Insurgency in the Preševo Valley

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Part of Yugoslav Wars

Serbian special police forces in the village of Oraovica near southern Serbian town of Preševo

Date	1999-2001
Location	Preševo, Bujanovac, Medveđa municipalities in Serbia
Result	Serbian victory, rebels disarmed

Belligerents

Yugoslav Army

Serbian police

UCPMB

Commanders

Ninoslav Krstić
Goran Radosavljević
Milorad Ulemek Legija

Muhamet Xhemajli
Ridvan Chazimi-Lleshi† [1]

Casualties and losses

4 killed
7 wounded

20-30 killed (including the leaders)

Civilian casualties:
6 killed

Yugoslav wars

Breakup – Slovenia – Croatia – Bosnia (1st NATO intervention) – Kosovo (2nd NATO intervention) – Preševo Valley – Macedonia

The Insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999-2001) was a struggle between the Yugoslav federal government and an Albanian rebel organization known as the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac (UCPMB), created with the aim of annexing this area of southern Central Serbia. The idea was to adjoin it to a future independent Kosovo though not necessarily the Republic of Albania.

1 Background
- 1.1 The Buffer zone
- 1.2 The UCPMB
2 The Conflict
3 Aftermath of the conflict
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Background

[edit] The Buffer zone

After the end of the Kosovo War in 1999, a three-mile "Ground Safety Zone" (GSZ) was established between Kosovo (governed by the United Nations) and inner Yugoslavia (now Serbia respectively). Yugoslav army units were not permitted to patrol the area, only lightly-armed police forces. The exclusion zone included the predominantly Albanian village of Dobrosin, but not Preševo.

[edit] The UCPMB

Further information: UCPMB

Modeled on the Kosovo Liberation Army (which was only officially disbanded after the war in Kosovo), the new guerrilla movement has been able to operate with relatively little concern about retaliation from Belgrade, which has been allowed to keep only the local police force in the area.

The aim of the movement was to take full control of Preševo and Bujanovac (and Medveđa outside of the valley but through the same campaign) and hold them until such time as the adjacent lands, Kosovo and Western Macedonia also came under Albanian control. This should have been followed by the gradual opening of the borders.

[edit] The Conflict

M-84 MBT and Serbian police special forces during fights in Oraovica village.

Between June 21, 1999 and November 12, 2000, 294 attacks were recorded, most of them (246) in Bujanovac, 44 in Medveđa and six in Preševo. The attacks resulted in fourteen 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 the attacks, UCPMB used mostly assault rifles, machineguns, mortars and snipers, but also RPGs, handgrenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines.^[1]

Serbian municipalities involved in the conflict

On November 23, 2000, four Serbian policemen were killed in fighting with militants.^[2] On February 18, 2001, three Serbian policemen died when their vehicle ran onto two anti-tank mines.^[3] Later that day, police examining the vehicle came under attack from mortar and anti-infantry fire. Police fired in response, and Bujanovac press centre reported that Albanians might have sustained casualties.^[4]

Lacking the attention of the international media, the incidents paused as the activities spread south of the border into Macedonia from where the twin organization NLA, became involved in a insurgency against Macedonian authorities.

On May 15, 2001, the government forces began an attack on the the village of Oraovica, the last rebel stronghold within southern Serbia that lies outside of the buffer zone.^[5] The attacking force was a mixture of Yugoslav Armys and Serbian police special forces. 78th Motorized Brigade from Vranje and police units (PJP and JSO) attacked village from Preševo, while 63rd Paratroop Brigade and 72nd Reconnaissance-commando Brigade "Hawks" surrounded from other side. Weak and small Albanian paramilitary forces were unable to fight against the elite Yugoslav Army and Serbian police special forces supported by strong armoured and mechanized forces, and they soon surrendered the next day, on May 16^[6]

Yugoslav officials claimed no casualties, and said 14-20 rebels were killed.^[7] The UCPMB disputed those figures saying only five militants were killed.^[8]

Most of the civilians left the village and were escorted to safety to Kosovo and Macedonia. A route out was left open for the guerrillas. Across the border in Kosovo, 45 Albanian guerrillas surrendered to KFOR troops soon after.^[9]

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, NATO allowed the Yugoslav army to reclaim the demilitarized zone on May 24th 2001, and at the same time giving the rebels the opportunity to turn themselves over to KFOR. KFOR promised to just take their weapons and note their names before releasing them.

[edit] Aftermath of the conflict

The region returned to normal life after the conflict. Although some things have changed, like ethnic Albanian parties participating in Serbian politics 5 years later in 2006^[10], after a 10-year boycott.