Kosovo Liberation Army
44956
224095058
2008-07-07T07:58:52Z
NOAH
1530872
[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 224060808 by [[Special:Contributions/Fs222|Fs222]] ([[User talk:Fs222|talk]]) deleted sentence
{{Totally-disputed|date=March 2008}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2008}}
{{Infobox War Faction
|name=Kosovo Liberation Army <br>(''Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës'')
|war= [[Kosovo War]]
|image= [[Image:Uck kla logo.svg]]
|caption=
|active=1979 - 1999
|leaders= [[Hashim Thaci]], [[Agim Çeku]]
|clans=
|headquarters=
|area=[[Kosovo]]
|strength=
|previous=
|next=[[Kosovo Protection Corps]]
|allies=[[Albania]], [[NATO]]
|opponents=[[Yugoslavia]]
|battles=
}}
The '''Kosovo Liberation Army''' or '''KLA''' ([[Albanian language|Albanian]]: ''Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës'' or ''UÇK'', [[Serbian language|Serbian]]: ''Ослободилачка војска Косова'' or ''ОВК'') was a Kosovar [[Albanians|Albanian]] guerilla group which sought the independence of Kosovo from [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Serbia]] in the late 1990s.
The [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslav]] authorities regarded the KLA a [[terrorist]] group<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070402053051/http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3517 MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base] using a web.archive.org copy of 2 April 2007</ref>, though many European governments did not. The Serbian government also reported that the KLA had killed and kidnapped no fewer than 3,276 civilians of various ethnic descriptions including some Albanians.<ref name=ZAT>.[http://www.arhiva.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2002-07/08/325076.html Victims of the Albanian terrorism in Kosovo-Metohija (Killed, kidnapped, and missing persons, January 1998 - November 2001)]<br>[http://www.arhiva.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/2002-05/25/326656.html Žrtve albanskog terorizma na Kosovu i Metohiji (Ubijena, oteta i nestala lica, januar 1998 - novembar 2001)]</ref> Some external sources (from outside Yugoslavia) reported the number of casualties attributable to the KLA to be lower.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}
The KLA has been called "the most successful guerrilla movement of modern times, without winning a single battle."<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1231596.stm Who are the rebels?], ''[[BBC News]]'', [[20 March]] [[2001]]</ref> Its campaign against Serbian security forces precipitated a major [[JNA|Yugoslav military]] crackdown which led to the [[Kosovo War]] of 1998-1999. Military intervention by Yugoslav security forces and Serb militias within Kosovo prompted an exodus of Kosovar Albanians and a refugee crisis that eventually caused NATO to intervene militarily in order to stop what was widely identified (by NATO nations, human rights organizations, the EU, and western media) as an ongoing campaign of [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref>[http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword-03.htm UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 4. March-June 1999: An Overview<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> <ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D81F31F937A15750C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Conflict In The Balkans: The Overview; Nato Authorizes Bomb Strikes; Primakov, In Air, Skips U.S. Visit - New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> At the time, the view of western governments was heavily influenced by a desire to avoid repeating the failure of Western Europe to prevent human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing during the conflict in Bosnia. The conflict was ended by a negotiated agreement that requested UN to take over the administration and political process, including local institutional building and determine final status, while upholding the Yugoslav' sovereignty over the territory, under NATO protection.
==History==
===Origins===
The origins of the KLA are in the Popular Movement for the Republic of Kosova. Such persons as doctors, teachers, and other educated leaders expelled by the Serbian government in the 70s and 80s became commanders of units of the rebel group. The group was formed by the Albanian emigration in 1982 in [[Switzerland]] and modeled on the [[Irish Republican Army]] (IRA).<ref>[http://unddr.org/docs/Beating%20Swords%20Into%20Plowshares.pdf BEATING SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES: Reintegration of Former Combatants in Kosovo], United Nations Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Centre</ref> Its program was to create an Albanian national republic within the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] by armed resistance, and eventually to create [[Greater Albania]].
