Macedonia’s Albanian guerrilla, the National Liberation Army (NLA), closely linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), agreed to disarm under NATO supervision and in mid August 4,600 NATO troops began to collect guerrilla arms and ammunition.

“Operation Essential Harvest” also worked closely with the Macedonian Army’s border forces to tighten the frontier with Kosovo against arms smugglers and KLA support for the NLA. In September NATO declared demilitarization of the NLA was complete, and replaced the bulk of NATO troops with 1,000 civil monitors.

In November 2001 the Macedonian parliament ratified the Ohrid Accord and added fifteen amendments to the 1991 Constitution. The former NLA leader, Ali Ahmeti, formed a new Albanian political party, the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), which soon outstripped the other Albanian parties.

Key Amendments to the Macedonian Constitution Albanian to be the country’s second official language. Albanian recruitment to the civil service and police. Minority veto mechanism when Parliament or local councils vote on cultural rights. An elected inter-ethnic commission with seven Macedonians, seven Albanians and five members of the country’s other communities (Turkish, Roma, Serb, Bosnian and Vlach). Minority representation on the National Security Council. Equal rights for minorities and the majority. An Albanian language university.

As in Kosovo, the OSCE set up a police’ training program to help the Macedonian government reach its target of 23% Albanian representation in the local police forces. Mixed Albanian-Macedonian patrols were sent to the villages where conflict had occurred, to build confidence for refugee returns.

In January 2002, the Macedonian parliament adopted legislation enhancing municipal powers. The devolution of highly centralized government authority also granted some measure of self-rule to Albanian majority municipalities.

The law was hard fought by Macedonia’s ruling nationalists (VMRO-DPMNE), and was only pushed through after their coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SDSM), walked out of government in November 2001. VMRO was forced to seek the support of moderate Albanian parties, and so to implement some of the commitments it had made at Ohrid.

On March 7, 2002, the Macedonian parliament passed the amnesty law that had been promised as a guarantee for NLA demilitarization. Soon after, the government was able to take back control of Albanian villages that had been under guerrilla control.

But the run-up to general elections in September 2002 was again marked by escalating tension between Albanian and Macedonian groups.

On 15 August, two soldiers were lightly wounded in an attack on a barracks in Skopje. On 16 August, a car full of weapons exploded on the Skopje-Blace road, a bomb destroyed a pastry shop in the Kumanovo region, and a police checkpoint was attacked near the village of Opae. Then two policemen were killed on August 26 in Gostivar.

The militant Albanian National Army, ANA, formed by erstwhile NLA and KLA fighters, said it was responsible for the killing.

Within 12 hours of the Gostivar killings, Macedonians from the suburbs were blocking roads into the city, demanding the arrest of DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, though he had severed his links to radical Albanian militia. The headquarters of two Albanian political parties in Skopje were attacked and a bomb went off in front of Ahmeti’s house in Skopje.

When the Macedonian police arrested two Albanians for the murder of the policemen, Albanian gunmen took five Macedonian civilians hostage and threatened to kill them if the arrested Albanians were not released.

Intensive U.S., NATO and EU diplomacy prevented Ahmeti’s arrest and secured the release of the hostages. The elections, held three weeks later, were monitored by 850 OSCE observers, and were pronounced free and fair.

To the surprise of most political analysts, the “Together For Macedonia” coalition between the Social and Liberal Democrats won over 40% of the votes and 60 seats in the 120 member parliament. Ahmeti’s DUI captured the Albanian vote, winning 16 seats.

Macedonia settled into a period of relative calm and, NATO leaders said, “the process of dialogue and reconciliation progressed significantly.” In December 2002 NATO brought its Macedonia mission to an end, and began to work on integrating the country into European security structures.

“Operation Allied Harmony” advised and assisted the Macedonian authorities and paved the way for a hand over from NATO to the EU. On March 31, 2003, the EU took over from NATO. To ensure continuity, German Navy Admiral Rainer Feist, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), was appointed Operational Commander for the Balkans region.

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Chapter Contents
			The Balkans Stabilization & Reconstruction
		·	The Dayton Implementation Process
		·	The UN Mission in Kosovo
		·	The War Crimes Tribunal
		·	NATO's Role in Macedonia
		·	The Balkans Stability Pact

Related Texts
·	Framework Agreement (Ohrid Accords)
·	Nato in Macedonia
·	Operation Amber Fox
·	Operation Allied Harmony
·	EU Website: EU Military Operation in former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)