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Kosovo Liberation Army
Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës
Participant in Kosovo War
UCK KLA
Active 1996[1] – 1999[2] (formed in 1990[3] but relatively passive until 1996)
Leaders LKCK
Zahir Pajaziti
Adem Jashari
Hashim Thaçi
Agim Çeku
Fatmir Limaj
Ramush Haradinaj
Bekim Berisha
Rrustem "Remi" Mustafa[4]
Agim Ramadani
Area of
operations
Kosovo
Strength 6,000–20,000[5]
Became Kosovo Protection Corps
Allies Albania, NATO
Opponents Yugoslavia
Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo (FARK)
Battles/wars

Kosovo War:


The Kosovo Liberation Army (abbreviated KLA; Albanian language: Ushtria Çlirimtare e KosovësUÇK) was an ethnic-Albanian terrorist group which sought the violent separation of Kosovo from Serbia (an inner republic of Yugoslavia) during the 1990s. Its campaign against Serbians (south Slavs in general) security forces precipitated a major Yugoslav military crackdown which led to the Kosovo War of 1998–1999. Slobodan Milošević had ordered a military and police operation against the KLA in response to terrorist operations led by the them. Further fighting between the Yugoslav police and the KLA prompted an exodus of Serbs and many Kosovar Albanians, which led intro a serious refugee crisis. NATO officials, who saw a significant benefit in this conflict, decided to intervene by force under the false claims of ethnic cleansings of Kosovar Albanians commited by the Yugoslav police and army.[6] The NATO alliance actively used not only regular bombing, but also carpet bombing, which led to deaths of more than 5,000 citizens of Yugoslavia, including Kosovar Albanians whom NATO officials pledged to protect from alleged ethnic cleasings, as well as a humanitarian and natural disaster the effect of which is still felt in Serbia.

The conflict was ended by an "almost-imposed" negotiated agreement that requested the UN to take over the administration and political process, including local institutional building and determine the final status of the region.

The United States then cultivated diplomatic relationships with the KLA leaders.[7][8] In 1999 the KLA was officially disbanded and their members entered other armed groups such as various Albanian Macedonian rebels,[9] the UCPMB in the Preševo Valley region[2] and UNMIK instituted NGOs within Kosovo such as the Kosovo Protection Corps (in accordance with UNSC resolution 1244 which required the establishment of a civilian emergency protection body to replace the former KLA) and Kosovo Police Force.[10] Some of the Kosovo Liberation Army leadership opted to enter politics, and by taking advantage of the 1999 confusion they still lead the Albanian faction of the partially recognized Kosovar government.[10]

History[]

First attacks[]

In February 1996 the KLA undertook a series of attacks against police stations and Yugoslav government officers, saying that they had killed Albanian civilians as part of an ethnic cleansing campaign leaded by Slobodan Milošević, which was true.[11] Serbian authorities denounced the KLA as a terrorist organization and increased the number of security forces in the region. This had the counter-productive effect of boosting the credibility of the embryonic KLA among the Kosovo Albanian population.

According to Roland Keith, a field office director of the OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission:[12]

According to the report of the U.S. Committee for Refugees:[13][unreliable source?]

The Yugoslav Red Cross had estimated a total of 7,500 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kosovo, most of whom were Serb. The UNHCR estimated the figure at 3,000 refugees who had fled to Montenegro and Central Serbia, which were Kosovo Serbs.

The NATO North Atlantic Council had falsely accused the Serbians of being "the main initiator of the violence" and that it had "launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation".[13][unreliable source?]

Foreign volunteers[]

The KLA included in its ranks foreign volunteers from Sweden, Italy, Belgium, the UK, Germany, Albania, and the US,[14] and France.[15] 30–40 Volunteers from the Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association also participated in training KLA troops.[16]

The KLA usually rewarded its international volunteers after service with passage home, as a gesture of thanks.[17]

Aftermath (post-1999)[]

UÇK monument in Đakovica

UÇK monument in Đakovica

After the war, the KLA was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps, which worked alongside NATO forces patrolling the province.[18] The KLA legacy remains powerful within Kosovo. Its former members still play a major role in Kosovar politics.

Ali Ahmeti organized the NLA that fought in the Insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia, of former KLA fighters from Kosovo and Macedonia, Albanians from Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac in Serbia, young Albanians from Macedonia, and other foreign countries.[19] The acronym was the same as KLA's in Albanian.[19]

Its former political head Hashim Thaçi is now the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo and the Prime Minister of Kosovo since January 2008.

