Kosovo salungatan Balkan kasaysayan [1998–1999]

Ang salungat sa Kosovo, (1998–99) na salungatan kung saan sinasalungat ng mga Albaniano ang etniko na Serbs at ang gobyerno ng Yugoslavia (ang rump ng dating pederal na estado, na binubuo ng mga republika ng Serbia at Montenegro) sa Kosovo. Ang salungatan ay nakakuha ng malawak na pang-internasyonal na atensyon at nalutas sa pamamagitan ng interbensyon ng North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Serbia: Ang salungatan sa Kosovo

Ang pinaka-seryosong banta sa parehong panloob na katatagan at ang pang-internasyonal na rehabilitasyon ng Serbia sa huling bahagi ng 1990s ay ang pagkasira

Noong 1989, si Ibrahim Rugova, pinuno ng mga etnikong Albanian sa lalawigan ng Kosovo ng Kosovo, ay nagsimula ng isang patakaran ng hindi malupit na protesta laban sa pagbagsak ng awtonomikong konstitusyonal ng lalawigan ng Slobodan Milošević, pagkatapos ay pangulo ng Republika ng Serbia. Si Milošević at mga miyembro ng Serbian na minorya ng Kosovo ay matagal nang tumutol sa katotohanan na ang mga Muslim na Albaniano ay nasa kontrol ng demograpiko ng isang lugar na ginawang sagrado sa mga Serbs. (Kosovo ay ang upuan ng Serbisyong Ortodokso ng Serbia pati na rin ang site ng Turkish pagkatalo ng mga Serbs noong 1389 at ang tagumpay ng Serbia sa mga Turko noong 1912.) Tumaas ang mga tensyon sa pagitan ng dalawang pangkat etniko, at ang pagtanggi ng internasyonal na komunidad na tugunan ang isyu ay nagbibigay ng suporta sa higit pang mga radikal na kalaban ng Rugova, na nagtalo na ang kanilang mga kahilingan ay hindi mai-secure sa pamamagitan ng mapayapang paraan.Ang Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) ay lumitaw noong 1996, at ang sporadic na pag-atake nito sa pulisya at mga pulitiko ay patuloy na tumaas sa susunod na dalawang taon.

By 1998 the KLA’s actions could be qualified as a substantial armed uprising. Serbian special police and, eventually, Yugoslav armed forces attempted to reassert control over the region. Atrocities committed by the police, paramilitary groups, and the army caused a wave of refugees to flee the area, and the situation became well publicized through the international media. The Contact Group—an informal coalition of the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia—demanded a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Yugoslav and Serbian forces from Kosovo, the return of refugees, and unlimited access for international monitors. Milošević, who had become president of Yugoslavia in 1997, agreed to meet most of the demands but failed to implement them. The KLA regrouped and rearmed during the cease-fire and renewed its attacks. The Yugoslav and Serbian forces responded with a ruthless counteroffensive and engaged in a program of ethnic cleansing. The United Nations (UN) Security Council condemned this excessive use of force and imposed an arms embargo, but the violence continued.

Diplomatic negotiations began in Rambouillet, France, in February 1999 but broke down the following month. On March 24 NATO began air strikes against Serbian military targets. In response, Yugoslav and Serbian forces drove out all of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians, displacing hundreds of thousands of people into Albania, Macedonia (now North Macedonia), and Montenegro. The NATO bombing campaign lasted 11 weeks and eventually expanded to Belgrade, where significant damage to the Serbian infrastructure occurred. In June NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace accord outlining troop withdrawal and the return of nearly one million ethnic Albanians as well as another 500,000 displaced within the province. Most Serbs left the region, and there were occasional reprisals against those who remained. UN peacekeeping forces were deployed in Kosovo, which came under UN administration.

Tensions between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo continued into the 21st century. Sporadic violence occurred, as when anti-Serb riots broke out in March 2004 in numerous cities and towns in the Kosovo region. The riots claimed some 30 lives and resulted in the displacement of more than 4,000 Serbs and other minorities. In February 2008 Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia (Yugoslavia had ceased to exist in 2003, giving way to the federation of Serbia and Montenegro, which itself dissolved in 2006). Although the United States and several influential members of the European Union chose to recognize Kosovo’s independence, Serbia did not.

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