Kosovo War
Kosovo War | |
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Part of the Yugoslav Wars[1] | |
Result |
Kumanovo Agreement[6][7][8][9]
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Territorial changes | No de jure changes to Yugoslav borders according to Resolution 1244, but de facto and partial de jure political and economic independence of Kosovo from FR Yugoslavia due to being placed under UN administration |
NATO (from 24 March 1999)
- X
Wesley Clark
8,676 Kosovar Albanian civilians killed or missing[27]
90% of Kosovar Albanians displaced during the war[46] (848,000–863,000 expelled from Kosovo,[47][48] 590,000 Kosovar Albanians displaced within Kosovo)[46]
1,641 non-Albanian civilians killed or missing, including 1,196 ethnic Serbs, and 445 Romani and others[27]
/ Civilian deaths caused by NATO bombing: 489–528 (per Human Rights Watch)[49] or 454 (per HLC),[50] also includes 3 Chinese journalists killed
Aftermath 113,128[51] to 200,000+ Kosovo Serbs, Romani, and other non-Albanian civilians displaced[52]
The Kosovo War (
The KLA was formed in the early 1990s to fight against the discrimination of
On 20 March 1999, Yugoslav forces began a massive campaign of repression and expulsions of Kosovar Albanians following the withdrawal of the
In 2001, a UN administered Supreme Court based in Kosovo found that there had been a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments against the Albanian population, but that Yugoslav troops had tried to force them out of Kosovo, but not to eradicate them, and therefore it was not genocide.[73] After the war, a list was compiled which documented that over 13,500 people were killed or went missing during the two year conflict.[74] The Yugoslav and Serb forces caused the displacement of between 1.2 million[75] and 1.45 million Kosovo Albanians.[76] After the war, around 200,000 Serbs, Romani, and other non-Albanians fled Kosovo and many of the remaining civilians were victims of abuse.[77][78][79]
The Kosovo Liberation Army disbanded soon after the end of the war, with some of its members going on to fight for the
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted six Serb/Yugoslav officials and one Albanian commander for war crimes.
Background
The modern Albanian-Serbian conflict has its roots in the
Tensions between the Serbian and Albanian communities in Kosovo simmered throughout the 20th century and occasionally erupted into major violence, particularly during the First Balkan War (1912–13), World War I (1914–18), and World War II (1939–45).[91] The Albanian revolt of 1912 in Kosovo resulted in the Ottoman Empire agreeing to the creation of an Albanian quasi-state but Ottoman forces were soon driven out by opportunistic Bulgarian, Serbian and Montenegrin troops.[92] In the ensuing Balkan Wars, at least 50,000 Albanians were massacred in the present-day territory of Kosovo by the Serbian regular army and irregular Komitadjis with the intention of manipulating population statistics before the borders of Albania were recognized during the London Conference of 1912–1913, after the latter proposed the drawing of the borders of Albania based on ethnic statistics.[93][94]
After World War I Kosovo was incorporated into the Serb-dominated
Kosovo in Tito's Yugoslavia (1945–1980)
The end of World War II saw Kosovo returning to Yugoslav control. The new socialist government under Josip Broz Tito systematically suppressed nationalism among the ethnic groups throughout Yugoslavia, and established six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina) as constituent parts of the Yugoslav federation.[100] Tito diluted the power of Serbia – the largest and most populous republic – by establishing autonomous governments in the Serbian province of Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo in the south.[101] Until 1963, the region was named the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija and in 1968 it got renamed to the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo.[102]
The period of 1948–1963 in Kosovo was characterized by a brutal crackdown against Albanian nationalists by
The
In 1969 the
In 1974 Kosovo's political status improved further when a new Yugoslav constitution granted an expanded set of political rights. Along with Vojvodina, Kosovo was declared a province and gained many of the powers of a fully-fledged republic: a seat on the federal presidency and its own assembly, police force and national bank.[106][107] While trying to balance the interests of Albanians and Serbs, this effectively stratified both communities and prompted Serb fears of Kosovo seceding from Yugoslavia.[103][108] Student demonstrations continued throughout the 1970s, resulting in the imprisonment of many members of the Albanian National Liberation Movement, including Adem Demaçi.[104][108] The political and administrative changes that began in 1968 resulted in Kosovo Albanians getting complete control over the province's political, social and cultural issues as well as growing ties between Kosovo and Albania. However, by 1980, economic impoverishment would become the catalyst for further unrest.[109]
After the death of Tito (1980–89)
Provincial power was still exercised by the League of Communists of Kosovo, but now devolved mainly to ethnic Albanian communists. Tito's death on 4 May 1980 ushered in a long period of political instability, worsened by growing economic crisis and nationalist unrest. The first major outbreak occurred in Kosovo's main city, Pristina, when a protest of University of Pristina students over long queues in their university canteen rapidly escalated and in late March and early April 1981 spread throughout Kosovo, causing mass demonstrations in several towns, the 1981 protests in Kosovo. The disturbances were quelled by the Presidency of Yugoslavia proclaiming a state of emergency, sending in riot police and the army, which resulted in numerous casualties.
In 1981 it was reported that some 4,000 Serbs moved from Kosovo to central Serbia after the Kosovo Albanian riots in March that resulted in several Serb deaths and the desecration of Serbian Orthodox architecture and graveyards.[110] Serbia reacted with a plan to reduce the power of Albanians in the province and a propaganda campaign that claimed Serbs were being pushed out of the province primarily by the growing Albanian population, rather than the bad state of the economy.[111] 33 nationalist formations were dismantled by Yugoslav police, who sentenced some 280 people (800 fined, 100 under investigation) and seized arms caches and propaganda material.[112] Albanian leaders of Kosovo maintained that Serbs were leaving mainly because of the poor economy. The worsening state of Kosovo's economy made the province a poor choice for Serbs seeking work. Albanians, as well as Serbs, tended to favor their compatriots when hiring new employees, but the number of jobs was too few for the population. Kosovo was the poorest entity of Yugoslavia: the average per capita income was $795, compared with the national average of $2,635. Due to its comparative poverty it received substantial amounts of Yugoslav development money, leading to quarrels amongst the republics regarding its quantity and utilization.[113]
In February 1982 a group of priests from Serbia proper petitioned their bishops to ask "why the Serbian Church is silent" and why it did not campaign against "the destruction, arson and sacrilege of the holy shrines of Kosovo".[114] In 1985, two Albanian farmers were falsely accused for the Đorđe Martinović incident, which turned into a cause célèbre in Serbian politics and fueled hatred towards Albanians. In 1987, Aziz Kelmendi, an ethnic-Albanian recruit in the Yugoslav Army (JNA) killed four fellow soldiers in a mass shooting in JNA barracks, with only one of them being an ethnic Serb.[115] Serbian media blamed Albanian nationalism for the event and in response, Yugoslavia sent 400 federal police officers to Kosovo.[116] It was against this tense background that the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) conducted a survey of Serbs who had left Kosovo in 1985 and 1986, which concluded that a considerable number had left under pressure from Albanians.[117]
The so-called
In April 1987, Serbian President
In November 1988 Kosovo's head of the provincial committee was arrested. In March 1989 Milošević announced an "anti-bureaucratic revolution" in Kosovo and Vojvodina, curtailing their autonomy as well as imposing a curfew and a state of emergency in Kosovo due to violent demonstrations, resulting in 24 deaths (including two policemen). Milošević and his government claimed that the constitutional changes were necessary to protect Kosovo's remaining Serbs against harassment from the Albanian majority.[121]
Constitutional amendments (1989–94)
On 17 November 1988
On 26 June 1990 Serbian authorities barred access to the building of the Kosovo Assembly, citing special circumstances.[129] On 2 July 1990, 114 ethnic Albanian delegates of the 180-member Kosovo Assembly gathered in front of the closed building and declared Kosovo an independent republic within Yugoslavia. On 5 July the Serbian Assembly dissolved the Kosovo Assembly.[129][127] Serbia also dissolved the provincial executive council and assumed full and direct control of the province.[130] Serbia took over management of Kosovo's principal Albanian-language media, halting Albanian-language broadcasts.[130] On 4 September 1990 Kosovar Albanians observed a 24-hour general strike, virtually shutting down the province.[130] On 5 August 1991, the Serbian Assembly suspended the main Albanian-language daily newspaper, Rilindja,[130][131] declaring its journalism unconstitutional.[132]
On 7 September 1990 the Constitution of Kosovo was promulgated by Albanian members of the disbanded Assembly of Kosovo.[133] Milošević responded by ordering the arrest of the deputies that participated in the meeting.[130] The new controversial Serbian Constitution was promulgated on 28 September 1990.[126] In September 1991, Kosovar Albanians held an unofficial referendum in which they voted overwhelmingly for independence.[127] On 24 May 1992 Kosovar Albanians held unofficial elections for an assembly and president of the Republic of Kosovo and elected Ibrahim Rugova as president.[127]
During this time, the
Eruption of war
The slide to war (1995–1998)
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Kosovo War |
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Before March 1999 |
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According to an Amnesty International report in 1998, due to dismissals from the Yugoslav government it was estimated that by 1998 unemployment rate in the Kosovar Albanian population was higher than 70%.[135] The economic apartheid imposed by Belgrade was aimed at impoverishing an already poor Kosovo Albanian population.[135]
In 1996, 16,000 Serb refugees from Bosnia and Croatia were settled in Kosovo by the Milosevic government, sometimes against their will.[136]
Continuing repression
There is de facto Albanian nation. The tragedy is that European powers after World War I decided to divide that nation between several Balkan states. We are now fighting to unify the nation, to liberate all Albanians, including those in Macedonia, Montenegro, and other parts of Serbia. We are not just a liberation army for Kosovo.
