{
  "id": "RL30900",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30900",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100337,
      "date": "2002-03-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:13:05.175941",
      "title": "Macedonia: Country Background and Recent Conflict",
      "summary": "Sharing borders with Kosovo and Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia\n(FYROM)\nmanaged to avoid becoming directly involved in the drawn-out wars in Bosnia and Kosovo in the\n1990s. Inter-ethnic relations between the Slav majority and ethnic Albanian minority in Macedonia,\nwhile often tense, never reached the crisis state of Albanian-Serb relations in the province of\nKosovo. Since Macedonia's independence in 1991, ethnic Albanian political parties in Macedonia\nhave been represented in government and in parliament. \n  However, in early 2001, ethnic Albanian rebels calling themselves the National Liberation\nArmy (NLA) stepped up attacks on Macedonian security forces first in several villages near the city\nof Tetovo and by the western border with Kosovo, and later near the capital, Skopje. The NLA was\nthought to have ties to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and rebel Albanian forces operating in\nsouthern Serbia. In March, the Macedonian government began a counter-insurgency campaign. It\nopened talks on political reforms with elected ethnic Albanian representatives, but refused to\nnegotiate with the rebels themselves. Clashes between the rebels and government forces continued\nthrough the summer of 2001, notwithstanding intermittent cease-fire agreements and ongoing\npolitical talks. With U.S. and European diplomatic intervention, the parties signed a framework\nagreement on August 13, amidst the deadliest violence of the conflict. Implementation of the\nagreement has progressed slowly and with difficulty. Substantial recent progress enabled the holding\nof a long-delayed international donors' conference on March 12, 2002. In spite of recent\nachievements, some observers continue to fear the prospect of a new uprising by ethnic Albanian\nextremists or armed provocations by forces supporting Macedonian hardliners.\n  In June 2001, NATO formulated and approved plans to launch a limited operation in\n Macedonia\nto oversee the disarmament of the ethnic Albanian rebel forces. On August 22, NATO gave final\napproval for the deployment of Operation Essential Harvest comprising about 4,500 troops in total. \nThe operation completed collection of a targeted amount of rebel weapons (nearly 4,000) on\nSeptember 26, 2001. NATO then deployed a smaller follow-on force (Task Force Fox) to provide\nsecurity for international civilian monitors. NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) has also\nbeen involved in patrolling and reinforcing the Kosovo border in order to try to cut off Albanian\nrebel supply routes. The United States maintains some KFOR support forces in Macedonia, but did\nnot contribute forces to either the Task Force Harvest or Task Force Fox missions in Macedonia. \nIn early 2002, the European Union agreed to consider taking over the military mission in Macedonia\nfrom NATO.",
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    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs1899/",
      "id": "RL30900 2001-11-07",
      "date": "2001-11-07",
      "retrieved": "2005-06-12T01:43:14",
      "title": "Macedonia: Country Background and Recent Conflict",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Politics and government",
          "name": "Politics and government"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "NATO military forces",
          "name": "NATO military forces"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Politics and government - Macedonia",
          "name": "Politics and government - Macedonia"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Defense policy",
          "name": "Defense policy"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "National Defense"
  ]
}