According to other sources KLA was partly a leftist group. Finally and mainly, they were; as leading European criminal investigation departments claimed, involved in drug and women trafficking rings in Kosovo. Yugoslavia was forced to accept [[IWF]] conditions in order to deal with big problems. These problems were due to the breakdown of the Eastern-block's economic COMECON association. These IWF measures resulted in privatisation, rising prices, unemployment etc. and forced some people to turn to the drug trade to earn money. Hence the need to push out local police forces for the drug business made them very willing to act as an army. NATO secret services realised that they could be used as a political instrument, to create the Kosovo conflict, and thus attack and occupy Kosovo. The German Secret Service BND is reported to have recruited, organized and equipped the KLA in Tirana, the capital of Albania.
<ref>[http://www.serbianunity.net/news/world_articles/euro100198.html Pierre-Marie Gallois, a retired French general and a specialist in geopolitics reports "How Germany Backed KLA", in The European, 21 September-27 September. pp 21-27. </ref>
The KLA fought against local police and also attacked Serbian civilians. However, the Western media mainly reported Serbian attacks against "Kosovo-Albanians" and largely ignored the actions of KLA-fighters. This was in order to create a picture of "ethnic cleansing" against the people of Kosovo. The KLA was later many times protected by the KVM, Kosovo Verification Mission. The KLA was also equipped with satellite mobile phones to coordinate their actions. During the war they directed NATO bombers to bridges and other targets in Kosovo. <ref>[article during the first months of the bombing war against Yugoslavia in the German magazine STERN </ref>
Furthermore, the US and British secret services have helped to build up the KLA. James Bissett, who in 1990, was appointed as Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania, and witnessed first-hand the Yugoslav tragedy. He blames the war, in a large part, to Western diplomatic blundering and deliberate scheming. He writes, "... that as early as 1998, the central intelligence agency assisted by the British Special Armed Services were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. (...) The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene ..." <ref>[http://www.deltax.net/bissett/a-monster.htm We created a monster<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
===Emergence of the KLA (1995-1996)===
In 1995, isolated attacks on Serbian police and civil targets were carried out by unnamed parties in Kosovo, though it was not until February 1996 that the name "Kosovo Liberation Army" was used for the first time following a series of attacks against targets that included police stations, Serb government officials, and Serb refugee centers in western Kosovo.<ref>"Unknown Albanian 'liberation army' claims attacks", Agence France Presse, [[February 17]], [[1996]]</ref>
Observers initially doubted the existence of the KLA. The moderate Kosovo Albanian leader [[Ibrahim Rugova]] attributed the attacks to Serbian ''agents provocateurs''. However, it soon became clear that the KLA was genuine. The Serbian authorities denounced it as a terrorist organization and increased the number of security forces in the region. This had the counter-productive effect of boosting the credibility of the embryonic KLA among the Kosovo Albanian population.
