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National Liberation Army (Macedonia)
Encyclopedia
The National Liberation Army , also known as the Macedonian UÇK, was a militant
organization that operated in the Republic of Macedonia
in 2001 and was closely associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA).
Following the 2001 Macedonian War, it was disarmed under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement
, under which greater rights and autonomy were to be given to the country's Albanian minority population. However, in the disarmament of the organization, mainly outdated weapons were returned.
, nephew of one of the founders of the KLA, but was out of the public eye until it began to openly engage the Macedonian military and police. The NLA's proclaimed goal was equal rights for the ethnic Albanian minority within a confederate Macedonia. Senior NLA commanders insisted that "We do not want to endanger the stability and the territorial integrity of Macedonia, but we will fight a guerrilla war until we have won our basic rights, until we are accepted as an equal people inside Macedonia." The Macedonian government claimed the NLA were an extremist terrorist organization seeking to separate Albanian majority areas and unite those territories with Albania
.
Beginning on January 22, 2001 the NLA began to carry out attacks on Macedonian security forces, using light weapons. The conflict soon escalated and by the start of March 2001, the NLA had taken effective control of a large swathe of northern and western Macedonia and came within 12 miles of the capital Skopje
.
In March 2001, NLA members failed to take the city of Tetovo
in an open attack, but controlled the hills and mountains between Tetovo and Kosovo
. On May 3, 2001 a Macedonian government counter offensive failed in the Kumanovo
area. By June 8, the rebels took Aračinovo
, a village outside of Skopje. On August 16, the two sides signed a peace deal ending the open conflict.
and SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles. As the war progressed the rebels managed to acquire heavy weapons including T-55
tank's and armoured personnel carriers captured from Macedonian government forces.
The NLA was also supported by incursions from Kosovo, so the links to KLA
and UCPMB
was obvious, but never officially admitted.
Dozens of ethnic Macedonians were kidnapped. While many were released after a short time, 12 people apparently remained missing after the NLA released 14 others in late September. In October, reports suggested that the 12 may have been killed and buried in mass graves near Neproshteno. The case was referred by the Macedonian government to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for investigation.
Another incident which is claimed by Macedonian government to be a war crime was that of the so-called Vejce massacre where Albanian guerrillas ambushed and killed 8 Macedonian special forces from the Lions unit. Where allegedly the victims were executed with cold steel weapons.A patrol of 16 special operatives were coming back from a raid in a nearby village which they had raided a few hours earlier they looted and beat the villagers is what they said, this was done several times a week through 5 villages the patrol rout was always the same which the investigation after the massacre claimed that Albanian guerrillas had been monitoring the patrol for some weeks after they got complains by the ethnic Albanian villagers and had realised that the patrol was always the same rout and approximate times. The families of the dead soldiers and several ministers claim that the information was sold to the guerrillas and that a major betrayal took place. After setting up and ambush and attacking their lightly armoured Humvee vehicles with small arms fire and RPG’s the patrol stopped and Macedonian forces and guerrillas exchanged fire in a short skirmish, after soldiers started retreating half of the patrol managed to escape one soldier was shot and 7 others captured and allegedly executed with knives and then their corpses were allegedly burned.News of the massacre sparked local uprisings against Muslim Albanians in several towns and cities across Macedonia, and such revolts included burning and vandalising shops and Mosques. Surviving members of the roadside patrol that was massacred gave eyewitness testimony of the killings. They claimed that the massacre was carried out by a group of 10 bearded men. Till this day the bodies were not released to the public or civilian investigators and autopsies were carried out in a military morgue.
