Who are the NLA?
By Tim Ripley
Over the past eight months the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA), or Ushtria Clirimitore Kombetare (UCK), has grown from a group of less than 200 guerrillas into a fighting force of 3,000 fighters, controlling hundreds of square miles of northern and western Macedonia. So far the group has withstood several Macedonian army and police offensives and bounced back to seize even more territory. The haphazard bombardment of Albanian villages by Macedonian aircraft, helicopter gunships and artillery has proved a boon to the NLA, prompting a steady stream of recruits and huge cash donations from the Albanian Diaspora in Western Europe and North America. By mid-August, when NATO committed itself to intervening in the conflict to collect rebel arms as part of the Ohrid peace agreement, the NLA had seized control of a huge swathe of territory and put the poorly led and equipped government forces firmly on the defensive.
Origins
NLA aims
Leadership and structure
Control of territory
The NLA arsenal
Conclusion
By Tim Ripley
Over the past eight months the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA), or Ushtria Clirimitore Kombetare (UCK), has grown from a group of less than 200 guerrillas into a fighting force of 3,000 fighters, controlling hundreds of square miles of northern and western Macedonia. So far the group has withstood several Macedonian army and police offensives and bounced back to seize even more territory. The haphazard bombardment of Albanian villages by Macedonian aircraft, helicopter gunships and artillery has proved a boon to the NLA, prompting a steady stream of recruits and huge cash donations from the Albanian Diaspora in Western Europe and North America. By mid-August, when NATO committed itself to intervening in the conflict to collect rebel arms as part of the Ohrid peace agreement, the NLA had seized control of a huge swathe of territory and put the poorly led and equipped government forces firmly on the defensive.
Origins
NLA aims
Leadership and structure
Control of territory
The NLA arsenal
Conclusion