While Rugova promised to uphold the minority rights of Serbs in Kosovo, the KLA was much less tolerant. Selimi stated that "Serbs who have blood on their hands would have to leave Kosovo".[140]
The crisis escalated in December 1997 at the Peace Implementation Council meeting in Bonn, where the international community (as defined in the Dayton Agreement) agreed to give the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina sweeping powers, including the right to dismiss elected leaders. At the same time, Western diplomats insisted that Kosovo be discussed and that Yugoslavia be responsive to Albanian demands there. The delegation from Yugoslavia stormed out of the meetings in protest.[142] This was followed by the return of the Contact Group that oversaw the last phases of the Bosnian conflict and declarations from European powers demanding that Yugoslavia solve the problem in Kosovo.
The KLA received financial and material support from the Kosovo Albanian diaspora.
On 23 February 1998, the United States Special Envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, stated in Pristina that "the KLA was without any question a terrorist group."[144][145] He later told the House Committee on International Relations that "while the KLA had committed 'terrorist acts,' it had 'not been classified legally by the U.S. Government as a terrorist organization.'"[146] However, his 23 February statements have been seen as an unwitting "green light" to the Serbian crackdown that followed less than a week later.[147]
War begins
KLA attacks intensified, centering on the
Serb police then began to pursue Adem Jashari and his followers in the village of Donje Prekaze. On 5 March 1998, a massive firefight at the Jashari compound led to the massacre of 60 Albanians, of which eighteen were women and ten were under the age of sixteen.[150] The event provoked massive condemnation from western capitals. Madeleine Albright said that "this crisis is not an internal affair of the FRY".[151]
On 24 March, Yugoslav forces surrounded the village of Glodjane and attacked a rebel compound there.[152] Despite superior firepower, the Yugoslav forces failed to destroy the KLA unit, which had been their objective. Although there were deaths and severe injuries on the Albanian side, the insurgency in Glodjane was far from stamped out. The village was in fact to become one of the strongest centres of resistance in the upcoming war.
A new Yugoslav government was formed at this time, led by the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Serbian Radical Party. Ultra-nationalist Radical Party chairman Vojislav Šešelj became a deputy prime minister. This increased the dissatisfaction with the country's position among Western diplomats and spokespersons.
In early April, Serbia arranged for a referendum on the issue of foreign interference in Kosovo. Serbian voters decisively rejected foreign interference in the crisis.[153] Meanwhile, the KLA claimed much of the area in and around Deçan and ran a territory based in the village of Glodjane, encompassing its surroundings. On 31 May 1998, the Yugoslav army and the Serb Ministry of the Interior police began an operation to clear the border of the KLA. NATO's response to this offensive was mid-June's Operation Determined Falcon, a NATO show of force over the Yugoslav borders.[154]
During this time, Yugoslav President Milošević reached an arrangement with Boris Yeltsin of Russia to stop offensive operations and prepare for talks with the Albanians, who refused to talk to the Serbian side throughout the crisis, but would talk with the Yugoslav government. In fact, the only meeting between Milošević and Ibrahim Rugova happened on 15 May in Belgrade, two days after the special presidential envoy Richard Holbrooke announced that it would take place. Holbrooke threatened Milošević that if he did not obey, "what's left of your country will implode".[155] A month later, Holbrooke visited the border areas affected by the fighting in early June, where he was famously photographed with the KLA. The publication of these images sent a signal to the KLA, its supporters and sympathisers, and to observers in general, that the US was decisively backing the KLA and the Albanian population in Kosovo.
The Yeltsin agreement required Milošević to allow international representatives to set up a mission in Kosovo to monitor the situation there. The Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission (KDOM) began operations in early July 1998. The US government welcomed this part of the agreement, but denounced the initiative's call for a mutual cease fire. Rather, the US demanded that the Serbian-Yugoslavian side should cease fire "without linkage ... to a cessation in terrorist activities". [citation needed]
All through June and into mid-July, the KLA maintained its advance. The KLA surrounded Peja and Gjakova, and set up an interim capital in the town of Malisheva (north of Rahovec). KLA troops infiltrated Suva Reka and the northwest of Pristina. They moved on to capture the Belacevec coal pits in late June, threatening energy supplies in the region. Their tactics as usual focused mainly on guerrilla and mountain warfare, and harassing and ambushing Yugoslav forces and Serb police patrols.
The tide turned in mid-July when the KLA captured Rahovec. On 17 July 1998, two nearby villages, Retimlije and Opteruša, were also captured, while less systematic events took place in the larger Serb-populated village of Velika Hoča. The Orthodox monastery of Zočište three miles (4.8 km) was looted and torched.[156] This led to a series of Serb and Yugoslav offensives which would continue into the beginning of August.
A new set of KLA attacks in mid-August triggered Yugoslavian operations in south-central Kosovo, south of the Pristina-Peja road. The KLA began an offensive on 1 September around Prizren, causing Yugoslavian military activity there. In western Kosovo, around Peja, another offensive caused condemnation as international officials expressed fear that a large column of displaced people would be attacked.
In early mid-September, for the first time, KLA activity was reported in northern Kosovo around Podujevo. Finally, in late September, a Yugoslav determined effort was made to clear the KLA out of the northern and central parts of Kosovo and out of the Drenica valley. During this time many threats were made from Western capitals but these were tempered somewhat by the elections in Bosnia, as they did not want Serbian Democrats and Radicals to win. Following the elections, the threats intensified once again. On 28 September, the mutilated corpses of a family were discovered by KDOM outside the village of Gornje Obrinje. The bloody image of a child's doll and streams of displaced persons rallied the international community to action.[157]
Morale
Morale was a serious problem for Serb forces; intelligence surveys found that many soldiers disagreed with their comrades' actions. One tank commander reported, "for the entire time I was in Kosovo, I never saw an enemy soldier and my unit was never once involved in firing at enemy targets. The tanks which cost $2.5 million each were used to slaughter Albanian children... I am ashamed".[158]
When retreating from Kosovo after NATO intervention, Yugoslav units appeared combat effective with high morale and displaying large holdings of undamaged equipment.[159] Weeks before the end of hostilities, David Fromkin noted that "it seemed possible that NATO unity might crack before Yugoslav morale did."[160] The announcement by President Clinton that the US would not deploy ground troops gave a tremendous boost to Serbian morale.[161]
UN, NATO, and OSCE (1998–1999)
On 9 June 1998, US President Bill Clinton declared a "national emergency" (state of emergency) due to the "unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States" imposed by Yugoslavia and Serbia over the Kosovo War.[162]
On 23 September 1998, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1199. This expressed 'grave concern' at reports reaching the Secretary General that over 230,000 people had been displaced from their homes by 'the excessive and indiscriminate use of force by Serbian security forces and the Yugoslav Army',[163] demanding that all parties in Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia cease hostilities and maintain a ceasefire. On 24 September the North Atlantic Council (NAC) of NATO issued an "activation warning" taking NATO to an increased level of military preparedness for both a limited air option and a phased air campaign in Kosovo.[164] The other major issue for those who saw no option but to resort to the use of force was the estimated 250,000 displaced Albanians, 30,000 of whom were out in the woods, without warm clothing or shelter, with winter fast approaching.
Meanwhile, the US Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia, Christopher Hill, was leading shuttle diplomacy between an Albanian delegation, led by Rugova, and the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities. These meetings were shaping the peace plan to be discussed during a period of planned NATO occupation of Kosovo. During a period of two weeks, threats intensified, culminating in NATO's Activation Order being given. NATO was ready to begin airstrikes, and Richard Holbrooke went to Belgrade in the hope of reaching an agreement with Milošević. Officially, the international community demanded an end to fighting. It specifically demanded that Yugoslavia end its offensives against the KLA whilst attempting to convince the KLA to drop its bid for independence. Attempts were made to persuade Milošević to permit NATO peacekeeping troops to enter Kosovo. This, they argued, would allow for the Christopher Hill peace process to proceed and yield a peace agreement.
On 13 October 1998, the
The KVM was a large contingent of unarmed Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) peace monitors (officially known as verifiers) that moved into Kosovo. Their inadequacy was evident from the start. They were nicknamed the "clockwork oranges" in reference to their brightly coloured vehicles. Fighting resumed in December 1998 after both sides broke the ceasefire,[168] and this surge in violence culminated in the killing of Zvonko Bojanić, the Serb mayor of the town of Kosovo Polje. Yugoslav authorities responded by launching a crackdown against KLA militants.[169]
The January to March 1999 phase of the war brought increasing insecurity in urban areas, including bombings and murders. Such attacks took place during the Rambouillet talks in February and as the Kosovo Verification Agreement unraveled in March. Killings on the roads continued and increased. There were military confrontations in, among other places, the Vushtrri area in February and the heretofore unaffected Kaçanik area in early March.
