Xhezair Shaqiri

Xhezair Shaqiri (born 15 May 1965), also known as Commander Hoxha, is a Macedonian politician of Albanian origin and a former member of the KLA and NLA.

Xhezair Shaqiri
Birth name	Xhezair Shaqiri
Nickname(s)	Hoxha
Born	(1965-05-15)15 May 1965 Tanuševci, Lipkovo Municipality, Socialist Republic of Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavia (today North Macedonia)
Allegiance	Kosovo Liberation Army National Liberation Army
Years of service	1998-2001
Rank	Commander
Battles/wars	Kosovo War Battle of Glođane Koshare ambush 2001 insurgency in Macedonia Aračinovo crisis Ambush near Tanuševci

In 1998 he joined the KLA as a soldier and later became one of the first NLA commanders. During his participation in the Kosovo War, he first participated in the Battle of Glođane, in which the Yugoslav Army was defeated and had to retreat.[1] He later was put into a unit under the command of Agim Ramadani with who he fought the Yugoslav Army during the Koshare ambush.[1]

After the Kosovo War, He joined the NLA and was active in the Karadak region mainly in the villages of Tanuševci and Lipkovo and Aračinovo. He was the direct perpetrator of the murder of a Macedonian policeman in the shopping center Chairchanka in Skopje.[2]

On 24 July 2001, he was placed on the Macedonian blacklist of citizens and 3 days later he was placed on the black list list of US President George W. Bush.[3][4]

After the end of the insurgency in Macedonia, he was released under criminal law under the new amnesty law on 19 December 2001. He was later seriously wounded wounded in a failed assassination attempt in Vitina, After which he was taken to a hospital in the US military camp Bondsteel.

After the war, he became a member of the Macedonian Parliament. Xhezair Shaqiri is believed to be behind a number of illegal operations in Macedonia, such as arms and drug trafficking. In 2007 he declared the independence of the village where he was born, Tanuševci from Macedonia and its annexation to Kosovo.

In May 2018, he was appointed Advisor to the Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in the field of internal security.