SUMMARY
UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosovës; Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA) was a rebel group involved in an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Serbia (Yugoslavia). UCK’s primary goal was independence for Kosovo, and the group claimed to represent the Albanian population in that region. Kosovo had been part of the Yugoslavian state since 1918, but had the status of an autonomous province from 1974. In 1981, after an uprising among Kosovo’s Albanian population, the area came under marital law and was subsequently put under direct control of the Serbian republic in 1989. UCK opposed the Serbian leadership’s measures to reduce the influence for Albanians in Kosovo during the 1980s, and the group claimed that the numbers of Albanians in the province gave them the right to control this territory. For many UCK members, the longer-term goal was also to unite the Albanian populations of Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania. In 1998, an unnamed UCK commander also stated that the group’s goal was to join all territories inhabited by Albanians together; this aim was however disputed by UCK spokesperson Jakup Krasniqi.
The movement that later coalesced into UCK had emerged already at some point during the early 1990s; in 1996 an organization calling itself the UCK claimed responsibility for sporadic violent attacks that had begun in 1995. During protests among Kosovar Albanians in 1997, the UCK emerged as an alternative to the more pacifist approach of Ibrahim Rugova, the President of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo”, in office since 1992. In the early stage of the Kosovo conflict, the UCK resembled more of an association of clans rather than a hierarchical military force; however, in August 1998, UCK made moves to formalize its organization by appointing formal political representatives. As the group became militarily successful, it also accumulated political influence, and drew in members from existing political parties. In early 1999, UCK began setting up its own administrative structures in the areas it controlled. UCK had a strained relationship to other political parties that represented the Kosovar Albanians, such as Rugova’s Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
UCK’s first political leader was Adem Demaci, who resigned on 2 March 1999. UCK’s political wing later came under the leadership of Hashim Thaci. Militarily, its local detachments and small units enjoyed much freedom of action. However, by mid-1999 the UCK had developed a more functional central military command, led by Agim Ceku. In September 1997, it was estimated that the UCK had some 1000-2000 fighters; as the conflict began, these numbers swelled to several thousands, perhaps as much as 15 000-20 000. A more conservative estimate put the numbers at 8000-10 000 in May 1999, or even as low as 5000.
Despite ethnic ties to UCK, Albania did not provide overt support for Kosovar independence, and it promoted a negotiated settlement to the conflict. However, Albania did little to prevent the use of its northern highlands by UCK to train its guerillas during the conflict. UCK was also able to acquire weapons from arms depots in Albania, following the collapse of the government authorities there. UCK also received considerable amounts of foreign funding, especially from the Albanian diaspora, via its “Homeland Calling” organization. Similarly, UCK claimed that it received a significant number of foreign fighters, for example from various European countries.
On 24 March 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) initiated a large-scale aerial bombardment directed against the Government of Serbia (Yugoslavia), UCK’s principal opponent, in order to stop its military campaign in Kosovo. As the campaign began, NATO and the UCK entered into close consultation; UCK also provided NATO with necessary information about the situation on the ground. UCDP considered the NATO bombings as secondary warring support to UCK. The campaign lasted until 10 June 1999.
On 21 June 1999, UCK and the Government of Serbia (Yugoslavia) signed an “Undertaking of Demilitarization and Transformation”, which stipulated that the group would cease to exist as a military organization from 20 September 1999. After this, UCK was no longer active in the UCDP data. UCK supporters later formed the Party of Democratic Progress of Kosovo (PPDK; later Partia Demokratike e Kosovës, PDK), the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), and the Kosovo Police Service (KPS).