The alleged NLA bombing of the 13th-century Orthodox monastery
Sveti Atanasij in the village of Lesok however no one has ever claimed responsibility for the attack and Albanian guerrilla officials have demised all responsibility and placed the blame on Macedonian special forces saying it was another poor attempt to link the NLA to Islamic extremism, like that of the Asian immigrant massacre and that these incidents were seriously putting the Ohrid agreement and the established peace treaty into jeopardy. Eye whiteness interviewed by British Telegraph reported claimed the cooperates of this incident came from the ethnic Macedonian village of Rate. Even the Macedonian ministers and diplomats in Skopje agreed that the possibility of this attacking being carried out by Albanians was unlikely as the NLA had no history of attacking any religious or cultural buildings or sites.
NATO Military experts said that by evidence gathered from “The fact that the battery was lying within an area spattered by rubble and wreckage seemed to suggest that it was detonated using a relatively sophisticated timer device“ also the extensive amount of explosive used and the type of explosive all pointed to the Macedonian military. This incident is to this day disputed and the monastery is now under reconstruction built with some donations from the Albanian Islamic Union of Macedonia to erase any bad blood and Macedonian government. On the other hand, the Macedonian forces blew up a mosque
in the town of Neprosteno. Both structures were rebuilt in 2003 with funding from the EU.
The most notable incident was the infamous Asian Immigrant Massacre, when Macedonian special police forces murdered six Pakistanis and an Indian immigrants afterwards planting weapons, explosive and Islamic literature on the corpses claiming they were Al-Qaida cells which were about to attack US Embassy in Skopje
. This was conspired by Macedonian government to link the Albanian guerrillas to Al-Qaida so that Macedonia can sympathise with the west by making it seem they are to fighting a War on Terror against Islamic extremists.
This atrocious war crime was heavily criticised by the whole world and caused Macedonia to lose much of its foreign support especially from the west, the EU and Pakistan
governments strongly insisted that the people responsible for this war crime be brought to justice but the four men allegedly responsible for this were cleared of all charges and received a hero’s sheared after they left court.
There were disturbing images of the dead bodies released to parade the victims on TV as trophies.
Other crimes were like that of a three-day operation by Macedonian police against the ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten
, from August 10–12, 2001, which left ten civilians dead and resulted in the arrest of more than 100 men, many of whom were severely beaten and tortured while in police custody. According to the Macedonian government there was a presence of Albanian National Liberation Army in the village; however, the Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground in Ljuboten found no evidence of this and said it was a clear violation by Macedonian forces on human rights. These events led to the trial of the Macedonian minister of internal affairs of the time, Ljube Boškoski
, in the International War Crime Tribunal
in The Hague
. Eventually he was found not guilty.
, the NLA agreed to cease-fire in June. Under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government pledged to improve the rights of the Albanian population, that make up just over 25 % of the population. Those rights include making Albanian language an unofficial 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 was to initially involve approximately 3,500 NATO that number went up to 4,200 NATO troops 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.
Many members of the Albanian NLA, led by Ali Ahmeti
, later formed the Democratic Union for Integration
, a political party that won the majority of the Albanian votes in the 2002 election and formed part of the ruling coalition along with SDSM and LDP
until August 2006 when, following July 2006 parliamentary elections, a conservative VMRO-DPMNE / DPA coalition came to government .
Total casualties of war on each side are not known, but both sides claimed their own military casualties were around 60 each, while about 60 - 80 ethnic Albanian civilians and possibly about ten Macedonian civilians are thought to have been killed. (See Casualties and displacement in the 2001 Macedonia conflict)
On the 11th of May 2010, a shootout occurred just across the border of Kosovo and Macedonia. The men opened fire on Macedonian police when they refused to pull over. All four men in the car were killed as a result of the shootout. Macedonian police say they found a cache of weapons once again and it might be linked with the NLA, which threatens to ignite a new Balkan civil war.
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
organization that operated in the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
in 2001 and was closely associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
(KLA).
Following the 2001 Macedonian War, it was disarmed under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement
Ohrid Agreement
The Ohrid Framework Agreement was the peace deal signed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia and ethnic Albanian representatives on August 13, 2001...
, under which greater rights and autonomy were to be given to the country's Albanian minority population. However, in the disarmament of the organization, mainly outdated weapons were returned.