The founders of the KLA were Kosovo Albanians who were frustrated by the Rugova-backed "passive resistance" strategy. They sought to bring the issue of Kosovo's relations with Serbia to a head by provoking an open conflict, in which they believed the West would be forced to intervene. Two founding members of the KLA worth noting are; [[Zahir Pajaziti]] and [[Adem Jashari]].{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
===Kosovo War (1997-1999)===
{{Kosovo War}}
The KLA grew considerably in size between 1997 and 1999. A French expert writes: "The birth of the KLA in 1996 coincided with the appointment of Hansjoerg Geiger as the new head of the [[BND]] (German secret Service). (...) The BND men were in charge of selecting recruits for the KLA command structure from the 500,000 Kosovars in Albania." <ref>
http://www.serbianunity.net/news/world_articles/euro100198.html Article in The European October 1st, 1998., Kosovo: HOW GERMANY BACKED KLA </ref> Also the UK and USA trained and armed the KLA in hope that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene there. <ref>http://www.deltax.net/bissett/a-monster.htm WE CREATED A MONSTER, For Toronto Star July 31, 2001</ref> As early as 1998, the U.S. State Department had listed the KLA as a terrorist organization financing its operations with money from the international heroin trade and Islamic funds, including alleged loans from [[Osama Bin Laden]] according to a Interpol report <ref>{{cite web | url = http://judiciary.house.gov/Legacy/muts1213.htm | title = The Threat Posed by the Convergence of Organized Crime, Drugs Trafficking and Terrorism. | author = written Testimony of Ralf Mutschke Assistant Director, Criminal Intelligence Directorate International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol General Secretariat before a hearing of the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime | publisher = U.S. House Judiciary Committee | date = 2000-12-13 | accessdate = 2008-05-31 | quote = In 1998, the U.S. State Department listed the KLA as a terrorist organization, indicating that it was financing its operations with money from the international heroin trade and loans from Islamic countries and individuals, among them allegedly Usama bin Laden. Another link to bin Laden is the fact that the brother of a leader in an Egyptian Djihad organization and also a military commander of Usama bin Laden, was leading an elite KLA unit during the Kosovo conflict }}</ref><ref>[http://www.deltax.net/bissett/a-terrorism.htm KLA as drug dealers and funded by Islamic funds]</ref>
It carried out numerous attacks on Serbian police, army, and civilian targets, and set up roadblocks in the countryside. By May 1998, it effectively controlled a quarter of the province, centered on the region of [[Drenica]]; its stronghold was located in the village of [[Prekaz]].{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
The Serbian government was initially uncertain about how to react to the KLA. The Ministry of the Interior (MUP) simply ceased patrolling large areas of Kosovo, while the Yugoslav Army (VJ) often ignored KLA activity. Ibrahim Rugova's "shadow government" also faced a dilemma; it was unwilling to endorse the KLA's violent tactics but was wary of losing support to the radicals. Its position worsened after the KLA assassinated a number of Albanians regarded as "collaborators" with the Serbian government.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
The size of the KLA at this point was frankly unknown for certain. Spokesman Jakup Krasniqi claimed 30,000 men under arms, while other estimates ranged between 20,000 and 50,000. The Serbs, by contrast, claimed that the KLA comprised only a few hundred radicals. Whatever number was most accurate, it was certain that the KLA was militarily weak. Its fighters were equipped with small arms such as [[AK-47]] assault rifles and a few [[RPG-7]] anti-tank weapons; this was no match for the heavy weapons of the Yugoslav (and Serbian) security forces.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
This disparity became clear in the summer of 1998, when the Serbian government forces decided to seize the town of [[Orahovac]]. The state security forces launched an offensive against the KLA. The Serb forces started massacring anyone who was captured on site in the town of [[Orahovac]]. KLA units being lightly armed pulled back unable to stop the massive Serbian forces, it positioned itself in the back of town close to the border of [[Junik]].
The KLA responded by reorganizing itself with a central command structure (modelled on that of the [[Provisional IRA|IRA]]) and training organization. It established a General Staff (''Shtabi i Pergjithshem'') of between 16-20 members and divided Kosovo into seven military operational zones, commanded semi-independently by local commanders operating under pseudonyms. The KLA also established a political arm, the ''Drejtoria Politike'', led by prominent Kosovo independence activist [[Hashim Thaci]]. It built training camps and bases in the safe haven of north-eastern [[Albania]], even establishing its own military academy (the ''Akademia e Ardhshme Ushtarake'') where ethnic Albanians, formerly Yugoslav Army officers, trained new recruits. According to Serbian accounts, the primary KLA training camps in Albania were [[Labinot]], near [[Tirana]], [[Tropojë]], [[Kukës]] and [[Bajram Curri (town)|Bajram Curri]] near the Yugoslav-Albanian border.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
KLA fund raising was equally successful, raising millions of dollars in the central European underworld,<ref>"The Albanian Cartel: Filling the Crime Void", ''Jane's Intelligence Review'', November 1995</ref><ref>"Drugs Money Linked to the Kosovo Rebels", ''The Times'', London, [[24 March]] [[1999]]</ref> for the guerrilla army and permitting it to buy considerable amounts of weapons on the black market.
