Army of release of Kosovo

The Armed with release of Kosovo or UÇK (in Albanian Ushtria Çlirimtare E Kosovës ) is an Albanian paramilitary group which fought, at the end of the years 1990, so that the Kosovo separates from the Yugoslavia.

The attacks of the Army of release of Kosovo against the Serb security forces precipitate the military repression of Yugoslavia which will lead to the Guerre of Kosovo in 1999. Many Albanians of Kosovo perceive the UÇK like a beneficial liberation movement main road, although the group is shown Serb murders of civilians and Albanians suspected of collaborating with the mode of Milosevic. The Yugoslav authorities, the Western United States and other governments (before 1999) regard the movement as a terrorist group. One believes that former members of the UÇK would be implied in crimes of the post-war period and would have contributed, in their search of the creation of large Albania, with the destabilization of the Neighboring states of Kosovo.

History

Birth of the UÇK (1995-1996)

In 1995, isolated attacks, not asserted target the Serb police force and of the civilians. It is however only in February 1996 that one intends to speak for the first time about the Army about release about Kosovo, after a series of attacks against police stations, representatives of the government of Belgrade and Serb refugee camps located in the west of Kosovo.

At the beginning, one doubts the existence of the UÇK. The moderate chief of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, allots the attacks to Serb provocative agents. However, the existence of the UÇK is not soon any more a doubt. The Serb authorities show the group of terrorism and increase their manpower of safety in Kosovo. These measurements have the perverse effect promoting the popularity of the UÇK among the Albanians of Kosovo, whereas the group in is always with its stammerings.

The founders of the UÇK are of the radical Albanians of Kosovo frustrated by the strategy of passive resistance of Ibrahim Rugova. They seek with médiatiser the question of the relations of Kosovo with Serbia by causing an opened conflict, in which the Western countries would be forced to intervene.

Of the guerilla to the war of Kosovo (1997-1999)

The Army of release of Kosovo grows bigger considerably between 1997 and 1999. It conducts many attacks against the police force, the army and of the Serb civilians, and it sets up road blocks in rural region. In May 1998, the UÇK controls the quarter of the province, around the area of Drenica. Its bastion is at the village of Prekaz.

At the beginning, the Serb government wonders how to react to the appearance of the UÇK. The ministry for the Interior ceases patrolling in great areas of Kosovo, while the Yugoslav army does not pay attention to the activities of the UÇK. For its part, the chief of the clandestine government, Ibrahim Rugova, is in front of a dilemma: reticent to sanction the tactics of violence of the UÇK, it worries about lose the support of the radical Albanians. In consequence of the assassination of the Albanians suspectés to collaborate with the Serb government, the position of Rugova becomes intolerable.

At that time, one does not know the exact size of the UÇK. The spokesperson of the group, Jakup Krasniqi, asserts 30.000 combatants, while other estimates evoke rather from 10.000 to 50.000 men. The Serb ones, on the other hand, claim that the UÇK counts only a few hundreds of radical Albanians. However, the military weakness of the UCK is not any doubt. The UCK does not have its provision that light weapons like rifles of attack anti-tank AK-47 and some weapons RPG-7, and its arsenal is not at the level of the heavy weapons of the Serb security forces.

The disparity becomes obvious at the summer 1998 after the reaction of the government to the attempt missed by the UÇK to take the town of Orahovac. The security forces of State launch an offensive against the UÇK, destroy its organization mainly and regain the domination of almost all the province (except for a zone surrounding the frontier city of Junik). The Serb offensive is characterized by a blind use of the force in the villages of Kosovo suspected of lodging rebels of the UÇK. It constrained more than 100.000 people to flee their houses and causes an outcry of the European States.

The UÇK answers the defeat while reorganizing. It establishes a central structure of command and an organism in charge of the drive. It forms a principal group ( Shtabi I Pergjithshem ) composed of 16 to 20 members and divides Kosovo into seven military operational zones which are directed in an semi-autonomous way by commanders known under pseudonyms. The UÇK creates also a political wing ( Drejtoria Politike ) animated by the popular separatist Hashim Thaçi. It builds camps of drive and bases in the protected zone located at the North-East of Albania and establishes even its own military academy ( Akademia E Ardhshme Ushtarake ) where former Yugoslav officers of Albanian origin form the recruits. According to Serb sources, the first camps of drive of the UÇK are established with Labinot, close to Tirana, with Tropojë, Kukës and Bajram Curri close to the border which separates Yugoslavia from Albania.

The news of the Serb offensive makes the turn of Europe and causes a reaction without precedent in the Albanian diaspora. Thousands of young Albanian emigrants leave their employment to come to involve itself in the camps of the UÇK. They are so numerous that the UÇK is initially unable to take care of them all. The strategy of financing of the UÇK bears also fruits: million dollars is able of the shady mediums of Central Europe to finance the army of guerillas and in particular allow him to buy considerable quantities of weapons on the black-market. The UÇK continues to use mainly small weapons, but increases the variety of its arsenal by acquiring anti-aircraft missiles SA-7 and FIM-92 Stinger, as well as light artillery, like mortars.