The NLA and the Macedonian War
The NLA was founded in the fall of 1999, and was led by former KLA Commander Ali AhmetiAli Ahmeti
Ali Ahmeti is the political leader of the Democratic Union for Integration , a governing political party in Republic of Macedonia...
, nephew of one of the founders of the KLA, but was out of the public eye until it began to openly engage the Macedonian military and police. The NLA's proclaimed goal was equal rights for the ethnic Albanian minority within a confederate Macedonia. Senior NLA commanders insisted that "We do not want to endanger the stability and the territorial integrity of Macedonia, but we will fight a guerrilla war until we have won our basic rights, until we are accepted as an equal people inside Macedonia." The Macedonian government claimed the NLA were an extremist terrorist organization seeking to separate Albanian majority areas and unite those territories with Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
.
Beginning on January 22, 2001 the NLA began to carry out attacks on Macedonian security forces, using light weapons. The conflict soon escalated and by the start of March 2001, the NLA had taken effective control of a large swathe of northern and western Macedonia and came within 12 miles of the capital Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
.
In March 2001, NLA members failed to take the city of Tetovo
Tetovo
Tetovo is a city in the northwestern part of Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River.The city covers an area of at above sea level, with a population of 86,580 citizens in the municipality. Tetovo is home to the State University of Tetovo and South East...
in an open attack, but controlled the hills and mountains between Tetovo and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
. On May 3, 2001 a Macedonian government counter offensive failed in the Kumanovo
Kumanovo
Kumanovo is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and is the seat of Kumanovo Municipality which is the largest municipality in the country. Municipal institutions include a city council, mayor and other administrative bodies.-Name:...
area. By June 8, the rebels took Aračinovo
Aracinovo
Aračinovo is a village in the Republic of Macedonia, west of Skopje. It is the seat of Aračinovo Municipality. Aračinovo is one of the larger villages in Republic of Macedonia with a population of about 7,000....
, a village outside of Skopje. On August 16, the two sides signed a peace deal ending the open conflict.
Composition and military capabilities
The NLA was estimated to comprise some 5,000 men at its peak and some of its members were trained by British SAS and Parachute Regiment officers. As was the case with the KLA, they were fairly lightly armed – generally with small arms and mortars – though there were later reports that they had acquired FIM-92 StingerFIM-92 Stinger
The FIM-92 Stinger is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile , which can be adapted to fire from ground vehicles and helicopters , developed in the United States and entered into service in 1981. Used by the militaries of the U.S...
and SAM-7 anti-aircraft missiles. As the war progressed the rebels managed to acquire heavy weapons including T-55
T-55
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were a series of main battle tanks designed in the Soviet Union. The first T-54 prototype appeared in March 1945, just before the end of the Second World War. The T-54 entered full production in 1947 and became the main tank for armored units of the Soviet Army, armies of...
tank's and armoured personnel carriers captured from Macedonian government forces.
The NLA was also supported by incursions from Kosovo, so the links to KLA
Kosovo Liberation Army
The Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
and UCPMB
UCPMB
The Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac was a separatist militant group fighting for independence from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the three municipalities: Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa, home to most of the ethnic Albanians of Central Serbia, adjacent to Kosovo.UCPMB's...
was obvious, but never officially admitted.
War Crimes
Although the conflict in Macedonia was brief, it was not scant of war crimes. According to Human Rights Watch, "Ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia tortured, sexually abused road workers after abducting them from the Skopje-Tetovo highway.Dozens of ethnic Macedonians were kidnapped. While many were released after a short time, 12 people apparently remained missing after the NLA released 14 others in late September. In October, reports suggested that the 12 may have been killed and buried in mass graves near Neproshteno. The case was referred by the Macedonian government to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for investigation.
