Macedonia
The war that never was.
Ever since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999 it had been rumored that the Albanians in Macedonia were getting ready for a conflict. Reports of movements of guns and uniformed men over the border filtered through from time to time. The UN bods and internationals in Kosovo spoke darkly of GWG's and EEAG's (that's Guys with Guns, and Ethnic Albanian Armed Groups to you and me). Early in 2001 a Macedonian tv crew, acting on one of the rumours, ventured into the village of Tanusevci only to be met by uniformed Albanians who took their equipment and sent them packing. The Macedonian police also tried to enter and a firefight ensued, the insurgency had begun.
The Albanians had formed a new Army, they called it the National Liberation Army and claimed that they were fighting for better rights for the Albanian population of Macedonia.
Over the next eight months fighting between the NLA and the Macedonian police and army ebbed and flowed. The fighters of the NLA were much better organized than their brothers in the KLA, and on many occasions they outfought the Macedonian forces who responded by shelling Albanian villages with tanks, mortars and helicopter gunships flown by Ukranian pilots.
The conflict threatened to spiral into a civil war on many occasions, but somehow it seemed that neither side really wanted that to happen. Western diplomats were also pulling out all the stops to try to prevent another Balkan bloodbath which might spill over in to neighbouring Greece and Bulgaria.
The Greeks claim Macedonia as their own and refuse to recognize Macedonia as Macedonia, hence the countrys official mouthful of a name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.The Bulgarians also are not huge fans, they think that Macedonia should be a part of Bulgaria.
Events in August 2001 took the country to the brink of civil war, the NLA attacked a number of army convoys, causing heavy casualties, the Macedonians responded by rampaging through the village of Ljuboten, killing a dozen villagers. The international community, sensing a disaster, embarked on some serious shuttle diplomacy between the government and the rebels, and in late August a peace deal was signed. Within a few weeks 9/11 happened, the journalists headed east to Afghanistan and the conflict was quickly forgotten.
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