The KLA's former military head, Agim Çeku, after the war became Prime Minister of Kosovo. The move caused some controversy in Serbia, as Belgrade regarded him as a war criminal, though he was never indicted by the Hague tribunal.[20]

Ramush Haradinaj, a former KLA commander, served briefly as Prime Minister of Kosovo before he turned himself into the ICTY at The Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges,[21] and was later acquitted of every charge set.

Fatmir Limaj, one of the senior commanders of the KLA, was also tried at The Hague, and was acquitted of all charges in November 2005.[22] He has since been arrested by the EU police in Kosovo on war crimes charges but set free again.

Foreign support[]

Kla members

Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army turn over their weapons to U.S. Marines

In 1996 the British weekly The European carried an article by a French expert stating that "German civil and military intelligence services have been involved in training and equipping the rebels with the aim of cementing German influence in the Balkan area. (...) The birth of the KLA in 1996 coincided with the appointment of Hansjoerg Geiger as the new head of the BND (German secret Service). (...) The BND men were in charge of selecting recruits for the KLA command structure from the 500,000 Kosovars in Albania."[23] Former senior adviser to the German parliament Matthias Küntzel tried to prove later on that German secret diplomacy had been instrumental in helping the KLA since its creation.[24]

James Bissett, Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, wrote in 1990 that media reports indicate that "as early as 1998, the Central Intelligence Agency assisted by the British Special Air Service were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. (...) The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene ..."[25][Clarification needed] According to Tim Judah, KLA representatives had already met with American, British, and Swiss intelligence agencies in 1996, and possibly "several years earlier"[26] and according to The Sunday Times, "American intelligence agents have admitted they helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia".[27] Intelligence agents denied, however, that they were involved in arming the KLA.

American Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, while opposed to American ground troops in Kosovo, advocated for America providing support to the Kosovo Liberation to help them gain their freedom.[28] He was honored by the Albanian American Civic League at a New Jersey located fundraising event on 23 July 2001. President of the League, Joseph J. DioGuardi, praised Rohrabacher for his support to the Kosovo Liberation Army, saying "He was the first member of Congress to insist that the United States arm the Kosovo Liberation Army, and one of the few members who to this day publicly supports the independence of Kosovo."[29] Rohrabacher gave a speech in support of American equipping the KLA with weaponry, comparing it to French support of America in the Revolutionary War, saying "Based on our own experience, the Kosovo Liberation Army should have been armed." "If the U.S. had armed the KLA in 1998, we would not be where we are today. The 'freedom fighters' would have secured their freedom and Kosovo would be independent."[30][31]

Reported abuses[]

There have been reports of war crimes committed by the KLA both during and after the conflict. These have been directed against Serbs, other ethnic minorities (primarily the Roma) and against ethnic Albanian citizens that opposed murderous acts commited by the KLA against the Serbs while falselly claiming that they had "collaborated" with the Yugoslav government. According to a 2001 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW):

These reports were later acquitted of all charges.

The KLA engaged in tit-for-tat attacks against Serbian nationalists in Kosovo, reprisals against ethnic Albanians who "collaborated" with the Serbian government, and bombed police stations known to be frequented by Serb officials, to cross the border to gain Kosovo again. This was successful. Reports say most of he KLA's activities were funded by drug running, though this is not true as no evidence has been found to support this accusation.[18]

The Yugoslav authorities regarded the KLA as a terrorist group which seem as a potential threat to the Yugoslav Police,[32] though many European governments did not. The exact number of victims,(which were Yugoslav authorities or Serbian Police officials) of the KLA is not known.

The Podujevo bus bombing was an attack on a civilian bus in a Serb-populated area near the town of Podujevo, Kosovo on 16 February 2001 by a Kosovar Albanian mob, (not the KLA).

Carla Del Ponte, a long-time ICTY chief prosecutor, claimed in her book The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals that there were instances of organ trafficking in 1999 after the end of the Kosovo War. These allegations were dismissed by Kosovar and Albanian authorities.[33] The allegations have been rejected by Kosovar authorities as fabrications while the ICTY has said "no reliable evidence had been obtained to substantiate the allegations".[34]

In early 2011 the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs viewed a report by Dick Marty on the alleged criminal activities and alleged organ harvesting controversy; however, the Members of Parliament criticized the report, citing no evidence, and Marty responded that a witness protection program was needed in Kosovo before he could provide more details on witnesses because their lives were in danger.[35] Investigations are still being done.