Another incident which is claimed by Macedonian government to be a war crime was that of the so-called Vejce massacre where Albanian guerrillas ambushed and killed 8 Macedonian special forces from the Lions unit. Where allegedly the victims were executed with cold steel weapons.A patrol of 16 special operatives were coming back from a raid in a nearby village which they had raided a few hours earlier they looted and beat the villagers is what they said, this was done several times a week through 5 villages the patrol rout was always the same which the investigation after the massacre claimed that Albanian guerrillas had been monitoring the patrol for some weeks after they got complains by the ethnic Albanian villagers and had realised that the patrol was always the same rout and approximate times. The families of the dead soldiers and several ministers claim that the information was sold to the guerrillas and that a major betrayal took place. After setting up and ambush and attacking their lightly armoured Humvee vehicles with small arms fire and RPG’s the patrol stopped and Macedonian forces and guerrillas exchanged fire in a short skirmish, after soldiers started retreating half of the patrol managed to escape one soldier was shot and 7 others captured and allegedly executed with knives and then their corpses were allegedly burned.News of the massacre sparked local uprisings against Muslim Albanians in several towns and cities across Macedonia, and such revolts included burning and vandalising shops and Mosques. Surviving members of the roadside patrol that was massacred gave eyewitness testimony of the killings. They claimed that the massacre was carried out by a group of 10 bearded men. Till this day the bodies were not released to the public or civilian investigators and autopsies were carried out in a military morgue.
The alleged NLA bombing of the 13th-century Orthodox monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
Sveti Atanasij in the village of Lesok however no one has ever claimed responsibility for the attack and Albanian guerrilla officials have demised all responsibility and placed the blame on Macedonian special forces saying it was another poor attempt to link the NLA to Islamic extremism, like that of the Asian immigrant massacre and that these incidents were seriously putting the Ohrid agreement and the established peace treaty into jeopardy. Eye whiteness interviewed by British Telegraph reported claimed the cooperates of this incident came from the ethnic Macedonian village of Rate. Even the Macedonian ministers and diplomats in Skopje agreed that the possibility of this attacking being carried out by Albanians was unlikely as the NLA had no history of attacking any religious or cultural buildings or sites.
NATO Military experts said that by evidence gathered from “The fact that the battery was lying within an area spattered by rubble and wreckage seemed to suggest that it was detonated using a relatively sophisticated timer device“ also the extensive amount of explosive used and the type of explosive all pointed to the Macedonian military. This incident is to this day disputed and the monastery is now under reconstruction built with some donations from the Albanian Islamic Union of Macedonia to erase any bad blood and Macedonian government. On the other hand, the Macedonian forces blew up a mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in the town of Neprosteno. Both structures were rebuilt in 2003 with funding from the EU.
The most notable incident was the infamous Asian Immigrant Massacre, when Macedonian special police forces murdered six Pakistanis and an Indian immigrants afterwards planting weapons, explosive and Islamic literature on the corpses claiming they were Al-Qaida cells which were about to attack US Embassy in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
. This was conspired by Macedonian government to link the Albanian guerrillas to Al-Qaida so that Macedonia can sympathise with the west by making it seem they are to fighting a War on Terror against Islamic extremists.
This atrocious war crime was heavily criticised by the whole world and caused Macedonia to lose much of its foreign support especially from the west, the EU and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
governments strongly insisted that the people responsible for this war crime be brought to justice but the four men allegedly responsible for this were cleared of all charges and received a hero’s sheared after they left court.
There were disturbing images of the dead bodies released to parade the victims on TV as trophies.
Other crimes were like that of a three-day operation by Macedonian police against the ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten
Ljuboten
Ljuboten is a peak of the Šar Mountains located at the border between Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia. Its height is .-Information:Ljuboten peak although not being the highest peak of the range, is certainly the most attractive and bewildering peak of the Sar Mountains. It is somewhat...
