The Kosovo war was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yogoslavia, which controlled Kosova before the war. The conflict came to an end when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning to air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo. On March 24,1999, NATO commences air strikes against Yugoslavia with the bombing of Serbian military positions in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. The NATO offensive came in response to a new wave of ethnic cleansing launched by Serbian forces against the Kosovor Albanians on March 20.
The Kosovo region lay at the heart of the Serbian empire in the late Middle Ages but was lost to the Ottoman Turks in 1389 following Serbia’s defeat in the Battle of Kosovo. By the time Sebia regained control of Kosovo from Turkey in 1913, there were few Serbs left in a region that had come to be dominated by ethnic Albanians. In 1918, Kosovo formally became a province of Serbia, and it continued as such after communist leader Josip Broz Tito established the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945, comprising the Balkan States of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Mecedonia. However, Tito eventually gave in to Kosovar demands for greater autonomy and after 1974 Kosovo existed as independent states in all but name.
Serbs came to resent Kosovo’s autonomy,which allowed it to act against Serbian interests, and in 1987 Slobodan Milosevac was elected leader of Serbia’s Communist Party with a promise of restoring Serbian rule to Kosovo. In 1989, Milosevic became president of Serbia and moved quickly to suppress Kosovo, stripping it’s autonomy and in 1990 sending troops to disband it government. Meanwhile, Serbian nationalism led to the dissolution of the Yugoslav federation in 1991 and in 1992 the Balkan crisis deteriorated into civil war. A new Yugoslav state, consisting only of Serbia and the small state of Montenegro, was created ,and Kosovo began four years of nonviolent resistance to Serbian rule.
The militant Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) emerged in 1996 and began attacking Serbian Police in Kosovo. With arms obtained in Albania, the KLA stepped up its attacks in 1997, prompting a major offensive by Serbian troops against the rebel-held Drenica region in February – March 1998. Dozens of civilians were killed, and enlistment in the KLA increased dramatically. In July, the KLA launched an offensive across Kosovo, seizing control of nearly half the province. The Serbian troops drove thousands of ethnic Albanians from their homes and were accused of massacring Kosovo civilians.
In october, NATO threatened Serbia with air strikes, and Milosevic agreed to allow the return of tens of thousands of refugees. Fighting soon resumed and on February and March 18 1999, peace talks was held in France and Paris respectively. The Serbian delegation refused to sign a deal calling for Kosovo autonomy and the development of NATO troops to enforce the agreement. The Serbian army launched a new offensive in Kosovo. On March 24, NATO air strikes began. On June 10, the NATO bombardment ended when Serbia agreed to a peace agreement calling for the withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo and their replacement by NATO peacekeeping troops. Under the NATO occupation, Kosovar autonomy was restored, but the province remained officially part of Serbia.
Abidemi Faith Adekola,
Mass Communication Department,
Bayero University Kano,
Kano state
[email protected]
08137862007
