Balkans: Kosovo

Active 1996-99. Civil war between Muslim Kosovans and Orthodox Serbs, leading to war between Serbia and NATO. Slight danger of re-ignition.

Kosovo was originally the medieval heartland of the Serbs, who moved north to today’s Serbia around 1400 after the Ottoman invasion, gradually to be replaced by Muslim Albanians. On the fall of the Ottomans in WW1, the Yugoslav Federation united many ethnic groups under one rule. On its disintegration around 1990, the Albanian majority in Kosovo passively resisted Serb nationalism (Milosevic), calling for independence.

The Dayton Accords of 1995, ending the Bosnia conflict, left Kosovo’s future undecided. Serb repression led to the rise of the Kosovo Liberation Army, with KLA attacks on Serb soldiers starting 1996. A KLA rebellion started in 1997 - Kosovan Albanians against the Serb army and local minority. Open Serb-KLA war in 1998-99 (10,000 deaths, many atrocities, 300,000 refugees).

NATO intervention in March 1999, after failed peace talks - while the Serbs accelerated ethnic cleansing. Kosovo was occupied by KFOR peacekeepers in June 1999 - foreign administration and uneasy peace. Declaration of independence by Kosovo early 2008. Conflict unresolved. Serb and Roma minorities remain threatened by Kosovars. Resentment in Serbia at loss of Kosovo.

LINKS:

Reuters Alertnet Crisis Profiles
Flashpoints: Kosovo-Serbia
Wikipedia: Kosovo
Religious Aspects of Kosovo Conflict
The Guardian: Kosovo