2001 insurgency in Macedonia

Insurgency in Skopje
File:2001 Skopje insurgency.svg
Date January – November 2001 Location Polog region of the Skopje near the border with Albania and FR Yugoslavia (Kosovo[a]) Result Ohrid Agreement signed, ceasefire established, Albanian militants agree to disarm in exchange for greater ethnic rights.
Belligerents
National Liberation Army (NLA)	Skopje
Commanders and leaders
Ali Ahmeti Daut Rexhepi - Leka Samidin Xhezairi Rrahim Beqiri	Boris Trajkovski Ljubčo Georgievski Ljube Boškoski Vlado Bučkovski
Strength
5,000 - 7,000 insurgents	15,000
Casualties and losses
64 killed (Macedonian claim) 11 Killed (NLA claim)	63 Killed (Macedonian claim) 88 Killed (NLA claim)
Civilian casualties: 70 dead (60 ethnic Albanians, 10 ethnic Macedonians) Other: 2 EU monitors 1 UK soldier killed

The Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (January – November 2001) was an armed conflict which began when the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) militant group began attacking the security forces of the Republic of Macedonia at the beginning of January 2001. The conflict lasted throughout most of the year, although overall casualties remained limited to several dozen for either side, according to the sources from both of the sides in the conflict.

Aftermath

Ceasefire and disarmament

After the Ohrid Agreement, the rebels agreed to cease-fire in June, however there were other agreements in August, before both sides settled on a final one in January 2002. Under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government pledged to improve the rights of the Albanians of the country, an ethnic-group that makes up just over 25.3 percent of the population. Those rights included making Albanian language the second official language, increasing the participation of ethnic Albanians in government institutions, the police and the 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 recognize all Macedonian institutions. In addition, according to this accord the NLA was to disarm and hand over their weapons to NATO.

Operation "Essential Harvest" was officially launched on August 22 and effectively started on August 27. 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 Šipkovica 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 were killed in an ambush by ethnic Albanian gunmen on November 12, 2001.

Bust dedicated to fallen Macedonian soldier, Mile Janevski-Džingar, in Makedonska Kamenica.

Casualties 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 Albanian civilians are thought to have been killed while possibly about ten ethnic Macedonians died during the conflict (Macedonian authorities did not release figures for the latter at the time). 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, mostly Macedonians. Of these 170,000, 74,000 were displaced internally. As of January 2004, 2,600 people remain displaced. Two European Union monitors were killed during the conflict. One British soldier was also killed.

NLA Freedom Museum

As a result of the conflict, some Albanians of Čair Municipality in Skopje established in 2008 a 'Museum of Freedom' presenting what they consider battles of the Albanians in the region from the period of the Prizren League in 1878 until the 2001 insurgency. It is also known as the NLA Museum and commemorates those who died during the conflict. Items include paramilitary clothing and insurgent flags used in 2001. Many Albanians see it as a non-military continuation of the uprising. Former NLA leader turned politician, Ali Ahmeti stated at the opening ceremony “My heart tells me that history is being born right here, in Skopje, the ancient city in the heart of Dardania. Our patriots have fought for it for centuries, but it is us today who have the destiny to celebrate the opening of the museum. Fighters from Kosovo are here to congratulate us...”

Recent developments

In April 2010, a weapons caché believed to be intended for terrorist action was discovered near the border with Serbia, it included uniforms with Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK) insignia. On May 12, four militants were killed by the Macedonian police, in a village close to Kosovo. The police seized four bags of explosives, anti-infantry mines and other weapons. The militants killed were wearing black uniforms and UÇK insignia was found in the vehicle. In the following days, as Macedonia petitioned Kosovo for any information that it might have possessed, 70 ethnic-Albanian criminals linked to the Albanian Mafia were arrested for illegal weapons possessions. Among the arrested were 4 men, a father and his three sons. They are believed to be linked to the men that were killed on May 12.

Alleged war crimes

Alleged war-crimes included the likes of a three-day operation by the 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 ethnic-Albanian men, many of whom were severely beaten and tortured while in police custody. According to the Macedonian government, there was an insurgent presence in the village; however, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground in Ljuboten found no direct evidence of this. These events led to the trial of the then-Macedonian Minister of Internal Affairs, Ljube Boškoski, in the International War Crime Tribunal in The Hague. Eventually, he was found not guilty.

The bombing of the 13th-century Orthodox monastery Sveti Atanasij in the village of Lesok is considered a war-crime by some. However, no one has ever claimed responsibility for the attack and Albanian guerrilla officials have desmised all responsibility and placed the blame on Macedonian special forces saying it was another poor attempt to link the NLA to Islamic extremism. However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that near the rubble that had once been one of the most revered religious sites for the Macedonian Orthodox Church, there lay a dead donkey, its bloated body daubed with red paint: spelling out the letters UÇK, the Albanian abbreviation for the rebel National Liberation Army. This incident is to this day disputed and the monastery is now under-going reconstruction. On the other hand, the Macedonian forces themselves destroyed a mosque in the village of Neprosteno. The mosque was rebuilt in 2003 with funding from the EU.

The monastery at Matejce, near Kumanovo, was also damaged in the fighting and the church of St. Virgin Hodegetria was vandalized by the Albanian terrorists who spray-painted and carved anti-Christian and Albanian-nationalist symbols into the church's 14th-century frescoes. Similar attacks were carried out against Serb churches and monasteries in Kosovo by ethnic-Albanians.

Another incident which is claimed by the Macedonian government to be a war crime was that of the so-called Vejce massacre, in which Albanian militants ambushed and killed 8 Macedonian soldiers. After attacking their lightly armoured Humvee vehicles with small arms fire and RPGs, the Macedonians got out and exchanged fire with the hostile insurgents in a short skirmish. Afterwards, the soldiers started retreating. Half of the patrol managed to escape, one soldier was shot and the others were captured. Four of the victims were executed with machetes and bayonets and had their genitalia removed and set alight. News of the massacre sparked local uprisings against ethnic-Albanians in several towns and cities across Macedonia, and such revolts included burning and vandalising shops and Mosques. Surviving members of the ambushed group of soldiers gave eyewitness testimony of the killings. They claimed that the massacre was carried out by a group of 15-20 bearded men. To this day, the bodies have not been released to the public or to civilian investigators and autopsies were carried out in a military morgue.

See also

• Operation Essential Harvest
• Preševo valley crisis
• Operation Mountain Storm

References

a.	^ Template:Kosovo-note

External links

• Casualties and displacement
• "Macedonia: Step back from the abyss", BBC, December 29, 2001
• "Macedonia: Understanding History, Preventing Future Conflict", United States Institute of Peace, Special Report No. 115, February 2004
• "Macedonia's Civil War: 'Made in the USA'", Antiwar.com, August 20, 2001
• Chronology of the war
• Youtube video of an ethnic standof in Tetovo CTV
• Battles -9/2001
• Battles - 3/2001
• Macedonia On Brink of War - 6/2001
• Macedonia On War Footing Over Kosovo Border Provocations
• November Battles, Start of War, January 2, 2001
• 2002 attacks
• Boskovki interview
• War in the Balkans, again?