Introduction
Kosovo was part of a nation called Yugoslavia. Formed shortly after World War 1, Yugoslavia had different types of states and people. Alexander the 1st united it. He hoped to curb nationalist passions around Yugoslavia, but he never succeeded in managing to do that. Yugoslavia was invaded in World War 2 by the Germans and split it into several provinces and a puppet state. Over the course of war, Josip Broz Tito’s Communist partisans declared the creation of the Democratic Federative Yugoslavia in 1943.. Eventually all the other powers recognized it. In 1945, the Germans, after a long war with Tito’s army, were driven away from Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia under Tito was the only communist nation free from the influence of the Soviet Union, so the economy improved, and Yugoslavia’s people had more
freedom than people in the Soviet Union. However, Tito “threatened” to kill
anyone that tried to split the country into factions. After Tito died in 1980, ethnic nationalism began to rise again in Yugoslavia, and problems were going on around Yugoslavia. Kosovo Albanians demanded to be given the status of a constituent republic, which would give Kosovo the right to leave Yugoslavia anytime. The Serbs became angry and protested the demand. In 1988, Slobodan Milošević took charge of Yugoslavia. He replaced the
Albanian Kosovo’s representative with one of his allies, which the Kosovo people became angered and protested and demanded the reinstatement of their old representative. Yugoslav troops put down the protests with force.
Protests continued around the country, causing Yugoslav troops to be based around the cities to protect the Serbs. The European Union (EU) realized that Yugoslavia was slowly dissolving and urged Slobodan Milošević to accept that fact. Slobodan Milošević however refused the plan, saying it was not in the interests of the Serbs to see Yugoslavia dissolved. On July 2, 1990, an unconstitutional Kosovo parliament declared Kosovo an independent country, The Republic of Kosova was declared. During its lifetime, Kosova was only recognized by Albania, and a few other nations
Yugoslav troops began invading Kosovo to restore order. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fought them , though Yugoslavia troops had the advantage in numbers. Massacres began around Kosovo, of civilians suspected to be in the KLA. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the US-led anti-Soviet military organization, tried to negotiate by saying that NATO could send in as many as 30,000 troops to maintain order in Kosovo, but the Serbs and Russians refused. The NATO Bombing campaign then began.
NATO's bombing campaign lasted from March 24 to June 11, 1999, involving up to 1,000 aircraft operating mainly from bases in Italy and aircraft carriers stationed nearby. Cruise missiles were also used, fired from aircraft, ships and submarines. All of the NATO member states were involved. Over the ten weeks of the conflict, NATO aircraft flew over 38,000 combat missions. For the German Air Force, it was the first time it had joined in a conflict since World War II..
The bombing did accidentally hit refugee camps and foreign embassies, causing protests around the world. In May, when it became apparent that the Russians would not come to Serbia’s aid, Slobodan Milošević accepted the conditions, and NATO, under UN command, sent troops into Kosovo. The Yugoslav Army began withdrawing out of Kosovo, and the province was administered by the United Nations.
After the war ended, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1244 that placed Kosovo under an UN administration (UNMIK) and authorized KFOR, a NATO-led peacekeeping force. Resolution 1244 also stated that Kosovo would have autonomy within Yugoslavia (today, the legal successor of Yugoslavia is Serbia).
In 2001, UNMIK promulgated a Constitutional Framework for Kosovo that established the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG), including an elected Kosovo Assembly, Presidency and office of Prime Minister. Kosovo held its first free, Kosovo-wide elections in late 2001
In March 2004, Kosovo experienced its worst ethnic violence since the Kosovo War. The unrest in 2004 was sparked by a series of minor events that soon cascaded into large-scale riots. NATO peacekeepers battled Albanian protesters for a week before it finally ended.
International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo, as envisaged under UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The UN-backed talks, lead by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, began in February 2006.
In February 2007, Ahtisaari delivered a statussettlement proposal to leaders in Serbia and Kosovo, the basis for a draft UN Security Council Resolution which proposes 'supervised independence' for the province. Russia, which holds a veto in the Security Council as one of five permanent members, had stated that it would not support any resolution which was not acceptable to both Belgrade and Kosovo Albanians. While most observers had, at the beginning of the talks, anticipated independence as the most likely outcome, others have suggested thata rapid resolution might not be preferable.
After many months of discussions at the UN, the United States, United Kingdom and other European members of the Security Council formally 'discarded' a draft resolution backing Ahtisaari's proposal on 20 July 2007, having failed to secure Russian backing. Beginning in August, a group of negotiators consisting of people from European Union, the United States and Russia launched a new effort to reach a outcome acceptable to both Belgrade and Pristina. Despite Russian disapproval, the U.S., the United Kingdom, and France appeared likely to recognize Kosovo independence. A declaration of independence by Kosovo Albanian leaders was postponed until the end of the Serbian presidential elections (4 February 2008). Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008. Over the following weeks, several countries like the United States, Turkey, Albania, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Australia and others, have announced their recognition, despite protests by Serbia in the UN Security Council. Serbia removed ambassadors for nations that recognized Kosovo as an independent nation.
The UN Security Council remains divided on the question (as of 25 February 2008). Of the five members with veto power, three (USA, UK, France) recognize the declaration of independence, and two (Russia and China) consider it illegal. The European Union has no official position towards Kosovo's status. As of today, most of member-countries of NATO, EU, WEU and OECD have recognized Kosovo as independent.
