The Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac ( sq, Ushtria Çlirimtare e Preshevës, Medvegjës dhe Bujanocit, UÇPMB) was an Albanian

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...

group fighting for separation from the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

for three municipalities:

Preševo Preševo ( sr-cyrl, Прешево; sq, Preshevë, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. It is the southernmost town in Central Serbia and largest in the geographical region of Preševo Valley. Prešev ...

Bujanovac Bujanovac ( sr-cyr, Бујановац, ; sq, Bujanoc) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. Situated in the South Morava basin, it is located in the geographical area known as Preševo Valley. It is ...

, and

Medveđa Medveđa ( sr-cyr, Медвеђа, ; sq, Medvegja, ) is a town and municipality located in the Jablanica District of southern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 2,848 inhabitants, while the municipality has 7,438 ...

, home to most of the Albanians in south Serbia, adjacent to

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

. Of the three municipalities, two have an ethnic Albanian majority, whilst Medveđa has a significant minority of them. The UÇPMB's uniforms, procedures and tactics mirrored those of the then freshly disbanded

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, ...

(KLA). The 1,500-strong paramilitary launched the

insurgency in the Preševo Valley The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley was a year-long armed conflict between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the ethnic Albanian separatists of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UÇPMB). There were instances dur ...

from 1999 to 2001, with the goal of joining these municipalities to

. The EU condemned what it described as the "extremism" and use of "illegal terrorist actions" by the group.

History

After the end of the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

in 1999, a three-mile "Ground Safety Zone" (GSZ) was established between Kosovo ( governed by the UN) and inner

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. Yugoslav Forces (VJ) units were not permitted there, and only the lightly armed Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs forces were left in the area. The exclusion zone included the predominantly Albanian village of Dobrosin, but not

. Serbian police had to stop patrolling the area to avoid being ambushed. Ethnic Albanian politicians opposed to the KLA were attacked, including Zemail Mustafi (the vice-president of the

branch of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia ( sr, Социјалистичка партија Србије, Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Ivica Dačić. It was founded in 1990 as the direct successor to ...

) who was assassinated. Between 21 June 1999 and 12 November 2000, 294 attacks were recorded, most of them (246) in Bujanovac, 44 in

and six in Preševo. These attacks resulted in 14 people killed (of which six were civilians and eight were policemen), 37 people wounded (two UN observers, three civilians and 34 policemen) and five civilians kidnapped. In their attacks, UÇPMB used mostly assault rifles,

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

s, mortars and

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a port ...

s, but occasionally also RPGs,

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade ...

s, and

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first dev ...

and

anti-personnel mine Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines; the latter may ...

s. The UÇPMB included minors. As the situation escalated,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

allowed the VJ to reclaim the demilitarized zone on 24 May 2001, at the same time giving the UÇPMB the opportunity to turn themselves over to the

Kosovo Force The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2009, becomes self sufficient. KFOR entered Kosovo on 11 June 1999, two days ...

(KFOR), which promised to only take their weapons and note their names before releasing them. More than 450 UÇPMB members took advantage of KFOR's "screen and release" policy, among them commander Shefket Musliu, who turned himself over to KFOR at a checkpoint along the GSZ just after midnight of 26 May 2001.

Aftermath

The former KLA next moved to western Macedonia where they established the National Liberation Army, which fought against the Macedonian government in 2001.

Ali Ahmeti Ali Ahmeti ( mk, Али Ахмети; born 5 January 1959) is a Macedonian politician of Albanian descent, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, and a junior coalition partner in the Macedonian government since 2008. Ahmeti is also know ...

organized the NLA of former KLA and UÇPMB fighters from Kosovo and Macedonia, Albanian insurgents from Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac in Serbia, young Albanian nationalists from Macedonia, and foreign fighters.

Notable people

* Shefket Musliu (highest commander) * Muhamet Xhemajli (second commander) * Ridvan Qazimi "Lleshi" (third commander) * Njazi Azemi "Mjekrra" (commander) *Pacir Shicri (spokesman) *Tahir Dalipi (spokesman) *Jonuz Musliu *Shaqir Shaqiri *Mustafa Shaqiri *Nagip Ali *Orhan Rexhepi *Lirim Jukupi *Arben Ramadani

Notes

References

External links

In Serbia, Albanian gunmen go silently to work
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 2 March 2000.
A War Waiting to Happen: Clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia threaten to ignite a fresh conflict
''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', 13 March 2000.
Albanian rebels training for Serbian war

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

, 12 February 2001
Albanian separatists continue fighting in Kosovo buffer zone

World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analys ...

, 14 February 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberation Army Of Presevo, Medveda And Bujanovac Kosovo Liberation Army Albanian militant groups Albanian nationalism in Serbia Albanian separatism Paramilitary organizations based in Yugoslavia Paramilitary organizations in the Yugoslav Wars Separatism in Serbia Secessionist organizations in Europe Terrorism in Serbia Organizations established in 1999 Organizations disestablished in 2001 Albanians in Serbia 1999 establishments in Yugoslavia