The KLA continued to rely principally on small arms but expanded its arsenal to include [[SA-7]] and [[FIM-92 Stinger]] shoulder-launched [[anti-aircraft missile]]s, as well as light artillery such as [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]]s{{Fact|date=February 2007}}.
There were reports that the KLA was supported in part by heroin trafficking.<ref>SCOTT, Peter Dale (2003): ''Drugs, Oil and War''. Rowman & Littlefield. Lanham, USA. page 29</ref> United States President [[Bill Clinton]]'s special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, described once the KLA as, ''"without any questions, a terrorist group"''. Nevertheless, by February 1998, the KLA had been removed from the [[United States State Department]]'s terrorism list. According to reliable sources, KLA representatives had already met with American, British, and Swiss intelligence agencies in 1996, and possibly "several years earlier".<ref>JUDAH, Tim (2002): ''Kosovo: War and Revenge''. Yale University Press. New Haven, USA. Page 120</ref> In the same year, a British weekly newspaper, [[The European]], stated that "German civil and military intelligence services have been involved in training and equipping the rebels with the aim of cementing German influence in the Balkan area."<ref>FALLGOT, Roger (1998): "How Germany Backed KLA", in ''The European'', [[21 September]]-[[27 September]]. pp 21-27.</ref> Former senior adviser to the German parliament [[Matthias Küntzel]] proved later on that his country secret diplomacy had been instrumental in helping the KLA since its creation.<ref>KUNTZEL, Matthias (2002): ''Der Weg in den Krieg. Deutschland, die Nato und das Kosovo'' (The Road to War. Germany, Nato and Kosovo). Elefanten Press. Berlin, Germany. pp. 59-64.</ref> According to [[The Sunday Times]], "American intelligence agents have admitted they helped to train the Kosovo Liberation Army before NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia" [http://www.balkanpeace.org/index.php?index=/content/balkans/kosovo_metohija/articles/kam01.incl].
The new Albanian government disclaimed any support for the KLA but did not close the border with Kosovo or the camps in Albania. It was probably not in a position to do so in any case, as the north-east of the country was in a state of anarchy at the time. In Kosovo, the KLA learned from its earlier mistakes, avoiding concentrating its strength in villages (so presenting the Serbs with easy targets). Instead, it mounted hit-and-run attacks from the hills and forests of western Kosovo. KLA fighters attacked Serbian police and civilian targets.
===The Kosovo War and aftermath (1999-)===
[[Image:Kla members.jpg|thumb|250px|Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army meet U.S. Marines following the Kosovo War]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Yugoslav tank captured by KLA.jpg|thumb|left|800px| KLA militiamen next to a disabled Yugoslav T-55 tank]] -->
<!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:KLA Sniper.jpg|thumb|right|300px|KLA Sniper]] -->
Full-scale war broke out in Kosovo in March 1999. The Serbian and Yugoslav forces launched an offensive against the KLA. The KLA initially suffered heavy losses and was driven back into Albania, with only a few thousand fighters remaining in Kosovo itself. Its commander, [[Sylejman Selimi]], a political appointee with no formal military training, was removed in May 1999 and replaced with [[Agim Çeku]], an ethnic Albanian who had previously served in the [[Croatian Army]] as brigadier-general. Although it had little direct military impact on the much stronger Serbian forces, the KLA did play one vital role in the war. After Çeku's appointment, it began to take a much more aggressive stance by attacking security force units and forcing them into the open, particularly after [[NATO]] aircraft were able to attack them.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}
When the war ended, NATO and Serbian leaders agreed to a peace settlement that would see Kosovo governed by the [[United Nations]] with the KLA being demilitarized. The KLA was, however, not a signatory to the peace accords. KLA agreed to be transformed and disarmed [http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/a990620a.htm]. NATO sought to bring it into the peace process with a promise to establish a 3,000-strong [[Kosovo Protection Corps]] drawn from KLA ranks and charged with disaster response, [[search and rescue]], assistance with [[demining|de-mining]], providing humanitarian assistance, and helping to rebuild infrastructure and communities. The KPC's operational sectors were very similar to those established by the KLA, illustrating the continuity between the two organizations. The KPC took over the former Yugoslav Army barracks; each zone had its battalions established there.