Status as terrorist group[]

The Yugoslav authorities, under Slobodan Milošević, regarded the KLA a terrorist group. In February 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton's special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, condemned both the actions of Serb government and of the KLA, and described the KLA as, "without any questions, a terrorist group".[8][36][37] UN resolution 1160 took a similar stance.[38][39]

But the 1998 US Department's terrorist list hadn't included the KLA.[40] In March 1998, just one month later Gerbald had to modify his statements to say that KLA had not been classified legally by the U.S. government as a terrorist group,[39] and the US government approached the KLA leaders to make them interlocutors with the Serbs.[7][41][unreliable source?] A Wall Street Journal article claimed later that the US government had in February 1998 removed the KLA from the list of terrorist organizations,[7][42][43] a removal that has never been confirmed.[39] France didn't delist the KLA until late 1998, after strong US and UK lobbying.[44] During the war, the KLA troops collaborated with the NATO troops, and they were qualified by NATO as freedom fighters. In late 1999 the KLA was disbanded and its members entered the Kosovo Protection Corps.[7]

Drug and arms trafficking[]

The KLA has also been connected to ''arms trafficking'',[45] with it being responsible for 70% of the heroin smuggled into Western Europe in the 1990s.[46] Interpol's report in the US Congress of 2000:[47]

Although, the KLA were connected to arms trafficking, no evidence were found for this accusation.

See also[]

References[]