On 15 January 1999 the
The Rambouillet Conference (January–March 1999)
On 30 January 1999, NATO issued a statement announcing that the North Atlantic Council had agreed that "the NATO Secretary General may authorise air strikes against targets on FRY territory" to "[compel] compliance with the demands of the international community and [to achieve] a political settlement".[174] While this was most obviously a threat to the Milošević government, it also included a coded threat to the Albanians: any decision would depend on the "position and actions of the Kosovo Albanian leadership and all Kosovo Albanian armed elements in and around Kosovo."[174]
Also on 30 January 1999, the Contact Group issued a set of "non-negotiable principles" which made up a package known as "Status Quo Plus" – effectively the restoration of Kosovo's pre-1990 autonomy within Serbia, plus the introduction of democracy and supervision by international organisations. It also called for a peace conference to be held in February 1999 at the Château de Rambouillet, outside Paris.[citation needed]
The Rambouillet talks began on 6 February 1999, with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana negotiating with both sides. They were intended to conclude by 19 February. The FR Yugoslavian delegation was led by then president of Serbia Milan Milutinović, while Milošević himself remained in Belgrade. This was in contrast to the 1995 Dayton conference that ended the war in Bosnia, where Milošević negotiated in person.[citation needed] The absence of Milošević was interpreted as a sign that the real decisions were being made back in Belgrade, a move that aroused criticism in Yugoslavia as well as abroad; Kosovo's Serbian Orthodox bishop Artemije traveled all the way to Rambouillet to protest that the delegation was wholly unrepresentative. At this time, speculation about an indictment of Milošević for war crimes was rife, so his absence may have been motivated by fear of arrest.[citation needed]
The first phase of negotiations was successful. In particular, a statement was issued by the Contact Group co-chairmen on 23 February 1999 that the negotiations "have led to a consensus on substantial autonomy for Kosovo, including on mechanisms for free and fair elections to democratic institutions, for the governance of Kosovo, for the protection of human rights and the rights of members of national communities; and for the establishment of a fair judicial system". They went on to say that "a political framework is now in place", leaving the further work of finalising "the implementation Chapters of the Agreement, including the modalities of the invited international civilian and military presence in Kosovo".[175] While the Serbs agreed to an autonomous government, free elections, and the release of all political prisoners, the West also insisted on the presence of NATO troops.[176]
While the accords did not fully satisfy the Albanians, they were much too radical for the Yugoslavs, who responded by substituting a drastically revised text that even Russia (ally of FR Yugoslavia) found unacceptable. It sought to reopen the painstakingly negotiated political status of Kosovo and deleted all of the proposed implementation measures. Among many other changes in the proposed new version, it eliminated the entire chapter on humanitarian assistance and reconstruction, removed virtually all international oversight and dropped any mention of invoking "the will of the people [of Kosovo]" in determining the final status of the province.[177]
On 18 March 1999, the Albanian, US, and British delegations signed what became known as the Rambouillet Accords, while the Yugoslav and Russian delegations refused. The accords called for NATO administration of Kosovo as an autonomous province within Yugoslavia, a force of 30,000 NATO troops to maintain order in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory, including Kosovo; and immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law. They would have also permitted a continuing Yugoslav army presence of 1,500 troops for border monitoring, backed by up to 1,000 troops to perform command and support functions, as well as a small number of border police, 2,500 ordinary MUP for public security purposes (although these were expected to draw down and to be transformed), and 3,000 local police.[178]
Although the Yugoslav Government cited military provisions of Appendix B of the Rambouillet provisions as the reason for its objections, claiming that it was an unacceptable violation of Yugoslavia's sovereignty, these provisions were essentially the same as had been applied to Bosnia for the
After the failure at Rambouillet and the alternative Yugoslav proposal, international monitors from the OSCE withdrew on 22 March, to ensure their safety ahead of the anticipated NATO bombing campaign.[181] On 23 March, the Serbian assembly accepted the principle of autonomy for Kosovo, as well as the non-military aspects of the agreement, but rejected a NATO troop presence.[181][182]
In a 2009 judgement regarding six former Serb leaders charged with war crimes in Kosovo, the ICTY noted that the causes of the breakdown in the negotiations at Rambouillet were complex and stated that "international negotiators did not take an entirely even-handed approach to the respective positions of the parties and tended to favour the Kosovo Albanians." It further recorded that, according to a witness, on 14 April 1999, at a meeting initiated by the White House with representatives of the Serbian-American community, President Bill Clinton had stated that "the provision for allowing a referendum for the Albanians in Kosovo went too far and that, if he were in the shoes of Milošević, he probably would not have signed the draft [Rambouillet] agreement either."[183]
NATO bombing timeline
We are not going to war, but we are called upon to implement a peaceful solution in Kosovo, including by military means!
— German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's announcement to the German people on 24 March 1999.[184]
On 23 March 1999 at 21:30 UTC, Richard Holbrooke returned to Brussels and announced that peace talks had failed and formally handed the matter to NATO for military action.[185][186] Hours before the announcement, Yugoslavia announced on national television it had declared a state of emergency, citing an imminent threat of war and began a huge mobilisation of troops and resources.[185][187]
On 23 March 1999 at 22:17 UTC, the Secretary General of NATO, Javier Solana, announced he had directed the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), US Army General Wesley Clark, to "initiate air operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."[187][188] On 24 March at 19:00 UTC, NATO started its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.[189][190]
The NATO bombing campaign lasted from 24 March to 11 June 1999, involving up to 1,000 aircraft operating mainly from bases in
The proclaimed goal of the NATO operation was summed up by its spokesman as "Serbs out, peacekeepers in, refugees back". That is, Yugoslav troops would have to leave Kosovo and be replaced by international peacekeepers to ensure that the Albanian refugees could return to their homes. The campaign was initially designed to destroy Yugoslav air defences and high-value military targets. It did not go very well at first, with bad weather hindering many sorties early on. NATO had seriously underestimated Milošević's will to resist: few in Brussels thought that the campaign would last more than a few days, and although the initial bombardment was not insignificant, it did not match the intensity of the bombing of Baghdad in 1991.
NATO military operations switched increasingly to attacking Yugoslav units on the ground, hitting targets as small as individual tanks and artillery pieces, as well as continuing with the strategic bombardment. This activity was heavily constrained by politics, as each target needed to be approved by all nineteen member states. Montenegro was bombed on several occasions, but NATO eventually desisted to prop up the precarious position of its anti-Milošević leader, Milo Đukanović.
At the start of May, a NATO aircraft attacked an Albanian refugee
By the start of April, the conflict appeared little closer to a resolution, and NATO countries began to seriously consider conducting ground operations in Kosovo. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was a strong advocate of ground forces and pressured the United States to agree; his strong stance caused some alarm in Washington as US forces would be making the largest contribution to any offensive.[196] US President Bill Clinton was extremely reluctant to commit US forces for a ground offensive. Instead, Clinton authorised a CIA operation to look into methods to destabilise the Yugoslav government without training KLA troops.[197] At the same time, Finnish and Russian diplomatic negotiators continued to try to persuade Milošević to back down. Tony Blair would order 50,000 British soldiers to be made ready for a ground offensive: most of the available British Army.[196]
Milošević finally recognised that Russia would not intervene to defend Yugoslavia despite Moscow's strong anti-NATO rhetoric. He thus accepted the conditions offered by a Finnish–Russian mediation team and agreed to a military presence within Kosovo headed by the UN, but incorporating NATO troops.
The Norwegian special forces Hærens Jegerkommando and Forsvarets Spesialkommando cooperated with the KLA in gathering intelligence information. Preparing for an invasion on 12 June, Norwegian special forces worked with the KLA on the Ramno mountain on the border between North Macedonia and Kosovo and acted as scouts to monitor events in Kosovo. Together with British special forces, Norwegian special forces were the first to cross over the border into Kosovo. According to Keith Graves with the television network Sky News, the Norwegians were in Kosovo two days prior to the entry of other forces and were among the first into Pristina.[198] The Hærens Jegerkommando's and Forsvarets Spesialkommando's job was to clear the way between the contending parties and to make local deals to implement the peace deal between the Serbians and the Kosovo Albanians.[199][200]
Yugoslav army withdrawal and the entry of KFOR
On 3 June 1999, Milošević accepted the terms of an international peace plan to end the fighting, with the national parliament adopting the proposal amid contentious debate with delegates coming close to fistfights at some points.[201][202] On 10 June, the North Atlantic Council ratified the agreement and suspended air operations.[203]
On 12 June, after Milošević accepted the conditions, the NATO-led
The first NATO troops to enter Pristina on the 12th of June 1999 were Norwegian special forces from Forsvarets Spesialkommando (FSK) and soldiers from the British Special Air Service 22 Regiment, although to NATO's diplomatic embarrassment Russian troops arrived at the airport first. Norwegian soldiers were the first to come into contact with Russian troops at the airport. FSK's mission was to level the negotiating field between the belligerent parties, and to fine-tune the detailed, local deals needed to implement the peace deal between the Serbians and the Kosovo Albanians.[205][206][207][208]
The US contribution, known as the Initial Entry Force, was led by the
, and spent four months – the start of a stay which continues to date – establishing order in the southeast sector of Kosovo.During the initial incursion, the US soldiers were greeted by Albanians cheering and throwing flowers as US soldiers and KFOR rolled through their villages. Although no resistance was met, three US soldiers from the Initial Entry Force were killed in accidents.[209]
On 1 October 1999, approximately 150 paratroopers from Alpha Company, 1/508th Airborne Battalion Combat Team from Vicenza, Italy parachuted into Uroševac as part of Operation Rapid Guardian. The purpose of the mission was primarily to warn Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević of NATO resolve and of its rapid military capability. One US soldier, Army Ranger Sgt. Jason Neil Pringle, was killed during operations after his parachute failed to deploy. The paratroopers of the 1/508th then joined paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne and KFOR in patrolling various areas of Kosovo, without incident, through 3 October 1999.