The establishment of the KPC did not prove wholly successful, as many ex-KLA members resented losing their role as the army of Kosovo. For some time after the end of the war, many Serbs and some Albanians opposed to the KLA causes were killed. Many of the killings were blamed on KLA members. Intimidation by the KLA was also blamed for the flight of thousands of Serbs from Kosovo after the war ended [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3551571.stm].
Ex-KLA members also made efforts to spread [[insurgency]] into neighboring regions {{Fact|date=February 2007}}. A new insurgent group called the [[UCPMB|Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveda and Bujanovac]], consisting of KLA veterans and local ethnic Albanians, began operating in the [[Presevo|Preševo]] region of southern Serbia in 2000-2001<!--<ref>GOVERNMENT OF SERBIA (2003): ''Albanian Terrorism and Organized Crime in Kosovo-Metohija (White Book)'', pp 9-14</ref>-->. In the [[Republic of Macedonia]], a new organization also named UÇK (this time standing for "[[Albanian National Liberation Army (Macedonia)|National Liberation Army]]" in Albanian) took up arms against the Slav-dominated government. In early 2002, [[Greece]] was on stand-by after pro-Albanian activities had again crossed over the border; these incidents however, attracted little international attention.
The KLA legacy remains powerful within Kosovo. Its former members still play a major role in Kosovar politics; its former political head [[Hashim Thaci]] is now the leader of the [[Democratic Party of Kosovo]] and the prime minister of Kosovo since January 2008, one of the province's leading political opposition parties. [[Ramush Haradinaj]], a former KLA regional leader, served briefly as [[Prime Minister of Kosovo]] before he turned himself in to the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) at [[The Hague]] to stand trial on war crimes charges [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4337085.stm]. The KLA's former military head, Agim Çeku, is the current Prime Minister of Kosovo. This has caused some controversy in Serbia, as Belgrade regards him as a war criminal, though he was never indicted by the Hague tribunal [http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/kosovo/ceku.html].
Several former KLA members have been indicted on war crimes charges. [[Fatmir Limaj]], one of the senior commanders of the KLA to have gone through a trial process in The Hague, was acquitted of all charges in November 2005 [http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/profiles/en/legalprocedures/p145.html]. He is now a key member of the opposition. Another KLA member, Haradin Bala, was also indicted by the ICTY at the same time for having participated in the detention of Serb civilians and perceived Albanian collaborators at the Lapusnik Prison Camp, where Bala was a prison guard commander [http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/profiles/en/facts/p143.html]. He was found guilty of torture, cruel treatment, and murder, and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment [http://www.un.org/icty/limaj/lim-sumj051130-e.htm]. His appeal against the verdict is still pending [http://iwpr.net/?p=tri&s=f&o=259099&apc_state=henitri2006].
