Macedonia, the only state to secede from Yugoslavia without bloodshed, finally fell victim to the Balkan curse in 2001. The country's ethnic Albanian minority, which has increased with the influx of refugees from neighboring Serbia/Kosovo, took up arms against the Macedonian government and demanded greater autonomy. Most of the clashes took place in northern Macedonia, though there were bombings in the capital, Skopje, as well.
Since a Western-brokered peace deal in 2001, however, the situation in Macedonia has been relatively stable, although in July 2005 an explosion rocked a police station in Skopje just two weeks after a machine-gun and mortar attack on a police station north of the western city of Tetovo. Rogue elements of a group led by ethnic Albanian rebels apparently remain active.
Visitors to Macedonia should not experience any troubles, however; even during the height of tensions there foreigners were not targeted