Kosovo Liberation Army

Kosovo Liberation Army

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) (Albanian: Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës UÇK or Serbian: Ослободилачка Bојска Косова) was an Albanian insurgent organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from the FR Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Its campaign against Yugoslav security forces and ethnic Serbs from Kosovo precipitated a major Yugoslav military crackdown which led to the Kosovo War of 1998–1999. Military intervention by Yugoslav security forces led by Slobodan Milošević and Serb militia within Kosovo in response to diverse operations led by the KLA prompted an exodus of Kosovar Albanians/Serbs and a refugee crisis that eventually caused NATO to intervene militarily in order to stop what was widely identified as an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing. Later the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) legally found that Serbia "use violence and terror to force a significant number of Kosovo Albanians from their homes and across the borders, in order for the state authorities to maintain control over Kosovo."

The conflict was ended by an "almost-imposed" negotiated agreement that requested the UN to take over the administration and political process, including local institutional building and determine the final status of the region.

The US then cultivated diplomatic relationships with the KLA leaders. In 1999 the KLA was officially disbanded and their members entered other armed groups such as various Albanian Macedonian rebels, the UCPMB in the Preševo Valley region and UNMIK instituted NGOs within Kosovo such as the Kosovo Protection Corps (in accordance with UNSC resolution 1244 which required the establishment of a civilian emergency protection body to replace the former KLA) and Kosovo Police Force. Some of the Kosovo Liberation Army leadership opted to enter politics, and by taking advantage of the 1999 confusion they still lead the Albanian faction of the partially recognized Kosovar government.

In early 2011 the Council of Europe has viewed a report on the alleged criminal activities and the alleged organ harvesting controversy by Dick Marty; however, Mr. Marty refused to testify before the judges because of the lack of evidence. Investigations are still being done.