==Crimes==
{{main|1998-present persecution of non-Albanians in Kosovo}}
There have been widespread reports of war crimes committed by the KLA both during and after the conflict. These have been directed against both Serbs, other ethnic minorities (principally [[Romani people|Roma]]) and against ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with the Serb authorities. [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/] According to a 2001 report by '''[[Human Rights Watch]]''' (HRW):
<blockquote>''The KLA was responsible for serious abuses… including abductions and murders of Serbs and ethnic Albanians considered collaborators with the state.'' [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm]</blockquote>
It is also believed that the KLA has played a key role in the ethnic cleansing, kidnappings and murder of Serbs and other ethnic minorities after the end of the war. HRW writes:
<blockquote>''Elements of the KLA are also responsible for post-conflict attacks on Serbs, Roma, and other non-Albanians, as well as ethnic Albanian political rivals... widespread and systematic burning and looting of homes belonging to Serbs, Roma, and other minorities and the destruction of Orthodox churches and monasteries... combined with harassment and intimidation designed to force people from their homes and communities... elements of the KLA are clearly responsible for many of these crimes.'' [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm]</blockquote>
The KLA is also accused of intentionally provoking attacks by Yugoslav security forces against civilian targets by, for example, staging attacks from villages, knowing that the response would create bad publicity for the government forces in the international media:
<blockquote>''The KLA… engaged in military tactics in 1998 and 1999 that put civilians at risk. KLA units sometimes staged an ambush or attacked police or army outposts from a village and then retreated, exposing villagers to revenge attacks. Large massacres sometimes ensued, helping publicize the KLA's cause and internationalize the conflict.'' [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm]</blockquote>
Following the end of the war several of the leading figures in the KLA have been convicted of war crimes by the '''[[ICTY]]''', including ''crimes against humanity'' (torture, murder, kidnapping and rape). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3071315.stm][http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2778079.stm] In 2005 the then ‘Prime Minister’ of Kosovo and former KLA commander, Ramush Haradinaj, was indicted together with two of his lieutenants on 37 counts of war crimes. According to the ICTY he was responsible for a plot to drive out Serbs and other ethnic minorities from Kosovo through a campaign of murder, rape and torture. [http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/har-ii050224e.htm] Despite this, Ramush Haradinaj remains popular with many Kosovo Albanians. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6419049.stm]
The exact number of victims of the KLA is not known. According to a Serbian government report, from [[January 1]] [[1998]] to [[June 10]] [[1999]] the KLA killed 988 people and kidnapped 287; in the period from [[June 10]] [[1999]] to [[November 11]] [[2001]], when NATO took control in Kosovo, 847 were reported to have been killed and 1,154 kidnapped. This comprised both civilians and security force personnel: of those killed in the first period, 335 were civilians, 351 soldiers, 230 police and 72 were unidentified; by nationality, 87 of killed civilians were Serbs, 230 Albanians, and 18 of other nationalities. Following the withdrawal of Serbian and Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo in June 1999, all casualties were civilians, the vast majority being Serbs.<ref name=ZAT/> According to Human Rights Watch, as “''many as one thousand Serbs and Roma have been murdered or have gone missing since [[June 12]] [[1999]]''.” [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm]
[[Carla Del Ponte]], a long-time [[ICTY]] chief prosecutor claimed in her book [[The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals]] that there were instances of organ trafficking in 1999 after the end of the [[Kosovo War]]. These allegations were dismissed by [[Kosovan]] and [[Albania]]n authorities as fabrications while the ICTY stated no substantial evidence supporting the allegations was brought to the court.<ref name=telegraph>[[The Daily Telegraph]], [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/11/wserb111.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war'], 14.04.2008</ref><ref>[http://www.un.org/icty/briefing/2008/pb080416.htm ICTY Weekly Press Briefing<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[Human Rights Watch]] called for an investigation into Del Ponte's claims and announced it had additional evidence on the matter. <ref>BBC, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7384679.stm Kosovo 'organs sale' probe urged], 06.05.2008</ref>
==Armament==
It is believed that the KLA acquired .50 BMG Barrett M82 sniper rifles through its sympathizers in the United States (according to the documentary The Brooklyn Connection).
==See also==
*[[Enver Hoxha#Kosovo and Albanian nationalism]]
*[[Serbian-Albanian Conflict]]
*[[Kosovo War]]
*[[Albanians in Kosovo]]
*[[Operation Horseshoe]]
*[[List of designated terrorist organizations]]
*[[David Hicks]]
*[[Albanian National Army]]
*[[Ries Kiet]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
===General references===
* "KLA Action Fuelled NATO Victory", ''[[Jane's Defence Weekly]]'', [[16 June]] [[1999]]
* "The KLA: Braced to Defend and Control", ''[[Jane's Intelligence Review]]'', [[1 April]] [[1999]]
* "Kosovo's Ceasefire Crumbles As Serb Military Retaliates", ''Jane's Intelligence Review'', [[1 February]] [[1999]]
* "Another Balkan Bloodbath? Part Two", ''Jane's Intelligence Review'', [[1 March]] [[1998]]
* "Albanians Attack Serb Targets", ''Jane's Defence Weekly'', [[4 September]] [[1996]]
* "The Kosovo Liberation Army and the Future of Kosovo", James H. Anderson and James Phillips, 05/13/1999, Heritage Foundation, Heritage Foundation (Washington, USA)
==External links==
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE3D81F31F937A15750C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all] The New York Times arcive of articles on the KLA from 1990-2003.
