Albania–Yugoslav border incident

13 April 1999 Albania–Yugoslav border incident
Part of the Kosovo War
Albanian Type 59 tanks at the border
Date 13 April 1999 Location Krumë, Kukës and surrounding villages Result Status quo ante bellum Yugoslav forces retreat to Yugoslavia Albanian army retakes control Albania breaks diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia
Belligerents
Yugoslav Army (VJ)	Ad hoc Albanian farmers Albanian Army
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Kudusi Lama Unknown
Strength
50 soldiers of 63rd Paratroop Battalion	Unknown
Casualties and losses
No fatalities; 3 houses destroyed

Status quo ante bellum

An incident took place on the Albania–Yugoslav border in April 1999 when the FR Yugoslav Army shelled several Albanian border towns around Krumë, Tropojë. In these villages, refugees were being housed after fleeing the war in Kosovo by crossing into Albania. On 13 April 1999, Yugoslav infantry entered Albanian territory to close off an area that was used by the KLA to stage attacks against Yugoslav targets.

In early 1998, as tensions increased in Kosovo, it became increasingly difficult for the Albanian Army to monitor the country's 140-kilometre (87 mi) border with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and cope with the steady influx of Kosovo Albanian refugees into the country. Yugoslav army units controlled the border in a few areas, but generally relied on the remote mountainous terrain to do their work for them. Many Yugoslav border units suffered from lack of manpower, the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia having seriously damaged their resources. The morale of soldiers was low, with food often poor, and spare parts for army and police equipment and supplies were difficult to obtain.

In particular, Albanian authorities were concerned with attempts by Serbia to implicate Albania as a supporter of terrorism. The Albanian Army had an estimated 4,000–6,000 soldiers, and Yugoslavia was said to have "little regard" for the country's military.

The Kosovo War was a conflict between the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The war caused thousands of Kosovo Albanians to join the KLA ranks. More than 500,000 ethnic Albanian refugees fled their homes to escape Yugoslav Army reprisals. Meanwhile, the KLA began to recruit in the refugee camps. There had been fighting along the border between the KLA and Yugoslav forces where KLA troops had infiltrated into Kosovo. The subsequent incursion by the FRY could have been in response to KLA actions in the area, according to Albanian police.

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