On 15 December 1999, Staff Sergeant Joseph Suponcic of 3rd Battalion/10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) was killed, when the HMMWV in which he was a passenger struck an anti-tank mine planted by Albanians and meant for the Russian contingent with which SSG Suponcic's team was patrolling in Kosovska Kamenica.
Following the military campaign, the involvement of Russian peacekeepers proved to be tense and challenging to the NATO Kosovo force. The Russians expected to have an independent sector of Kosovo, only to be unhappily surprised with the prospect of operating under NATO command. Without prior communication or coordination with NATO, Russian peacekeeping forces entered Kosovo from
In 2010, James Blunt described in an interview how his unit was given the assignment of securing Pristina during the advance of the 30,000-strong peacekeeping force and how the Russian Army had moved in and taken control of the city's airport before his unit's arrival. Blunt shared a part in the difficult task of addressing the potentially violent international incident. According to Blunt's account there was a stand-off with the Russians, and NATO Supreme Commander Clark gave provisional orders to over-power them. Whilst these were questioned by Blunt, they were rejected by General Jackson, with the now famous line, "I'm not having my soldiers responsible for starting World War III."[211]
In June 2000, arms trading relations between Russia and Yugoslavia were exposed, which led to retaliation and bombings of Russian checkpoints and area police stations. Outpost Gunner was established on a high point in the Preševo Valley by Echo Battery 1/161 Field Artillery in an attempt to monitor and assist with peacekeeping efforts in the Russian Sector. Operating under the support of ⅔ Field Artillery, 1st Armored Division, the Battery was able to successfully deploy and continuously operate a Firefinder Radar system, which allowed the NATO forces to keep a closer watch on activities in the Sector and the Preševo Valley. Eventually a deal was struck whereby Russian forces operated as a unit of KFOR but not under the NATO command structure.[212]
Reaction to the war
Because of the country's restrictive media laws, the Yugoslav media carried little coverage of events in Kosovo, and the attitude of other countries to the humanitarian disaster that was occurring there. Thus, few members of the Yugoslav public expected NATO intervention, instead thinking that a diplomatic agreement would be reached.[213]
Support for the war
Support for the Kosovan War and, in particular, the
[Yugoslav] forces were engaged in a well-planned campaign of terror and expulsion of the Kosovar Albanians. This campaign is most frequently described as one of "ethnic cleansing," intended to drive many, if not all, Kosovar Albanians from Kosovo, destroy the foundations of their society, and prevent them from returning.
It concluded that "the NATO military intervention was illegal but legitimate",[220] The second report was published by the NATO Office of Information and Press[221] which reported that, "the human rights violations committed on a large scale in Kosovo provide an incontestable ground with reference to the humanitarian aspect of NATO's intervention."[222] Some critics note that NATO did not have the backing of the United Nations Security Council meant that its intervention had no legal basis, but according to some legal scholars, "there are nonetheless certain bases for that action that are not legal, but justified."[217]
Aside from politicians and diplomats, commentators and intellectuals also supported the war. Michael Ignatieff called NATOs intervention a "morally justifiable response to ethnic cleansing and the resulting flood of refugees, and not the cause of the flood of refugees"[223] while Christopher Hitchens said NATO intervened only, "when Serbian forces had resorted to mass deportation and full-dress ethnic 'cleansing.'"[224] Writing in The Nation, Richard A. Falk wrote that, "the NATO campaign achieved the removal of Yugoslav military forces from Kosovo and, even more significant, the departure of the dreaded Serbian paramilitary units and police"[225] while an article in The Guardian wrote that for Mary Kaldor, Kosovo represented a laboratory on her thinking for human security, humanitarian intervention and international peacekeeping, the latter two which she defined as, "a genuine belief in the equality of all human beings; and this entails a readiness to risk lives of peacekeeping troops to save the lives of others where this is necessary."[226] Reports stated there had been no peace between Albanians and Serbs, citing the deaths of 1,500 Albanians and displacement of 270,000 prior to NATO intervention.[214]
Criticism of the case for war
The NATO intervention has been seen as a political diversionary tactic, coming as it did on the heels of the
Noam Chomsky argues that the bombing was "not undertaken in “response” to ethnic cleansing and to “reverse” it, as leaders alleged", but rather that "with full awareness of the likely consequences, Clinton and Blair decided in favor of a war that led to a radical escalation of ethnic cleansing along with other deleterious effects."[229] Chomsky also notes, similarly to Foerstel, that the number of casualties in the war before the bombing constituted a small number. He concludes that it is impossible to justify the bombing, as there "could be no reasonable expectation of massive ethnic cleansing and violence".[230] According to Chomsky, the Račak massacre that was considered a turning point for NATO amounted to 45 deaths, a very low number compared to the atrocities committed from both sides after the bombing. According to the International Herald Tribune, "U.S. intelligence reported … that the Kosovo rebels intended to draw NATO into its fight for independence by provoking Serbian forces into further atrocities."[231]
U.S. President Clinton, his administration and NATO governments were accused of inflating the number of Kosovo Albanians killed by state forces.[232] During the NATO bombing campaign, the then Secretary of Defense, William Cohen claimed that 100,000 Kosovo Albanian men of military age were missing, possibly murdered.[233] The conservative[234] media watchdog group Accuracy in Media charged the alliance with distorting the situation in Kosovo and lying about the number of civilian deaths in order to justify U.S. involvement in the conflict.[235]
After the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said that the US was using its economic and military superiority to aggressively expand its influence and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. Chinese leaders called the NATO campaign a dangerous precedent of naked aggression, a new form of colonialism, and an aggressive war groundless in morality or law. It was seen as part of a plot by the US to destroy Yugoslavia, expand eastward and control all of Europe.[236]
The United Nations Charter does not allow military interventions in other sovereign countries with few exceptions which, in general, need to be decided upon by the United Nations Security Council; this legal enjoinment has proved controversial with many[217][219][220] legal scholars who argue that though the Kosovo War was illegal, it was still legitimate. The issue was brought before the UN Security Council by Russia, in a draft resolution which, inter alia, would affirm "that such unilateral use of force constitutes a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter". China, Namibia, and Russia voted for the resolution, the other members against, thus it failed to pass.[237]
The war inflicted many casualties. Already by March 1999, an estimated 1,500–2,000 civilians and combatants were dead.[238] However, estimates showed that prior to the bombing campaign on 24 March 1999, approximately 1,800 civilians had been killed in the Kosovo war, mostly Albanians but also Serbs and that there had been no evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing.[239] By November 1999, 2,108 victims had been exhumed from the province with a total approaching 3,000 expected, but it was unclear how many were civilians and combatants, while the number was also far from the 10,000 minimum civilian death figure cited by Western officials.[240] Final estimates of the casualties are still unavailable for either side.
Perhaps the most controversial deliberate attack of the war was that made against the headquarters of RTS, Serbian public radio and television, on 23 April 1999, which killed at least fourteen people.[241]
Privately, NATO European members were divided about the aims and necessity of the war.[242] Most European allies did not trust the motives of Kosovan Albanians and according to NATO General Wesley Clark, "There was a sense among some that NATO was fighting on the wrong side" in a war between Christians and Muslims.[242]
Democratic League of Kosovo and FARK
The
On 21 September 1998 Ahmet Krasniqi was shot in
Rugova was present at the negotiations held in Rambouillet and supported the Rambouillet Agreement since the first round, but without any influence.[257] Following the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population, there was close to a total Albanian support for the NATO campaign, including the DLK side. Surprisingly, Ibrahim Rugova showed up in Belgrade as a guest of Milosevic. At a joint TV appearance on 1 April,[258] ending in a Rugova-Milosevic handshake, Rugova asked for a peaceful solution and the bombings to stop.[259][260] In the same conference, Millosevic presented his proposal for Kosovo as part of a three-unit federal Yugoslavian state. Rugova's presence in Belgrade scattered another set of accusations from KLA and its supporters. Besides being 'passive' and 'too peaceful', Rugova and DLK were accused as 'traitors'.[261] Following Rugova's passage to Italy on 5 May, Rugova claimed that he had been under duress and any "agreement" with Milosovic had no meaning.[258] The general opinion expected the DLK structures and its leader to vanish from the political scene of Kosovo after the Yugoslav withdrawal. Rugova himself stayed out of Kosovo for several weeks, while the prime-minister Bukoshi and other leading membership returned. With only a fraction of Kosovo Albanians participating actively in the war, the support for DLK increased again as a way of opposing the arrogance of many KLA leaders who openly engaged in controlling the economical and political life within the vacuum created right before the deployment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).[262] In the October 2000 local elections, DLK was confirmed as the leading political party.[263]
The feud between KLA and DLK continued in the post-war Kosovo. Many political activists of DLK were assassinated and the perpetrators not found, including
Casualties
Civilian losses
In June 2000, the
A study by researchers from the
In the 2008 joint study by the
Civilians killed by NATO airstrikes
Yugoslavia claimed that NATO attacks caused between 1,200 and 5,700 civilian casualties. NATO's Secretary General, Lord Robertson, wrote after the war that "the actual toll in human lives will never be precisely known" but he then offered the figures found in a report by Human Rights Watch as a reasonable estimate. This report counted between 488 and 527 civilian deaths (90 to 150 of them killed from cluster bomb use) in 90 separate incidents, the worst of which were the 87 Albanian refugees who perished at the hands of NATO bombs, near Koriša.[268]
Civilians killed by Yugoslav forces
Various estimates of the number of killings attributed to Yugoslav forces have been announced through the years. An estimated 800,000 Kosovo Albanians fled and an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 were killed, according to The New York Times.[269] The estimate of 10,000 deaths is used by the US Department of State, which cited human rights abuses as its main justification for attacking Yugoslavia.[270]
Statistical experts working on behalf of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecution estimate that the total number of dead is about 10,000.[271] Eric Fruits, a professor at Portland State University, argued that the experts' analyses were based on fundamentally flawed data and that none of its conclusions are supported by any valid statistical analysis or tests.[272]
In August 2000, the
In an attempt to conceal the corpses of the victims, Yugoslav forces transported the bodies of murdered Albanians deep inside Serbia and buried them in mass graves.