, from August 10–12, 2001, which left ten civilians dead and resulted in the arrest of more than 100 men, many of whom were severely beaten and tortured while in police custody. According to the Macedonian government there was a presence of Albanian National Liberation Army in the village; however, the Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground in Ljuboten found no evidence of this and said it was a clear violation by Macedonian forces on human rights. These events led to the trial of the Macedonian minister of internal affairs of the time, Ljube Boškoski
Ljube Boškoski
Ljube Boškoski , known among his supporters as "Brother Ljube" , is a Macedonian politician and former Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia.He supervised an elite special operations tactical unit of the Macedonian police in his capacity as Minister of Internal...
, in the International War Crime Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. Eventually he was found not guilty.
Ceasefire and disarmament
After the Ohrid AgreementOhrid Agreement
The Ohrid Framework Agreement was the peace deal signed by the government of the Republic of Macedonia and ethnic Albanian representatives on August 13, 2001...
, the NLA agreed to cease-fire in June. Under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government pledged to improve the rights of the Albanian population, that make up just over 25 % of the population. Those rights include making Albanian language an unofficial 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
Decentralization
__FORCETOC__Decentralization or decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizens. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
.
The Albanian side agreed to give up any separatist
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
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"
Operation Essential Harvest
Operation Essential Harvest was a deployment mission in the Republic of Macedonia by NATO, officially launched on August 22, 2001 and effectively started on August 27...
was officially launched on 22 August and effectively started on 27 August. This 30-day mission was to initially involve approximately 3,500 NATO that number went up to 4,200 NATO troops 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.
Many members of the Albanian NLA, led by Ali Ahmeti
Ali Ahmeti
Ali Ahmeti is the political leader of the Democratic Union for Integration , a governing political party in Republic of Macedonia...
, later formed the Democratic Union for Integration
Democratic Union for Integration
The Democratic Union for Integration is the largest Albanian political party in the Republic of Macedonia, and the third largest political party in all of Macedonia...
, a political party that won the majority of the Albanian votes in the 2002 election and formed part of the ruling coalition along with SDSM and LDP
Liberal Democratic Party (Republic of Macedonia)
The Liberal Democratic Party is a liberal party in the Republic of Macedonia. The Liberal Democratic Party was launched in April 1997 as a merger between the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party...
until August 2006 when, following July 2006 parliamentary elections, a conservative VMRO-DPMNE / DPA coalition came to government .
Total casualties of war on each side are not known, but both sides claimed their own military casualties were around 60 each, while about 60 - 80 ethnic Albanian civilians and possibly about ten Macedonian civilians are thought to have been killed. (See Casualties and displacement in the 2001 Macedonia conflict)
Recent developments
In April 2010, a weapon cache believed to be intended for the group actions was discovered near the border with Serbia, it included uniforms with UÇK marks.On the 11th of May 2010, a shootout occurred just across the border of Kosovo and Macedonia. The men opened fire on Macedonian police when they refused to pull over. All four men in the car were killed as a result of the shootout. Macedonian police say they found a cache of weapons once again and it might be linked with the NLA, which threatens to ignite a new Balkan civil war.
See also
- Albanian nationalismAlbanian nationalismAlbanian nationalism is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts among ethnic Albanians that were first formed in the beginning of 19th century in what was called the Albanian National Awakening...
- 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia
- Greater AlbaniaGreater AlbaniaGreater Albania or Ethnic Albania is an irredentist concept of lands outside the borders of the Republic of Albania that are considered part of a greater national homeland by most Albanians, based on the present-day or historical presence of Albanian populations in those areas...
- Kosovo Liberation ArmyKosovo Liberation ArmyThe Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....
- Liberation Army of ChameriaLiberation Army of ChameriaLiberation Army of Chameria is a reported paramilitary formation in the northern Greek region of Epirus. The organisation is reportedly linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army and the National Liberation Army, both ethnic Albanian paramilitary organisations in Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia...
- Albanian National ArmyAlbanian National ArmyThe Albanian National Army , is an ethnic Albanian organization closely associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army — operating in the Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo...