Armed Forces of The Republic of Kosovo - History

History

Bujar Bukoshi, the former Prime Minister in exile of the self-proclaimed "Republic of Kosova" from 1991 to 2000, created the FARK in Albania with a few dozen former Kosovo-Albanian officers of the former Yugoslav People's Army gathered by Sali Cekaj. He then put it under the command of former colonel Ahmet Krasniqi. Most of the FARK members were then loyal to the President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, while the bitter rival group UÇK was led by Hashim Thaçi, whom the apparent failure of that policy had made a credible alternative political leader.

Bujar Bukoshi, while spending most of his time in the city of Bonn in Germany, had been a representative for the Kosovo-Albanians from 1991, the year when they try to proclaimed their independence from Yugoslavia, till 1998. Then, on April 2, 1999, as Rugova had then been sidelined by recent developments, Hashim Thaçi proclaimed himself Prime Minister in his place, while Bukoshi refused to recognize him and hand over the funds he had received from the Albanian Diaspora in the West. As a representative of Rugova, Bukoshi received regular contributions from the diaspora for his "Republic of Kosova Fund" which had been spent to finance the parallel government of Kosovo under Rugova, with a network of private schools and health care centers. The UÇK then created its own fund, Atdheu Thërret ("The Motherland calls"), both funds now being used to buy military equipment.

The UÇK also tried to prevent recruitment into the FARK among the Albanians in Western Europe, and to attract them to its own centers of Durrës, Tirana and Kukës in Albania. For their goals, fought the FARK and the UÇK fought separately but also against each other. Politicians in Albania took sides in the rivalry between the UÇK and the FARK, with the Socialist government in Tirana supporting Thaçi and the UÇK, while the opposition Democratic Party of Sali Berisha supported the FARK. 30 members of the FARK were even jailed for taking part in violent anti-government demonstrations in Tirana in September 1998. The FARK said they only participated after the murder of Ahmet Krasniqi, a former FARK leader, on September 21, 1998.