Known mass graves:
- In 2001, 800 still unidentified bodies were found in pits on a police training ground just outside Belgrade and in eastern Serbia.
- At least 700 bodies were uncovered in a mass grave located within a special anti-terrorist police unit's compound in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica.
- 77 bodies were found in the eastern Serbian town of Petrovo Selo.
- 50 bodies were uncovered near the western Serbian town of Peručac.[278]
- A mass grave believed to contain 250 bodies of Albanians killed in the war has been found under a car park in Rudnica near Raška.[279][280]
- At least 2 bodies, as well as part of the remains of a third body previously found in Rudnica have been found near a mine in the village of Kizevak in southern Serbia. The operation of recovering the bodies is still ongoing.[281]
Civilians killed by KLA forces
The KLA abducted and killed Serbian, Roma, and moderate Albanian civilians during and after the war.
NATO losses
Military casualties on the
There were other casualties after the war, mostly due to land mines. During the war, the alliance reported the loss of the first
Yugoslav military losses
At first, NATO claimed to have killed 10,000 Yugoslav troops, while Yugoslavia claimed only 500 had been killed; the NATO investigative teams later corrected it to a few hundred Yugoslav troops killed by air strikes.[293] In 2001, the Yugoslav authorities claimed 462 soldiers were killed and 299 wounded by NATO airstrikes.[294] Later, in 2013, Serbia claimed that 1,008 Yugoslav soldiers and policemen had been killed by NATO bombing.[35] In early June 1999, NATO claimed that 5,000 Yugoslav servicemen had been killed and 10,000 had been wounded during the NATO air campaign.[37][38][295][296][297] NATO has since[when?] revised this estimate to 1,200 Yugoslav soldiers and policemen killed.[39]
Of military equipment, NATO destroyed around 50
The most significant loss for the
KLA losses
Around 1,500 Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers were killed, according to KLA's own estimates.[26] HLC registered 2,131 KLA and FARK insurgents killed in its comprehensive database.[27]
Aftermath
The Yugoslav and Serb forces caused the displacement of between 1.2 million
According to the 1991 Yugoslavia Census, of the nearly 2 million population of Kosovo in 1991, 194,190 were Serbs, 45,745 were Romani and 20,356 were Montenegrins.[302] According to the Human Rights Watch, 200,000 Serbs and thousands of Roma fled from Kosovo during and after the war.[52] Homes of minorities were burned and Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed.[303] The Yugoslav Red Cross had also registered 247,391 mostly Serbian refugees by 26 November.[304] More than 164,000 Serbs left Kosovo during the seven weeks which followed Yugoslav and Serb forces' withdrawal from, and the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entering Kosovo.[305]
Further inter-ethnic violence took place in
War crimes
By the Federal Yugoslav government
For the
Widespread rape and sexual violence by the Serbian army, police and paramilitaries occurred during the conflict and the majority of victims were Kosovo Albanian women,[311][312] numbering an estimated 20,000.[313] The crimes of rape by the Serb military, paramilitary and police amounted to crimes against humanity and a war crime of torture.[311]
On 27 April 1999, a
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was charged by the UN's
By 2014, the ICTY issued final verdicts against the indicted Yugoslav officials who were found guilty of
- Nikola Šainović, former Deputy Prime Minister of the FRY, sentenced to 18 years in prison.[317]
- Dragoljub Ojdanić, former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 15 years in prison.[317]
- Nebojša Pavković, former Commander of the Third Army of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 22 years in prison.[317]
- Vladimir Lazarević, former Commander of the Priština Corps of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 14 years in prison.[317]
- Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, sentenced to 20 years in prison.[317]
- Vlastimir Đorđević, former Assistant Minister of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) and Chief of the Public Security Department (RJB) of the MUP, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.[318]
- Milan Milutinović was acquitted of all charges.[317]
- Vlajko Stojiljković committed suicide.
- Slobodan Milošević died before a verdict was reached.
The ICTY found that:
...FRY and Serbian forces use[d] violence and terror to force a significant number of Kosovo Albanians from their homes and across the borders, in order for the state authorities to maintain control over Kosovo ... This campaign was conducted by
police forces (MUP) under the control of FRY and Serbian authorities, who were responsible for mass expulsions of Kosovo Albanian civilians from their homes, as well as incidents of killings, sexual assault, and the intentional destruction of mosques.[319]
By Kosovo Albanian forces
The ICTY convicted KLA commander Haradin Bala for murder, torture and cruel treatment in the Lapušnik prison camp, and sentencted him to 13 years’ imprisonment. Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu were acquitted.[320]
In 2008, Carla Del Ponte published a book in which she alleged that, after the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo Albanians were smuggling organs of between 100 and 300 Serbs and other minorities from the province to Albania.[321]
In March 2005, a UN tribunal indicted Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj for war crimes against the Serbs. On 8 March, he tendered his resignation. Haradinaj, an ethnic Albanian, was a former commander who led units of the Kosovo Liberation Army and was appointed Prime Minister after winning an election of 72 votes to three in the Kosovo's Parliament in December 2004. Haradinaj was acquitted on all counts along with fellow KLA veterans Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. The Office of the Prosecutor appealed their acquittals, resulting in the ICTY ordering a partial retrial. On 29 November 2012 all three were acquitted for the second time on all charges.[322] The trials were rife with accusations of witness intimidation, as media outlets from several different countries wrote that as many as nineteen people who were supposed to be witnesses in the trial against Haradinaj were murdered (the ICTY disputed these reports).[323]
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), "800 non-Albanian civilians were kidnapped and murdered from 1998 to 1999". After the war, "479 people have gone missing... most of them Serbs".[324] HRW notes that "the intent behind many of the killings and abductions that have occurred in the province since June 1999 appears to be the expulsion of Kosovo's Serb and Roma population rather than a desire for revenge alone. In numerous cases, direct and systematic efforts were made to force Serbs and Roma to leave their homes."[325] Some 200,000 Serbs and Roma fled Kosovo following the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces.[326]
In April 2014, the
Carla Del Ponte said that the US for political reasons, did not want the ICTY to scrutinise war crimes committed by the KLA. According to her, Madeleine Albright who was the Secretary of State at the time told her to proceed slowly with the investigation of Ramush Haradinaj to avoid unrest in Kosovo.[329]
By NATO forces
The Yugoslav government and a number of international pressure groups (e.g., Amnesty International) claimed that NATO had carried out war crimes during the conflict, notably the bombing of the Serbian TV headquarters in Belgrade on 23 April 1999, where 16 people were killed and 16 more were injured. Sian Jones of Amnesty stated, "The bombing of the headquarters of Serbian state radio and television was a deliberate attack on a civilian object and as such constitutes a war crime".[330] A report conducted by the ICTY entitled Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia concluded that, "Insofar as the attack actually was aimed at disrupting the communications network, it was legally acceptable" and that, "NATO's targeting of the RTS building for propaganda purposes was an incidental (albeit complementary) aim of its primary goal of disabling the Serbian military command and control system and to destroy the nerve system and apparatus that keeps Milosević in power."[192] In regards to civilian casualties, it further stated that though they were, "unfortunately high, they do not appear to be clearly disproportionate."[192]
International reaction to NATO intervention
Africa
- – Egypt supported NATO intervention in Kosovo and withdrew its ambassador from Belgrade.[331]
- – Libyan Jamahiriya leader, Muammar Gaddafi opposed the campaign and called on world leaders to support Yugoslavia's 'legitimate right to defend its freedoms and territorial integrity against a possible aggression.'[332]
Asia
- – Cambodia was against the campaign.[333]
- bombed its embassy in Belgrade on 7 May 1999, riots and mass demonstrations against the governments of the United States and Great Britain were reported against both the attack and the operation overall.[334] Jiang Zemin, the President of the country at the time, called 'once more' for an immediate halt to the airstrikes and demanded peaceful negotiations.[332]
- FR Yugoslavia be enabled to resolve its internal issues internally.'[332]
- – Indonesia was against the campaign.[333]
- Holocaust.[337]
- – Jordan supported NATO intervention in Kosovo and withdrew its ambassador from Belgrade.[331]
- – Japan's PM Keizō Obuchi advocated the bombing, stating that Yugoslavia had an 'uncompromising attitude.'[333] Japan's foreign minister Masahiko Kōmura said that, 'Japan understands NATO's use of force as measures that had to be taken to prevent humanitarian catastrophe.'[332]
- – Malaysia supported the bombing, stating that it 'was necessary to prevent genocide in Kosovo.'[333]
- – Pakistan's government was concerned about developing situations in Kosovo and called for UN intervention.[333]
- – United Arab Emirates supported NATO intervention in Kosovo.[338] The UAE population gave financial aid, and set up and ran a refugee camp and built an airstrip for incoming relief supplies at Kukës in Northern Albania.[338]
- – Vietnam was against the bombing campaign.[333]
Europe
- – Albania strongly supported the bombing campaign. This resulted in the breaking of diplomatic ties between Albania and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, who accused the Albanian government of harbouring KLA insurgents and supplying them with weapons.[339]
- – Turkey, a NATO member, supported and was involved in the bombing campaign though it expressed hesitation about a ground offensive.[340] The Turkish government stressed that NATO's involvement was not about undermining Yugoslav territorial integrity, but about reversing the genocidal policies of the Milošević government.[340] The Turkish population, as a result of historical, cultural, and religious ties to the Balkans felt a responsibility to assist Kosovo Albanians by supporting their government's position.[340]
- – In France, the bulk of the population supported the action but factions on the far left and far right opposed it.[342]
- Yugoslav population also strongly opposed the bombing. Milošević stated that, 'the only correct decision that could have been made was the one to reject foreign troops on our territory.'[343] The Yugoslavs who opposed Milošević also opposed the bombing, saying that it 'supports Milošević rather than attacking him.'[344]
- Gerhard Schroeder newly elected government supported the NATO campaign; German public opinion was not prepared for a prolonged campaign.[242]
- – The bombing was met with mixed reactions in Italy. Following former Prime Minister Romano Prodi's decision to allow coalition forces to use Italian airbases and military infrastructures, Massimo D'Alema's centre-left government authorised the country's participation in the air campaign.[345] The bombing was also supported by Silvio Berlusconi and the centre-right opposition.[346] Domestic opposition to the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia was strong.[242]
- – Russia strongly condemned the campaign. President Boris Yeltsin stated that, 'Russia is deeply upset by NATO's military action against sovereign Yugoslavia, which is nothing more than open aggression.'[332] They also condemned NATO at the United Nations saying that NATO air strikes on Serbia were 'an illegal action.'[347] Some Russians volunteered to go to Kosovo, not only to fight the KLA, but also to oppose NATO.[348]
- – As a contributor to the bombing, the United Kingdom strongly supported the bombing campaign, as did a majority of the British population.[349]
- – The Polish government sanctioned NATO's activities but Poland did not participate in the operation[350] There were demonstrations in Warsaw against the bombing.[351]
- – Bulgaria allowed its airspace to be used by NATO aircraft for attacks.[352] Despite Bulgaria's ambitions of joining both NATO and the European Union, the leftist opposition organised street protests in Sofia over the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the public was reportedly deeply divided because of sympathy for their fellow Slavs and Christian Orthodox Serb neighbours but also a desire to join the European Union and NATO.[353] Several NATO missiles and aircraft strayed off course into Bulgaria.[354]
Oceania
- – Australia supported the campaign. Prime Minister John Howard stated that, "history has told us that if you sit by and do nothing, you pay a much greater price later on."[355]
United Nations
- – The United Nations had mixed reactions to the bombing, which was carried out without its authorisation.[356] Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General said, "In spite of all the efforts made by the international community, the Yugoslav authorities have persisted in their rejection of a political settlement … it is indeed tragic that diplomacy has failed, but there are times when the use of force is legitimate in the pursuit of peace"[332] adding that "the [UN Security] Council should be involved in any decision to resort to the use of force."[357]
Military and political consequences
The Kosovo War had a number of important consequences in terms of the military and political outcome. The status of Kosovo remains unresolved; international negotiations began in 2006 to determine Kosovo's level of autonomy as envisaged under
The UN-backed talks, led by UN Special Envoy
The campaign exposed significant weaknesses in the US arsenal, which were later addressed for the
Kosovo also showed that some low-tech tactics could reduce the impact of a high-tech force such as NATO; the Milošević government cooperated with Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime in Iraq, passing on many of the lessons learned in the Gulf War.[362] The Yugoslav army had long expected to need to resist a much stronger enemy, either Soviet or NATO, during the Cold War and had developed tactics of deception and concealment in response. These would have been unlikely to have resisted a full-scale invasion for long, but were probably used to mislead overflying aircraft and satellites. Among the tactics used were:
- US stealth aeroplanes were tracked with radars operating on long wavelengths. If stealth jets got wet or opened their bomb bay doors, they would become visible on the radar screens. The downing of an F-117 Nighthawk by a missile was possibly spotted in this way.[363]
- Dummy targets such as fake bridges, airfields and decoy aeroplanes and tanks were used extensively. Tanks were made using old tires, plastic sheeting and logs, and sand cans and fuel set alight to mimic heat missions. Serbia claims they fooled NATO pilots into bombing hundreds of decoys, though General Clark's survey found that in Operation: Allied Force, NATO airmen hit just 25 decoys – an insignificant percentage of the 974 validated hits.[364] NATO sources claim that this was due to operating procedures, which oblige troops, in this case aircraft, to engage any and all targets, however unlikely they may be. The targets needed only to look real to be shot at when detected. NATO claimed that the Yugoslav air force was devastated: "Official data show that the Yugoslav army in Kosovo lost 26 percent of its tanks, 34 percent of its APCs, and 47 percent of the artillery to the air campaign."[364]
Military decorations
As a result of the Kosovo War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation created a second NATO medal, the
Due to the involvement of the
The Kosovo Campaign Medal (KCM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces established by Executive Order 13154 of President Bill Clinton on 3 May 2000. The medal recognises military service performed in Kosovo from 24 March 1999 through 31 December 2013.
Weaponry and vehicles used
A variety of weapons were used by the Yugoslav security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army, NATO only operated aircraft and naval units during the conflict.
- Yugoslav security forces
The weapons used by Yugoslav government were mostly Yugoslav made, while almost all of their AA units were Soviet made.
- BOV
- BVP M-80
- D-20
- D-30
- MiG-21
- MiG-29
- M79 Osa
- M80 Zolja
- M-84
- SA-3
- SA-6
- SA-7
- SA-9
- SA-13
- SA-16
- Soko J-22 Orao
- Soko Gazelle
- T-54/55
- Zastava M70
- Zastava M72
- Zastava M76
- Zastava M84
- Zastava M90
- Zastava M91
- 2S1 Gvozdika
- Kosovo Liberation Army
The weapons used by the Kosovo Liberation Army were mostly Soviet Kalashnikovs and Chinese derivatives of the AK-47 and some Western weaponry.
- NATO
Aircraft used by NATO were:
- A-10 Thunderbolt
- AC-130 Spooky
- AH-64 Apache
- AMX
- AV-8B Harrier
- B-1 Lancer
- B-2 Spirit
- B-52 Stratofortress
- E-3 Sentry
- E-8 JSTARS
- EA-6B Prowler
- F-104 Starfighter
- F-117 Nighthawk
- F/A-18 Hornet
- F-14 Tomcat
- F-15 Eagle
- F-15 Strike Eagle
- F-16 Fighting Falcon
- F-4 Phantom
- Harrier jump jet
- L-1011 TriStar[366]
- Mirage 2000
- MQ-1 Predator
- Panavia Tornado
- Panavia Tornado ADV
- SEPECAT Jaguar
Guided missiles used were:
See also
- Albania–Yugoslav border incident
- Destruction of Albanian heritage in Kosovo
- Destruction of Serbian heritage in Kosovo
- Insurgency in the Preševo Valley
- Operation Horseshoe
- State Security Service (Serbia)
- 2004 unrest in Kosovo
Notes
- ^ From August 1998 as the Kosovo Liberation Army as 138th Brigade.
- ^ [11][12][13][14][15][16]
- ^ Serbia claims that 1,008 Yugoslav soldiers and policemen were killed by NATO bombing.[35][36] NATO initially claimed that 5,000 Yugoslav servicemen had been killed and 10,000 had been wounded during the NATO air campaign.[37][38] NATO has since revised this estimation to 1,200 Yugoslav soldiers and policemen killed.[39]
References
- ^ Thomas 2006, p. 47.
- ^ Daniszewski, John (14 April 1999). "Yugoslav Troops Said to Cross Into Albania". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- ^ Daly, Emma (14 April 1999). "War In The Balkans: Serbs enter Albania and burn village". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- US Army Training and Doctrine Command TRADOC G2. 5 December 2008 [15 September 2008] – via Federation of American Scientists.
- ^ "A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations". WRMEA.
- ISBN 978-0-77357-310-9.
- ISBN 978-9-63386-074-8.
- ^ Stigler, Andrew L. "A clear victory for air power: NATO's empty threat to invade Kosovo." International Security 27.3 (2003): 124–157.
- Washington Post. 11 June 1999.
- ^ Reitman, Valerie; Richter, Paul; Dahlburg, John-Thor (10 June 1999). "Yugoslav, NATO Generals Sign Peace Agreement for Kosovo / Alliance will end air campaign when Serbian troops pull out". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- ISBN 978-0230201316. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-19-953387-9. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Abuses against Serbs and Roma in the new Kosovo". Human Rights Watch. August 1999. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "The Violence: Ethnic Albanian Attacks on Serbs and Roma". Human Rights Watch. July 2004. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Kosovo Crisis Update". UNHCR. 4 August 1999. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ "Forced Expulsion of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians from OSCE Participated state to Kosovo". OSCE. 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
- ^ Kettle, Martin (29 May 1999). "Strength of KLA 'has tripled'". The Guardian.
- ISBN 978-1-4408-3869-9.
At the height of its operations, the KLA had some 20,000 armed troops.
- ^ 12 mal bewertet (24 March 1999). "Die Bundeswehr zieht in den Krieg". 60xdeutschland.de. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
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- ^ a b c d e f "NATO Operation Allied Force". Defense.gov. Archived from the original on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ "NATO Operation Allied Force". archive.wikiwix.com. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo - 3. Forces of the Conflict". hrw.org. Human Rights Watch.
- ^ "Fighting for a foreign land". BBC News. 20 May 1999. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ "Russian volunteer's account of Kosovo". The Russia Journal. 5 July 1999. Archived from the original on 26 December 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ a b Daalder & O'Hanlon 2000, p. 151.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Kosovo Memory Book Database Presentation and Evaluation" (PDF). Humanitarian Law Center. 4 February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ "Two die in Apache crash". BBC News. 5 May 1999. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ "How to Take Down an F-117". Strategypage.com. 21 November 2005. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ "Holloman commander recalls being shot down in Serbia". F-16.net. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ a b c "A-10 Thunderbolt II". Ejection-history.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- ^ "F-117 damage said attributed to full moon". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 6 May 1999. p. A14. Retrieved 20 February 2012.
- ^ "Nato loses two planes". BBC News. 2 May 1999. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ Kislyakov, Andrei (9 October 2007). "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Increase In Numbers". Radardaily.com. RIA Novosti. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ a b "NATO nam ubio 1.008 vojnika i policajaca". Mondo. 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Stradalo 1.008 vojnika i policajaca". www.rts.rs. RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of Serbia.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-203-96911-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-507198-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-56347-610-5.
- ^ a b Cockburn, Andrew (3 April 2011). "The limits of air power". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
- ^ Macdonald 2007, p. 99.
- ^ Bacevich & Cohen 2001, p. 22.
- ^ "Ein Berliner, ein Dresdener und ein Däne erzählen, wie sie als Freiwillige zu den albanischen Rebellen der UCK kamen: Aus dem Schützenverein ins Kosovo". Berliner Zeitung (in German). 11 July 1999. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
Am Nachmittag des 6. April stößt seine Einheit in einem Wäldchen nahe Pristina auf eine Gruppe von Kämpfern des berüchtigten Serbenführers Arkan. Erst nach einem langen, heftigen Schußwechsel ziehen sich Arkans Soldaten zurück. Sie haben zwanzig Männer verloren. Sascha sagt, die Gefallenen seien Russen gewesen. Auch einer der UCK-Soldaten stirbt in diesem Kampf. (German) On the afternoon of April 6, his unit encountered a group of fighters belonging to the notorious Serb leader Arkan in a forest near Pristina. Only after a long, fierce exchange of fire do Arkan's soldiers retreat. They lost twenty men. Sascha says the fallen were Russians. One of the KLA soldiers also dies in this fight. (English)
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the Serbian police began clearing ... people [who] were marched down to the station and deported... the UNCHR registered 848,000 people who had either been forcibly expelled or had fled
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In 1878, following a series of Christian uprisings against the Ottoman Empire, the Russo-Turkish War, and the Berlin Congress, Serbia gained complete independence, as well as new territories in the Toplica and Kosanica regions adjacent to Kosovo. These two regions had a sizable Albanian population which the Serbian government decided to deport.. The 'cleansing' of Toplica and Kosanica would have long-term negative effects on Serbian-Albanian relations. The Albanians expelled from these regions moved over the new border to Kosovo, where the Ottoman authorities forced the Serb population out of the border region and settled the refugees there.. A number of Albanian refugees from Toplica region, radicalized by their experience, engaged in retaliatory violence against the Serbian minority in Kosovo...
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- ^ a b From Watergate to Monicagate: ten controversies in modern journalism and media By Herbert N. Foerstel, pp. 131–135.
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- ^ Irvine, Reed; Kincaid, Cliff (24 November 1999). "Deceit And Lies Over Kosovo". aim.org. Accuracy in Media. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
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- ISBN 978-99927-1-217-7.
e në anën tjetër propaganda e tmerrshme e disa partive, sidomos e udhëheqjeve të tyre, krejt e organizuar prej udhëheqjes së LDK-së! Jo vetëm se nuk jepeshin para për luftë, por bëheshin përpjekje, të hapta e të fshehta, për rrënimin e Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës.
- ISBN 978-0-415-97662-6.
...and at one point Rugova claimed that it was set up by Serbia as an excuse to invade.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-262-30512-9.
He insisted that the KLA was "a creation of the Serb security forces". He was convinced that "the whole thing was a hoax orchestrated by Serb police to discredit the LDK"... Initial KLA supporters were disgruntled members of the LDK...Jakup Krasniqi, the KLA spokesman explains: "Everyone originally supported the LDK. I was an LDK member.
- ISBN 978-1-929223-45-9.
By March 1998 "dissatisfaction" with and "antagonism" toward Rugova were evident in the actions of some prominent Kosovar Albanian political figures and in mass street demonstrations, leading one Albanian commentator for the local Helsinki Committee to conclude that "the bellogenrent option is gaining more followers, at the expense of the peaceful one.
- ISBN 978-1-876646-05-9.
...the fact that so much of Rugova's LDK and members of the non-violent movement, long admired for their "moderation", had joined KLA...
- ^ ISBN 978-1-86064-974-5.
Although never numbering more than a few hundred soldiers... In contrast, as far as the KLA were concerned, FARK had a dubious commitment to fighting the Serbs, and was content to settle for greater autonomy rather than full independence for Kosova... Berisha seems, unwisely, to have relied on support from FARK for manpower in his attempt to overthrow the government. ...In a further dramatic development on the same day, the chief commander of FARK, Ahmet Krasniqi, was shot and killed by two masked gunmen in Tirana...Although no person has been arrested so far for the killing of Krasniqi, the incident served to focus attention on the activities of Kosovars involved in the war in Kosova who were coordinating their activities increasingly from Tirana. ...there were numerous theories as to who killed Krasniqi. Democrats were insistent that the FARK commander, who was residing temporarily in Tirana, was assassinated by the Albanian intelligence service, the SHIK...
- ISBN 978-1-135-76155-4.
As shown earlier, the relations between Rugova and the Socialist-led government had deteriorated due to the foreign policy pursued by the Socialists but also by the latter's support of Hashim Thaci, former political leader of KLA...
- ISBN 978-1-136-18916-6.
However, as the KLA received eventually greater support, locally and internationally, parts of the FARK were incorporated under the KLA umbrella.
- ISBN 978-0-8014-4097-7.
On 29 May Rugova met with Clinton in Washington...
- ^ Goxhaj, Dilaver (23 January 2016), Jo shtatore ne Tirane atij qe nuk luftoi per clirimin e Kosoves [Not a monument in Tirana for him who did not fight for Kosovo liberation] (in Albanian), AAV, archived from the original on 7 March 2016, retrieved 26 February 2016,
Dihet gjithashtu që Rugova shkoi deri tek Presidenti Bill Klinton, më 28 maj 1998, i shoqëruar prej Fehmi Aganit, Bujar Bukoshit dhe Veton Surroi, për t'i kundërvënë UÇK-së edhe Amerikën, duke i thënë: "Grupet e armatosura në Kosovë, përgjithësishtë kanë pikpamje të majta, pra janë nga ata që kanë patur ide të majta, drejtohen nga njerëz që edhe sot e kësaj dite kanë nostalgji për ish figura të njohura komuniste, si për shëmbëll për Enver Hoxhën"
- ^ Liebknecht, Rosa (10 April 1992), Inside the KLA, International Viewpoint, archived from the original on 3 March 2016, retrieved 26 February 2016,
In particular, it appears to have connections with the National Movement of Kosova, which was formed in 1982.
- ^ Mincheva & Gurr 2013, p. 27: "The political entity that helped fund the KLA was People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK), a rival underground movement to Ibrahim Rugova's LDK."
- ^ Lorimer, Doug (14 June 1999), NATO's Balkan War and the Kosova Liberation Struggle, Democratic Socialist Perspective – The Activist – Volume 9, archived from the original on 29 February 2016, retrieved 26 February 2016,
In an interview in April this year with a left-wing British magazine, Pleurat Sejdiiu, the diplomatic representative of the KLA in London, explained that the KLA had been formed in 1993 as the military wing of the Hoxhaite People's Movement of Kosova, the LPK. Sejdiiu, a member of the LPK since 1985, said that this decision had been made because of the LPK's frustration with the ineffectiveness of the passive civil disobedience line of the dominant Kosovar party, Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League of Kosova, the LDK. Sejdiiu said: With the creation of the KLA, the LDK, especially Rugova, started accusing the KLA of being a bunch of people linked to the Serbian state security. Roguva was saying that Serbia had an interest in destabilising us all. That was pure demagoguery because Serbia had it in hand, they didn't need any destabilisation and they controlled everything. So we have actually to fight on two fronts. As well as the military campaign we had to fight politically against the LDK as the main force who has been opposed to any other methods than peaceful means, while all the time only sitting in their offices, having meetings and press conferences. They have even been against the student organisation having mass demonstrations. But oppression in Kosova went on all the time, growing day by day and the ranks of the KLA began to grow from those people who actually started with the idea that the only way to get our independence was armed struggle.
- ISBN 978-1-4094-8943-6.
Thaci was the main opponent of signing the agreement, while Rugova had minimal influence at the talks...When both parties returned to Paris in mid-March, the Kosovar Albanian delegation signed the accord...
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-46050-2.
Also on 1 April 1999, the Yugoslav state television showed a meeting between Milosevic and Rugova. On 5 May Ibrahim Rugova and his family flew to Rome... says he was acting under duress when he backed Slobodan Milošević's call for an end to NATO's strikes...Mr Rugova ... [said] that the agreement had no meaning...
- ^ Krieger 2001, pp. 485–: "...the appeal for stopping the NATO strikes has come from Ibrahim Rugova, the acknowledged leader of the Kosovo Albanians."
- OCLC 52978026.
To complicate matters further for NATO, Rugova's first pronouncements confirmed fears that the Albanian leader was sticking to a deal with Milosevic.
- ISBN 978-1-4128-2171-1.
...although Rugova's recent meeting with Milosevic may well have been under duress, the KLA declared Rugova a "traitor"...
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Shumica menduan se partia dhe udhëheqësi i saj do të zhdukeshin politikisht pas fushatës së bombardimeve të NATO-s në 1999. Gjatë bombardimeve, Rugova u filmua në një takim me ish-presidentin jugosllav Sllobodan Millosheviç, dhe u akuzua nga disa si tepër paqësor. Pas bombardimeve UÇK-ja veproi me shpejtësi për të plotësuar boshllëkun e lënë nga ikja e forcave serbe, ndërsa Rugova edhe për disa javë qëndroi jashtë vendit. Megjithatë, vetëm një pakicë e shqiptarëve të Kosovës morën pjesë aktive në UÇK. Besnikëria ndaj LDK-së dhe Rugovës u rikthye ballë zmbrapsjes ndaj arrogancës së UÇK-së shfaqur në dëshirën për të kontrolluar ekonominë dhe politikën në kaosin para krijimit të UNMIK-ut. Pozicioni mbizotërues i LDK-së në zgjedhjet e tetorit 2000, e risolli atë si forcën mbizotëruese politike të Kosovës.
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Over the past 12 years, the witnesses and representatives of the civil sector have come forward with evidence that, in addition to being hidden in mass graves on the territory of Serbia, the bodies of murdered Albanians have been burned in several locations in Serbia and Kosovo.
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A notable feature of Glogovac was the nearby Ferrous Nickel plant, called "Feronikl." The large mine and industrial complex was frequently used by Serbian and Yugoslav forces as a base of operations throughout 1998 and 1999. There were multiple, but as yet unconfirmed, reports that Feronikl was also used as a detention facility for Albanians since March 1998. Likewise, unconfirmed reports speak of a crematorium in Feronikl where Albanians were allegedly deposed of once the NATO bombing began.
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On the fourth night of air operations, an apparent barrage of SA-3s downed an F-117 at approximately 2045 over hilly terrain near Budanovci, about 28 miles northwest of Belgrade- marking the first combat loss ever of a stealth aircraft.
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Sources
- Abrahams, Fred (2001). Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-1-56432-264-7.
- Bacevich, Andrew J.; Cohen, Elliot A. (2001). War Over Kosovo: Politics and Strategy in a Global Age. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231500524.
- Daalder, Ivo H.; O'Hanlon, Michel E. (2000). Winning Ugly: NATO's War to Save Kosovo. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0815798422.
- Dannreuther, Roland (2001). "Perceptions in the Middle East". In Buckley, Mary; Cummings, Sally (eds.). Kosovo: Perceptions of War and Its Aftermath. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0826456694.
- Elsie, Robert (2010). Historical Dictionary of Kosovo. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7483-1.</ref>
- Herscher, Andrew; Riedlmayer, András (2000). "Monument and crime: The destruction of historic architecture in Kosovo". Grey Room. 1 (1): 108–122. S2CID 57566872.
- ISBN 978-0-30009-725-2.
- Krieger, Heike, ed. (2001). The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974–1999. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521800716.
- Klip, André; Sluiter, Göran (2001). The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 1997–1999. Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals. Vol. 3. ISBN 978-90-5095-141-8.
- ISBN 978-0-333-66612-8.
- Macdonald, Scott (2007). Propaganda and Information Warfare in the Twenty-First Century: Altered Images and Deception Operations. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135983512.
- Meier, Viktor (1999). Yugoslavia: A History of Its Demise. ISBN 0-415-18595-5.
- Mincheva, Lyubov Grigorova; Gurr, Ted Robert (2013). Crime-Terror Alliances and the State: Ethnonationalist and Islamist Challenges to Regional Security. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-50648-9.
- Reveron, Derek S.; Murer, Jeffrey Stevenson (2006). Flashpoints in the War on Terrorism. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-95491-4.
- Thomas, Nigel (2006). The Yugoslav Wars (2): Bosnia, Kosovo And Macedonia 1992–2001. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1841769646.
Further reading
- Bajgora, Sabri (2014). Destruction of Islamic Heritage in the Kosovo War 1998–1999. Pristina: Interfaith Kosovo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo. ISBN 978-9951595025.
- Buckley, William Joseph, ed. (2000) Kosovo: Contending Voices on Balkan Interventions Grand Rapids/Cambridge: Eerdmans.
- Ejdus, Filip. 2020. Crisis and Ontological Insecurity: Serbia's Anxiety over Kosovo's Secession. Palgrave.
- Freitag, Markus, Sara Kijewski, and Malvin Oppold. (2019) "War experiences, economic grievances, and political participation in postwar societies: An empirical analysis of Kosovo." Conflict management and peace science 36.4 (2019): 405–424.
- Hoxha, Abit, and Kenneth Andresen. (2021) "Violence, War, and Gender: Collective Memory and Politics of Remembrance in Kosovo." in Europeanisation and Memory Politics in the Western Balkans (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2021) pp. 263–283.
- Kahn, Paul W. (2017) "War and sacrifice in Kosovo." in Philosophical Dimensions of Public Policy (Routledge, 2017) pp. 201–209. online
- Lambeth, Benjamin S. NATO's Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment (2001)
- McAllister, Jacqueline R. "The Extraordinary Gamble: How the Yugoslav Tribunal's Indictment of Slobodan Milosevic during the Kosovo War Affected Peace Efforts." Brown Journal of World Affairs 26 (2019): 201+.
- Mann, Michael (2005). The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521538541.
- Neumann, Iver B. (2018) "Kosovo and the end of the legitimate warring state." in Mapping European security after Kosovo (Manchester University Press, 2018) online.
- Rasmussen, Mikkel Vedby. (2018) "‘War is never civilised’: Civilisation, civil society and the Kosovo war". (Manchester University Press, 2018) online.
External links
- Indictment of Milosevic United Nations
- Video on Kosovo War from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
- Text of Rambouillet Treaty – "Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government In Kosovo, Rambouillet, France – 23 February 1999," including Appendix B University of Pittsburgh Jurist
- Beginning of discussion (14 May 1999 to 8 June 1999, specifically) of Appendix B of the Rambouillet Treaty on H-Diplo, the diplomatic history forum H-Net
- BBC-World Service Witness: Kosovo War (10 years on interview with ex-Yugoslav soldier)
- Targeting History and Memory, SENSE – Transitional Justice Center (dedicated to the study, research, and documentation of the destruction and damage of historic heritage during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. The website contains judicial documents from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)).
Reports
- Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo Human Rights Watch
- OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 November 2005) Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
- Operation Allied Force, NATO
- Humanitarian law violations in Kosovo, HRW (1998)
- Abuses against Serbs and Roma in the new Kosovo, HRW (1999)
- The Ethnic Cleansing of Kosovo, United States Department of State
- Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo: An Accounting, United States Department of State
- War and mortality in Kosovo, 1998 99: an epidemiological testimony The Lancet (PDF)
- Trebinje danas.com K. Mitrovica: Više od 100 povrijeđenih Srba, UNMIK policajaca i Kfora
Media
- War in Europe PBS Frontline
- Kosovo fact files BBC News
- Focus on Kosovo CNN
- Kosovo War on AP Video Archive Associated Press