ALLIED HARMONY

Responding to a request from the Government in Skopje to help mitigate rising ethnic tension, NATO implemented three successive operations in the country (at the time, North Macedonia was a NATO partner; it became a member in March 2020). The operations were conducted from August 2001 to March 2003.

First, Operation Essential Harvest disarmed ethnic Albanian groups operating throughout the country.

The follow-on Operation Amber Fox provided protection for international monitors overseeing the implementation of the peace plan.

Finally, Operation Allied Harmony was launched in December 2002 to provide advisory elements to assist the government in ensuring stability throughout the country.

These operations demonstrated the strong inter-institutional cooperation between NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In April 2002, NATO Headquarters Skopje was created to advise on military aspects of security sector reform; it still operates today.