001, led to trial of the Macedonian minister of internal affairs of the time, Ljube Boškovski, in the International War Crime Tribunal in The Hague. Six ethnic Albanian civilians were killed there.

References

External links

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