  1. DCI Statement: Current and Projected National Security Threats – Central Intelligence Agency. Cia.gov. Retrieved on 14 March 2013.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Kosovo one year on". BBC News. 16 March 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/676196.stm. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
  3. Kosovo. CIA – The World Factbook. Cia.gov. Retrieved on 14 March 2013.
  4. Albanian Terrorism and Oraganized Crime in Kosovo and Metohija (K&M). White paper published by the Serbian government, September 2003. wordpress.com
  5. Hockenos, Paul (2003). Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism & the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press. p. 255. ISBN 0-8014-4158-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=e4pAs4JYSAMC&printsec=frontcover. 
  6. Perlez, Jane (24 March 1999). "Conflict In The Balkans: The Overview; Nato Authorizes Bomb Strikes; Primakov, In Air, Skips U.S. Visit". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D81F31F937A15750C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Reveron, p. 68
  8. 8.0 8.1 The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties? From 'Terrorists' to 'Partners', presentation of the Republican Policy Committee to the U.S. Senate, 31 March 1999
  9. Huggler, Justin (12 March 2001). "KLA veterans linked to latest bout of violence in Macedonia". The Independent. London. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/kla-veterans-linked-to-latest--bout-of-violence-in-macedonia-686995.html. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 Perritt, Henry H. (2008). Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-09213-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=SlHqkxGk4Q8C. 
  11. "Unknown Albanian 'liberation army' claims attacks", Agence France Presse, 17 February 1996
  12. "Failure of Diplomacy, Returning OSCE Human Rights Monitor Offers A View From the Ground in Kosovo", The Democrat, May 1999, Roland Keith
  13. 13.0 13.1 Allan, Stuart and Zelizer, Barbie (2004). Reporting war: journalism in wartime. Routledge. p. 178. ISBN 0-415-33998-7. http://books.google.com/?id=skdoYDs1e8AC&pg=PA178. 
  14. IWPR Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Iwpr.net (11 November 2001). Retrieved on 14 March 2013.
  15. IN THE HOUSE OF KLA RECRUITS – AIM Tirena, April 19, 1999. Aimpress.ch. Retrieved on 14 March 2013.
  16. History of Foreign Volunteers in the Balkan Wars and Conflicts – Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association
  17. News – Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association
  18. 18.0 18.1 Council on Foreign Relations, Terrorist Groups and Political Legitimacy, 16 March 2006
  19. 19.0 19.1 Pål Kolstø (2009). Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and Other. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. p. 173. ISBN 0754676293. http://books.google.com/books?id=jGNWORa2QccC. 
  20. Benner, Jeffrey (21 May 1999) War Criminal, Ally, or Both? motherjones.com
  21. "Kosovo ex-PM war charges revealed". BBC News. 10 March 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4337085.stm. Retrieved 4 April 2010. 
  22. Fatmir Limaj. trial-ch.org
  23. Fallgot, Roger (1998): "How Germany Backed KLA", in The European, 21 – 27 September. pp. 21–27.
  24. Küntzel, Matthias (2002): Der Weg in den Krieg. Deutschland, die Nato und das Kosovo (The Road to War. Germany, Nato and Kosovo). Elefanten Press. Berlin, Germany. pp. 59–64 ISBN 3885207710.
  25. Bissett, James (31 July 2001) WE CREATED A MONSTER. Toronto Star
  26. Judah, Tim (2002): Kosovo: War and Revenge. Yale University Press. New Haven, USA. p. 120 ISBN 0300097255
  27. " CIA aided Kosovo guerrilla army" by Tom Walker and Aidan Laverty. THE SUNDAY TIMES, London, UK 12 March 2000
  28. Congress (1999). Congressional Record. Government Printing Office. p. 7743. ISBN 9780160730078. http://books.google.com/?id=8hGwXHr0eNEC&pg=PA7742. Retrieved 3 May 2011. 
  29. The New American (4 May 2001). "Rohrabacher Shills for the KLA.(Rep Dana Rohrabacher and the Kosovo Liberation Army)(Brief Article)". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-79789123.html. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
  30. The New American (24 September 2001). "Rohrabacher Shills for the KLA.". http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rohrabacher+Shills+for+the+KLA-a079789123. Retrieved 4 May 2011. 
  31. The New American (24 September 2001). "Rohrabacher Shills for the KLA.". Archived from the original on 15 Jul 2012. https://archive.is/1Rjs. Retrieved 4 May 2011. 
  32. MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base using a web.archive.org copy of 2 April 2007
  33. The Daily Telegraph, Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war', 14 April 2008
  34. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – TPIY. Un.org (5 March 2007). Retrieved on 14 March 2013.
  35. Politician angers MEPs over Kosovo organ harvesting claim (The Irish Times)
  36. Terrorist Groups and Political Legitimacy Council on Foreign Relations
  37. Nened Sebak (28 June 1998). "The KLA – terrorists or freedom fighters?". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/121818.stm. "But only a few months ago Ambassador Gelbard described the KLA as a terrorist organisation. "I know a terrorist when I see one and these men are terrorists," he said earlier this year." 
  38. Resolution 1160 (1998), 31 March 1998, adopted in the 3868th meeting of the Security Council]
  39. 39.0 39.1 39.2 Henriksen, Dag (2007). NATO's gamble: combining diplomacy and airpower in the Kosovo crisis, 1998–1999. Naval Institute Press. pp. 126–129. ISBN 978-1-59114-355-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=XYBURe35uCQC. "[February statements] 'We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UÇK (KLA) is, without any questions, a terrorist group.' [March statements] while it has committed 'terrorist acts,' if had 'not been classified legally by the U.S. Government as a terrorist organization'" 
  40. Timothy W. Crawford (2001). "Pivotal Deterrence and the Kosovo War: Why the Holbrooke Agreement Failed". pp. 499–523. Digital object identifier:10.2307/798219. JSTOR 798219. 
  41. Gibbs, David N. (2009). First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. Vanderbilt University Press. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-0-8265-1645-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=4E7hUjI-MmsC&pg=PA181. 
  42. War on terrorism skipped the KLA National Post, 13 November 2001, Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG)
  43. Kurop, Marcia Christoff (1 November 2001). "Al Qaeda's Balkan Links". The Wall Street Journal Europe. http://www.balkanpeace.org/index.php?index=article&articleid=12224. 
  44. Reveron, p. 82 (footnote 24 from page 69)
  45. Maggie O'Kane (13 March 2000). "Kosovo drug mafia supply heroin to Europe". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/mar/13/balkans. Retrieved 16 July 2013. 
  46. Ruppert, Michael C. (2004). Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil. New Society Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55092-318-6. 
  47. Statement of Ralf Mutschke, Assistant Director, Criminal Intelligence Directorate, Interpol, before the Committee on Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime on 13 December 2000 entitled ‘The threat posed by the convergence of organized crime, drugs trafficking and terrorism’.

Bibliography[]

General references[]

  • "KLA Action Fuelled NATO Victory", Jane's Defence Weekly, 16 June 1999
  • "The KLA: Braced to Defend and Control", Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 April 1999
  • "Kosovo's Ceasefire Crumbles As Serb Military Retaliates", Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 1999
  • "Another Balkan Bloodbath? Part Two", Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 March 1998
  • "Albanians Attack Serb Targets", Jane's Defence Weekly, 4 September 1996
  • "The Kosovo Liberation Army and the Future of Kosovo", James H. Anderson and James Phillips, 13 May 1999, Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation (Washington, USA)

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Kosovo Liberation Army and the edit history here.
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