Until 1997, the the United States regard the UÇK as an terrorist organization supported partly by the traffic of heroin. The special representative of the president Bill Clinton in the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, described the UÇK like an undoubtedly terrorist group. Nevertheless, before February 1998, the UÇK is removed list of the terrorist organizations of the State Department of the United States. According to reliable sources, representatives of the UÇK would have met, since 1996 and possibly several years earlier, of the American intelligence services, British and Swiss. In 1998, the British weekly magazine The European mentions that military and civil intelligence services German would have taken part in the drive and the equipment of the rebels with an aim of consolidating the German influence in Balkans. The former adviser at the German Parliament, Matthias Küntzel, will prove later that these secret services played a crucial role at the UÇK since its creation. According to the Sunday Times of London, American intelligence agents admitted to have taken part in the military formation of the Army of release of Kosovo before the bombardment of Yugoslavia by NATO.

The new Albanian government denies any support with the UÇK, but does not close the border with Kosovo nor the camps located in Albania. It is not probably able to do it, since at the time, chaos reigns in the North-East of the country. In Kosovo, the UÇK learned from its errors and avoids concentrating its forces in the villages where it would be an easy target of the Serb ones. It rather launches raids since the hills and the forests of the west of Kosovo. The combatants of the UÇK target the Serb army and the civilians. The Serb responses are of an overpowering force and often without understanding, and give place to massacres like that of Racak in January 1999. The violence of these attacks encourages the other Kosovan ones to flee, which increases the pressure so that the Western States intervene.

The war of Kosovo and its repercussions (1999-)

The conflict passes from the guerilla to the war in March 1999. The Serb and Yugoslav forces launch a violent offensive against the UÇK and certain Albanian communities. They thus cause the exile of a great part of the Albanian population, with an aim posted to deprive the UÇK of support. As of the beginning of the engagements, the sudden UÇK of heavy losses and is forced to cut off itself in Albania. Only a few thousands of combatants remain in Kosovo. The commander of the Army of release of Kosovo, Sylejman Selimi, political character without official military formation, is relieved in May 1999 and replaced by Agim Çeku, a former general of brigade of the Croatian army.

Although it has military effects limited on the Serb forces, much more powerful, the UÇK plays a crucial role at the time of the war. After the nomination of Çeku, it adopts a position much more aggressive. It attacks units of the Serb security forces and the constrained one with going in discovered ground, at the thank you of the bombardments of the aviation of NATO.

The finished war, the Serb NATO and authorities sign an peace agreement which places Kosovo under the protectorate of the the United Nations. The UÇK agree to be disarmed, although it does not sign the peace treaties. NATO succeeds in convincing the UÇK to be demilitarized and take part in the peace process while promising to him to form the Corps of protection of Kosovo (CPK, TMK in Albanian). The new group, composed of 3000 members resulting from the rows from the UÇK, is charged to work in stricken region, in particular to bring a humanitarian aid and of déminer. In order to show continuity between the two entities, one establishes the operational zones of the CPK on the model of those which the UÇK had established. The CPK installs its battalions in the old hutments of the Yugoslav army.

The creation of the CPK is not entirely crowned success, because of many veterans of the UÇK regret the role which they occupied in the Army of release of Kosovoet, some time after the end of the war, Serb and some moderate Albanians is assassinated. One blames the members of the UÇK of these murders as of the intimidation which causes the exile of thousands of Serb of Kosovo after the war.

Former members of the UÇK try to extend the insurrection in areas close to Kosovo. A new paramilitary formation, the Army of release of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac, appears; it is composed veterans of the UÇK and Albanian of Serbia. During the period 2000-2001, this organization begins its operations with Preševo in the south of Serbia. In Republic of Macedonia, another group so known under initials UÇK (for Army of national release, in Albanian) takes the weapons against the government dominated by the Slavic ones.

The heritage bequeathed by the UÇK remains important in Kosovo. Former members always play a leading role in the Kosovan policy. The political ex-chief of the group, Hashim Thaçi, is today the leader of the Democratic party of Kosovo, one of the political principal parties of the province.

Crimes against the minorities in Kosovo made by the Army of release of Kosovo

Ramush Haradinaj, regional ex-commander, briefly occupies the role of Prime Minister for Kosovo before being marked of war crime by the International penal court for ex-Yugoslavia in $the Hague. Agim Çeku, formerly military chief, occupy today the post of Prime Minister for Kosovo. Its arrival caused the controversy in Serbia, since Belgrade regards it as a war criminal, though he was never shown by the International Court of Justice. Several former members of the UÇK were shown war crimes. Fatmir Limaj, which was commander, is discharged from all the counts of indictment in November 2005. He is today a key member of the opposition. For its part, Haradin Bala is delivered to the International penal court for ex-Yugoslavia which shows it to have taken part in the detention of Serb civilians and supposed collaborator Albanian to the prison camp Lapusnik, where it was commander of guard. He is recognized guilty of torture, cruel treatment and murder, and is condemned to 13 years of imprisonment. He interjeté call.

Random links: