Macedonia: Conflict Spillover Prevention

Publication Date: July 1998

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: International relations

Type:

Abstract:

Since claiming independence from the disintegrating Yugoslav federation in late 1991, Macedonia1 has managed to avoid the kind of violent ethnic conflict that engulfed Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. However, external conflicts and internal sources of instability have periodically threatened to undermine Macedonia’s security and long-term viability. International policymakers have long feared that any conflict spillover into Macedonia might swiftly involve neighboring states, leading to a regional war. Protracted fighting since March 1998 in neighboring Kosovo (in Serbia) has heightened international concerns about security in the region. Current strategies intended both to address the violence in Kosovo and to enhance security in Macedonia include staging NATO air and ground exercises in Macedonia and Albania, and extending the mission of a small U.N. preventive deployment military force, including a contingent of U.S. troops, in Macedonia.