20th-century History of Kosovo - Kosovo War

Kosovo War

After the Dayton Agreement in 1995, some Albanians organized into the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), employing guerilla-style tactics against Serbian police forces and civilians. Violence escalated in a series of KLA attacks and Serbian reprisals into the year 1999, with increasing numbers of civilian victims. In 1998 western interest increased and the Serbian authorities were forced to sign a unilateral cease-fire and partial retreat. Under the October agreement, the Kosovo Verification Mission moved into Kosovo to monitor the ceasefire, while Yugoslav military forces partly pulled out of Kosovo. However, the ceasefire was systematically broken shortly thereafter by KLA forces, which again provoked harsh counterattacks by the Serbs. On 16 January 1999, bodies that were claimed to be those of 45 Albanian civilians were found in the town of Racak. The victims had been executed by Serb forces. The Racak Massacre was instrumental in increasing the pressure on Serbia in the following conference at Rambouillet. After more than a month of negotiations Yugoslavia refused to sign the prepared agreement, primarily, it has been argued, because of a clause giving NATO forces access rights to not only Kosovo but to all of Yugoslavia (which the Yugoslav side saw as tantamount to military occupation).

This triggered a 78-day NATO campaign in 1999. At first limited to military targets in Kosovo proper, the bombing campaign was soon extended to cover targets all over Yugoslavia, mainly military camps, but also including bridges, power stations, factories, broadcasting stations and various military buildings.

During the conflict roughly a million ethnic Albanians were expulsed or were forcefully driven from Kosovo, several thousand were killed (the numbers and the ethnic distribution of the casualties are uncertain and highly disputed). An estimated 10,000-12,000 ethnic Albanians and 3,000 Serbs are believed to have been killed during the conflict. Some 3,000 people are still missing, of which 2,500 are Albanian, 400 Serbs and 100 Roma.

Some of the worst massacres against civilian Albanians occurred after that NATO started the bombing of Yugoslavia. Cuska massacre, Podujevo massacre, Velika Krusa massacre are some of the massacres committed by Serbian army, police and paramilitary.

The war also resulted in destruction of property, including many historical buildings. According to a report compiled by the US-based Kosovo Cultural Heritage Project, Serbian forces destroyed approximately a third of the mosques in Kosovo. According to the report, other historic structures associated with the culture and religion of Kosovo's Albanian population had also been singled out for attack by Serbian forces. The report also noted that damage from Nato bombs was limited and that, after the withdrawal of Serbian forces, many orthodox churches were destroyed by Albanians. According to a report by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Monuments of Serbia some 160 cultural monuments in Serbia-proper were seriously endangered, damaged or destroyed by Nato bombs, including twenty five monasteries, thirty four churches, three mosques, one synagogue, forty objects of city architecture, seven objects of folk masonry, twenty five town centers, thirteen archaeological sites and sixteen memorial monuments.