On 20th Anniversary, North Macedonia Archives ‘Lost’ Peace Document

As North Macedonia on Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Ohrid Peace Accord that ended the 2001 conflict between security forces and Albanian insurgents, an original of the historic document has finally been sent to the State Archive.

After fruitlessly searching state offices for the document for over a year, the government recently discovered it in a most unusual place - at the home of doctor from the north-western town of Tetovo, Ilir Ljuma, a former member of the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity, PDP, which was one of the accord's signatories.

The document was retrieved "thanks to the great conscientiousness of Ilir Ljuma from Tetovo, a member of the PDP who has been taking care of this document in at house, anticipating the carelessness of all the institutions and political parties who did not archive this document", said North Macedonia's vice prime minister, Artan Grubi.

Back in 2001, Ljuma was assisting at the official signing event in Ohrid, and later took this document from the offices of the PDP, which is the oldest ethnic Albanian political party in the country. It was formed in 1990 and for a long time was one of the main political players in North Macedonia, but after a slew of abysmal election results, the party ceased to exist in 2017.

Ljuma recently handed over the document, which was kept in good condition, to the government, which this week sent it to the State Archive.

"The original document of the Ohrid Accord holds significance for our country as one of the documents from our recent history which offers perspectives for development in every way. We will keep the original document here, we will digitise it and make it open to view and available for all who take an interest...