Of Kosovo's immediate neighbor states, Albania recognizes the declaration of independence, Macedonia announced they will likely recognize it within "a few weeks" and Montenegro stated they will wait for a decision of the European Union. Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary, all neighbors of Serbia, announced in a joint statement that they would also recognize the declaration.
Slobodan Milosevic
Born on August 20, 1941, He got separated for his parents after WW2. His father committed suicide in 1962, and his mother hanged herself in 1974. He joined the communist party while he was studying law at the Belgrade University. He became advisor to the Mayor of Belgrade, and continued working his way up the party ranks. On April 16, 1984 Slobodan Milosevic was elected to a two-year term as president of the Belgrade League of Communists City Committee. [
On February 21, 1986 the Socialist Alliance of Working People supported him as presidential candidate for the SKJ's Serbian branch Central Committee. Milosevic was elected by a majority vote at the 10th Congress of the Serbian League of Communists on May 28, 1986.
In 1988, Ivan Stambolic resigned, and Slobodan became President. In June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia seceded from the Yugoslav federation. They were followed by the republics of Macedonia in September and Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1992. This provoked the beginning of the Yugoslav wars.
Milosevic was opposed to granting the republics greater freedom or independence. However he had little opposition to Slovenia leaving the country. In early 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina was also plunged into war even before its formal declaration of independence. Milosevic signed an agreement to end the war.
Another war broke out in Kosovo, the Kosovo Liberation Army fought the Serbian army hard. Milosevic continued the massacres until NATO forced him to back down. On May 27, 1999, he was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo. The possibility of his standing trial seemed remote at this point; despite the loss of Kosovo, he still appeared to retain popular support. He died in 2006 while the trial was still ongoing.
| Year | Event |
| 1988 | Slobodan Milosevic becomes president of Yugoslavia. |
| 1990- July | Ethnic Albanian leaders declare independence from Serbia. Belgrade dissolves the Kosovo government. |
| 1990- September | Sacking of more than 100,000 ethnic Albanian workers, including government employees and media workers, prompts general strike. |
| 1991 | Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia break away from Yugoslavia and declare their independence. |
| 1992 | War breaks out in the Balkans |
| 1992 July | An academic, Ibrahim Rugova, is elected president of the self-proclaimed republic. |
| 1998 - March-September | Open conflict between Serb police and separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Serb forces launch a brutal crackdown. Civilians are driven from their homes. |
| 1998 September | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gives an ultimatum to President Milosevic to halt the crackdown on Kosovo Albanians. |
| 1999 March | Internationally-brokered peace talks fail. NATO launches air strikes against Yugoslavia lasting 78 days before Belgrade yields. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees pour into neighbouring countries, telling of massacres and forced expulsions which followed the start of the Nato campaign. |
| 1999 June | President Milosevic agrees to withdraw troops from Kosovo. NATO calls off air strikes. The UN sets up a Kosovo Peace Implementation Force (KFOR) and NATO forces arrive in the province. The KLA agrees to disarm its forces. Serb civilians flee revenge attacks. |
| 2002 February | Ibrahim Rugova is elected as president by the Kosovan parliament after ethnic Albanian parties reach a power-sharing deal. Bajram Rexhepi becomes prime minister. |
| 2003 October | First direct talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders since 1999. |
| 2003 December | UN sets out conditions for final status talks in 2005. |
| 2004 March | 19 people are killed in the worst clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians since 1999. The violence started in the divided town of Mitrovica. |
| 2004 October | President Rugova's pro-independence Democratic League tops poll in general election, winning 47 seats in 120-seat parliament. Poll is boycotted by Serbs. |
| 2004 December | Parliament re-elects President Rugova and elects former rebel commander Ramush Haradinaj as prime minister. Mr Haradinaj's party had entered into a coalition with the president's Democratic League. |
| 2005 February | Serbian President Boris Tadic visits, promises to defend rights of Serbs in Kosovo. |
| 2005 March | Mr Haradinaj indicted to face UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, resigns as prime minister. Bajram Kosumi succeeds him. President Rugova unhurt when explosion rocks convoy of vehicles in which he is travelling through Pristina. |
| 2005 July | Nearly-simultaneous blasts go off near UN, OSCE and Kosovo parliament buildings in Pristina. No-one is hurt. |
| 2005 August | Two Serbs shot dead and two injured when their car is fired on. |
| 2006 January | President Rugova dies in Pristina of lung cancer. He is succeeded in February by Fatmir Sejdiu. |
| 2006 February | UN-sponsored talks on the future status of Kosovo begin. |
| 2006 March | Prime Minister Kosumi resigns following criticism of his performance from within his own party. He is succeeded by former KLA commander Agim Ceku. |
| 2006 July | First direct talks since 1999 between ethnic Serbian and Kosovan leaders on future status of Kosovo take place in Vienna. |
| 2006 October | Voters in a referendum in Serbia approve a new constitution which declares that Kosovo is an integral part of the country. Kosovo's Albanian majority boycotts the ballot and UN sponsored talks on the future of the disputed province continue. |
| 2007 February | United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveils a plan to set Kosovo on a path to independence, which is immediately welcomed by Kosovo Albanians and rejected by Serbia. |
| 2007 November | Hasim Thaci emerges as winner in the Kosovo elections. |
| 2008 February | Kosovo declares independence. Serbia says declaration illegal. Europe's major powers and the United States recognize independence. |
