In the aftermath of recent key events, Macedonia seeks to consolidate progress toward itsEuroatlantic integration goals in 2005-2006 and hopes to receive invitations to join NATO and theEU in that time frame. Macedonia continues to face internal and external challenges to these efforts. In 2004, Macedonia's political landscape faced upheaval. In early 2004, President BorisTrajkovski, a key proponent of the power-sharing deal that ended the inter-ethnic conflict in 2001,was killed in a plane accident. Former Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski won direct presidentialelections to succeed him in April. His successor as Prime Minister resigned later in the year but wasreplaced by Prime Minister Buckovski of the Social Democratic Party. Later in the year, Macedonia held an opposition-initiated referendum to halt thedecentralization process, a key component of the 2001 Ohrid peace process to implementpower-sharing arrangements among different ethnic groups in Macedonia. On the eve of the vote,the United States formally recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name, the "Republic ofMacedonia," (1) in a moveto support to the multi-ethnic Macedonian government and to the Ohrid peace process, and thereferendum failed. Twice-postponed municipal elections were finally held in March 2005. International observers assessed them to be in accordance with international standards but marredby some serious irregularities. Notwithstanding the U.S. move on recognition, U.S. and European officials have emphasizedthe need to resolve the longstanding dispute between Macedonia and Greece over the nameMacedonia. U.N.-sponsored talks have continued. In 2005, the U.N. envoy to this process submitteda compromise proposal for consideration, but no mutually agreeable negotiated solution has yet beenreached. Macedonia is a small, land-locked country in southeastern Europe, formerly part ofYugoslavia. Its population of about 2 million people includes approximately 64% SlavMacedonians, a large ethnic Albanian minority (representing about 25% of the population, accordingto the 2002 census), as well as some ethnic Turks, Roma (Gypsies), and Serbs. For nearly a decadeafter gaining independence in 1991, Macedonia managed to avoid the kind of bloody ethnic conflictthat engulfed other former Yugoslav republics, and even appeared to serve as a sort of model forethnic co-existence in the region. Nevertheless, the international community remained concernedabout the possible consequences of any "spillover" of fighting into Macedonia, since it was fearedthat conflict once sparked in Macedonia could spread beyond its borders and lead to a regional war. In early 2001, an ethnic insurgency threatened to derail Macedonia's fragile stability and leadto another extended conflict in the Balkans. Ethnic Albanian guerrillas calling themselves the"National Liberation Army" (NLA, many with ties to the former Kosovo Liberation Army) claimedresponsibility for a series of attacks on Macedonian police units. The incidents sparked aneight-month armed conflict between the insurgents, who claimed to be fighting for improved rightsfor the ethnic Albanian community, and Macedonia's police and armed forces. The conflict spreadfrom the border region with Kosovo to areas around the capital, Skopje. In August 2001, European and U.S. peace envoys achieved an agreement among Macedonia'smain political parties -- both Slav and ethnic Albanian -- to resolve the crisis. The Ohrid FrameworkAgreement outlined a package of political reforms to expand the rights of the ethnic Albanianminority that was to be implemented as the rebel force disbanded and disarmed under NATOsupervision. Key aspects of the agreement are outlined below. Implementation of the frameworkagreement at first progressed slowly and unsteadily, but consistent international support and pressurehave encouraged greater stability and political normalization. (2) Macedonia's current multi-ethnic government remains committed to the Ohrid process. Itssurrounding region has remained relatively calm, with all western Balkan states seeking closerassociation with and membership in NATO and the European Union. Regional tensions could growin the coming months and years as deliberations begin over the disputed status of neighboringKosovo. At the international level, since September 11, 2001, U.S. and international attention andresources have shifted away from the Balkans and toward other troubled regions of the world,especially in the Middle East. The United States continues to support multilateral efforts to stabilizeMacedonia, but has increasingly looked to the European Union to play a larger international role inthe Balkans, starting with Macedonia. The growing EU role includes both operational elements anda broader integration strategy. The United States has long maintained that peace and security in the Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia is important for Balkan stability and U.S. interests. During the 1990s, theUnited States remained actively engaged in multilateral efforts to prevent the spread of ethnicconflict to Macedonia, bolster Macedonian