Yearbook 2010
Northern Macedonia (until 2019 Macedonia). Tensions
between the Macedonian majority and the country's Albanian
minority came in the day when schools were ordered from the
spring term to introduce first-class Macedonian education
for Albanian children. The decision led to a widespread
school boycott. According to
COUNTRYAAH, the children were held at home in protest of
what many Albanians perceived as Macedonian-nationalist
politics by the government. From the autumn term, the
language requirement applied to Albanian children, but
without a grading requirement. Macedonian is the official
language throughout the country, while Albanian is the area
where at least a fifth of the population speaks it. Children
from the different language groups are completely separated
in school. About a quarter of the population are Albanians.
Four people were killed in a fire with police near the
Kosovo border in May. The gunfire erupted when police tried
to stop a van used in an illegal weapons transport. The
Interior Minister later stated that the men in the car wore
uniforms and other signs linked to the disbanded Kosovo
Albanian guerrilla UCK. It was the worst outbreak of
violence between government officials and ethnic Albanian
rebels since the fighting in 2001, when Macedonia was on the
brink of civil war.
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