A Forgotten Success

Abstract

Abstract By collecting and destroying the weapons that had been handed over by rebel Albanian fighters, Operation Essential Harvest ended violence in North Macedonia and paved the way for constitutional change. Through interviews with political and military leaders, and analysis of official sources published by NATO at the time, Linda Risso demonstrates how early diplomatic intervention, the personal commitment of key leaders and a perfectly executed military operation achieved the expected goals within the given timeframe, and contributed significantly to the prevention of another ethnic conflict in the Western Balkans.◼