independence and state viability, and manage bilateraldisputes between Macedonia and Greece. U.S. and other international leaders feared that anyprolonged violent conflict involving Macedonia could swiftly become internationalized andimplicate neighboring states, including NATO allies. They therefore frequently expressed supportfor Macedonia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The multi-year deployment of a smallcontingent of U.S. military forces to Macedonia as part of a U.N. mission in the early 1990s -- thefirst engagement of U.S. military ground forces in the Balkans -- further demonstrated the U.S.commitment to the Macedonian piece of the regional stability puzzle. When violent inter-ethnicincidents threatened to embroil all of Macedonia in early 2001, U.S. representatives played a key rolein international efforts to defuse the conflict, formulate the Ohrid Framework Agreement for peace,and oversee post-conflict stabilization and peace implementation. The United States and its European allies share the same broad goals for Macedonia, whichforesee its full integration, along with other western Balkan states, into Euro-Atlantic institutions anda whole and free Europe at peace. Toward this end, successive U.S. Administrations have workedto achieve sustainable peace in the region and have promoted the open-ended enlargement policiesof NATO and the European Union. At the same time, the United States has supported the gradualbut steady process of shifting greater international responsibility for the Balkan region to theEuropean Union. The EU and its member states have provided the bulk of international financialassistance to the former Yugoslavia and currently account for most of the international militaryforces in the region. The Bush Administration has given greater emphasis to accelerating andsupporting this process, especially with U.S. attention and resources intensely focused on the globalwar on terrorism, Iraq, and other issues. In 2005, the Bush Administration announced a renewedfocus on the region as international processes to manage the issue of Kosovo get under way. However, most observers believe that the United States must still work in concert with the EuropeanUnion, since the EU represents the ultimate stabilizing prospect for countries in the region. Notwithstanding significant changes to the global environment in recent years, the fate ofMacedonia is of ongoing U.S. interest for several reasons. First, the United States remainscommitted to following through on processes underway in Macedonia that have come about in partdue to substantial prior U.S. engagement and investment of political, economic, and militaryresources. The United States shares with the rest of the international community an interest inpreventing a reversal of progress in Macedonia, a relapse into conflict, or weakening of the state'slong-term viability. A related goal is to stem illicit trade in drugs, armaments, and persons throughthe region. While a downturn in developments in Macedonia may not pose any strategic threat tothe United States -- as compared to global terrorism or weapons proliferation -- it would run counterto U.S. goals for greater stability in the region and its peaceful integration into the rest of Europe. A Europe whole, free, and at peace, including Macedonia and the rest of the western Balkan region,remains a U.S. policy objective. Until irreversible progress in Macedonia is secured, the United States will likely remaininvolved in closely monitoring developments and facilitating progress in Macedonia in conjunctionwith the international community. The United States continues to enjoy unparalleled influence andcredibility throughout the Balkans, even as its share of international responsibilities there is steadilyreduced and its visible role diminishes. Recognizing this, U.S. officials have repeatedly rejected thenotion that the United States might "cut and run" from the Balkans, lest the perception of U.S.disengagement have a destabilizing impact. The United States has also solicited and receivedpolitical and military support from the Macedonian government for U.S.-led operations in Iraq andAfghanistan. A second reason why Macedonia continues to be relevant to U.S. interests is that its fate iswidely perceived to be integrally tied with that of neighboring Kosovo, whose final political statushas remained unresolved since the 1999 Kosovo conflict. Kosovo represents a focal concern ofstrategic interest in the region and beyond. 2005 has been dubbed the "year of decision" for Kosovoand a process to determine Kosovo's unresolved status is expected to begin later in the year. TheBush Administration has expressed strong support for moving forward in this process, withoutfavoring a predetermined outcome. Whatever outcome eventually emerges, resolution to Kosovo'sfinal status is likely to have a major impact on the entire region. Macedonia's leaders have neither played nor sought a direct role in Kosovo's governingsituation or final status deliberations; nevertheless, many observers believe that what ultimatelyhappens in Kosovo could have a particularly strong impact on Macedonia.