Europe 209
MID#4046
Dispute Number: 4046
Date(s): April 23, 1994 to June 13, 1994
Participants: 345 Yugoslavia/2 United States of America, 343 Macedonia
Outcome (and Settlement): Unclear (None)
Fatalities: None
Narrative: Beginning April 21, 1994, United Nations inspectors counted over 160
50-ton oil tankers heading into Yugoslavia. The shipment carried ammonium nitrate
and oil, which are both ingredients for military explosives. The shipment heightened
tensions across the Macedonian border. By May the border of the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia was under security protection with both UN and American
troops present to protect it as a new state. A series of border incidents followed, some
involving peacekeeping troops.
MID#4137
Dispute Number: 4137
Date(s): February 1998 to June 10, 1999
Participants: 2 United States of America, 20 Canada, 200 United Kingdom, 210
Netherlands, 211 Belgium, 212 Luxembourg, 220 France, 230 Spain, 235 Portugal,
255 Germany, 290 Poland, 310 Hungary, 316 Czech Republic, 325 Italy, 339 Albania,
350 Greece, 365 Russia, 368 Lithuania, 385 Norway, 390 Denmark, 395 Iceland, 640
Turkey/345 Yugoslavia
Outcome (and Settlement): Victory for side A (Imposed)
Fatalities: 501–999 deaths
Narrative: This dispute describes the military response by Albania and other nations
to Yugoslav military activity in the Kosovo region. Albania took a particular inter-
est in Kosovo because its population is comprised of primarily of ethnic Albanians.
Yugoslavia had put an end to Kosovo’s autonomy by force in 1989 and had ruled the
region with a strong military and police presence thereafter. In late February 1998,
protests by tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo turned violent, increas-
ing tensions that could ignite broader conflict. Albania responded by fortifying their
border.
In the beginning of March, other countries began to consider economic sanctions
and possible military action against Yugoslavia. On April 1, the UN Security Council
placed an arms embargo on Yugoslavia for its actions in Kosovo. The embargo would
only be lifted after the Yugoslav Prime Minister Slobodan Milosevic’s government
started making substantive talks about increased autonomy for Kosovo’s Albanian
population. Albania again fortified its border with Yugoslavia, and engaged in numer-
ous subsequent incidents with Yugoslavia over its stance toward ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo. Yugoslavia claimed that the Albanians were training, supplying, and support-
ing the ethnic Albanian extremists that were terrorizing the Kosovo region. Tensions
began increasing dramatically as Yugoslavia threatened Albania with war due to its
involvement with the ethnic Albanians fighting for autonomy in Kosovo. Although
the United States was able to broker talks between Milosevic and the leader of the