| Macedonian Nla |
Shopping Liberation |
Website Links For National Liberation |
Information AboutMacedonian Nla |
|
The NLA was founded in the fall of 1999, and was led by Ali Ahmeti , the nephew of Fazli Veliu , founder of the KLA, but was out of the public eye until it began to openly be engaged in, what was considered by Macedonian government and media, "large scale crimes" in 2000 and 2001. In March 2001 when Tetovo , the second largest city in Macedonia was attacked, NLA members were unable to take the city, but controlled the hills and mountains between Tetovo and Kosovo . NLA was also supported by incursions from Kosovo, so the links to KLA and UCPMB was obvious, but never officially admitted. The Macedonian NLA consists of ethnic Albanians (of which many were probably former KLA members) seeking to gain greater political and economic freedom in western Macedonia. Some allege that the NLA is in favour of a Greater Albania in which western Macedonia would become part of Albania again (This it was during 1941 - 1945 when it was awarded by the Axis powers to the puppet state of Albania). After the Ohrid Agreement, the NLA agreed to cease-fire in June. Under the Ohrid Agreement, the Macedonian government pledged to improve the rights of the Albanian population, that makes up just over 20 per cent of the population. Those rights include making Albanian language an official language, increasing the participation of ethnic Albanians in government institutions, police and 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 recognise all Macedonian istitutions. In addition, according to this accord the NLA was to disarm and hand over their weapons to a NATO force. Operation "Essential Harvest" was officially launched on 22 August and effectively started on 27 August. This 30-day mission involved approximately 3500 NATO 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 Sipkovica that he was dissolving the National Liberation Army and that it was time for ethnic reconciliation. Many members of the Macedonian NLA, led by Ali Ahmeti , later formed the Democratic Union For Integration , a political party that has won the majority of the Albanian votes in the 2002 election and it is a part of the ruling coalition along with SDSM and LDP . |
|
|