* [http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm Human Right's Watch]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20000301034049/http://www.janes.com/defence/features/kosovo/kla.html The KLA: braced to defend and control] [[Jane's]]
*[http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/kla.htm Intelligence Resources page on KLA] [[Federation of American Scientists]]
*[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990555,00.html Kosovo's Army in Waiting] [[TIME]]
*[http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/fr033199.htm The Kosovo Liberation Army: Does Clinton Policy Support Group with Terror, Drug Ties? - From 'Terrorists' to 'Partners'] ([[United States Senate]] Republican Policy Committee)
*[http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/273/indkosova.html Independence for Kosova: For the KLA - against the Serbian army], [[Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee)]]
*CRIGHTON, A (ed) (2003): ''Macedonia: The Conflict and the Media''. Macedonian Institute for Media. Skopje. (also covering Southern Central Serbia) [http://www.southeasteurope.org/documents/ATT00020.pdf]
*GOVERNMENT OF SERBIA (2003): White Book on KLA ([http://www.media.srbija.sr.gov.yu/medeng/documents/albanian_terrorism_crime1.pdf Part 1], [http://www.media.srbija.sr.gov.yu/medeng/documents/albanian_terrorism_crime2.pdf Part 2])
*INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: "The Kosovo Liberation Army" - Volume 4, Issue 7 - August 1998 [http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-4---1998/volume-4---issue-7/the-kosovo-liberation-army]
*INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: "The Kosovo Liberation Army" - Volume 4, Issue 7 - August 1998[http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic-comments/past-issues/volume-4---1998/volume-4---issue-7/the-kosovo-liberation-army]
*[http://www.nato.int/kosovo/docu/a990620a.htm KLA-NATO] Demilitarization and transformation agreement.
*[http://www.kosovapress.com/ KOSOVAPRESS] News agency organized by then KLA, and now close to the [[Democratic Party of Kosovo]]
*MIPT Knowledge Base. Entry about KLA [http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3517]
*SOCIALISM TODAY: "The KLA and the struggle for Kosovar self-determination" [http://www.socialismtoday.org/39/kla39.html]
*[http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO310B.html KLA and War on Terror]
*[http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3517 MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base Profile entry on KLA]
*[http://www.kosovoliberationarmy.com photographic evidence of KLA, Croatian HVA and Bosniak atrocities against Serbian population]
[[Category:Irregular military]]
[[Category:History of Kosovo]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[Category:Albanian separatism]]
[[ar:جيش تحرير كوسوفو]]
[[be:Войска Вызвалення Косава]]
[[bg:Армия за освобождение на Косово]]
[[ca:Exèrcit d'Alliberament de Kosovo]]
[[cs:Kosovská osvobozenecká armáda]]
[[da:UÇK]]
[[de:UÇK]]
[[es:UÇK]]
[[fr:Armée de libération du Kosovo]]
[[hr:Oslobodilačka vojska Kosova]]
[[it:Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës]]
[[he:צבא שחרור קוסובו]]
[[nl:Kosovo Bevrijdingsleger]]
[[no:Kosovos frigjøringshær]]
[[pl:UÇK]]
[[pt:Exército de Libertação do Kosovo]]
[[ru:Армия Освобождения Косова]]
[[sq:Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës]]
[[sl:Osvobodilna vojska Kosova]]
[[sr:Ослободилачка војска Косова]]
[[fi:Kosovon vapautusarmeija]]
[[sv:UÇK]]