|
The
seeds of unrest and conflict in the Balkans can be traced back
to at least the end of the last century when the then major
powers in the region met to redraw the area’s frontiers, with
little regard for ethnic composition. Following are some
historical and contemporary highlights surrounding the Kosovo
crisis.
1878
The world’s Great Powers redraw the map of the Balkans at the
Congress of Berlin after years of conflict in the region and
increasing tension with Russia. Three new countries, Serbia,
Montenegro and Romania, are established to ease international
tensions but the wishes of the local populations are ignored.
1912-13
Two Balkan wars are fought involving all the regional powers and
Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks and Albanians join forces
to expel Ottoman forces from the Balkans after several centuries
of domination.
June 28, 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne,
is shot dead by a Serb assassin in the Bosnian capital of
Sarajevo, precipitating the outbreak of World War One.
December 1, 1918
Yugoslavia, “the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes” is
created from territories formerly occupied by the old Turkish
and Austrian empires.
October 24, 1944
Josip Broz Tito’s communist partisans liberate Belgrade and
establish a communist regime in Yugoslavia.
April 24, 1987
Serbs launch their first major protest in the town of Kosovo
Polje against alleged persecution by the province’s majority
Albanians.
1989
Belgrade ends Kosovo’s autonomous status and an estimated
350,000 ethnic Albanians seek asylum in Europe in the next
decade.
June 25, 1991
Slovenia and Croatia declare independence from Yugoslavia.
March 3, 1992
Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims independence, but Bosnian Serbs
lay siege to Sarajevo and overrun 70 percent of the country.
November 21, 1995
Dayton Peace Agreement signed to end hostilities and pave the
way for the eventual return home of millions of people displaced
by the conflict.
|
March, 1998
After years of rising tensions, fighting erupts in Kosovo
between the majority Albanians and Serbs and within months some
350,000 people have been displaced or fled abroad.
October 27, 1998
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic agrees to a cease-fire and
partial pull-out of Yugoslav forces and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe sends the first of 2,000
‘verifiers’ to monitor the agreement.
February, 1999
Talks are held in Rambouillet, France, but discussions break
down and tensions and repressions rise again in Kosovo.
March 24, 1999
After repeated warnings, NATO launches its 78-day air war.
Within three days, ethnic Albanians begin to arrive in
neighboring Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia in huge numbers, walking, on tractor-trailers and by
car. Authorities expel thousands of persons by special
‘refugee trains’ to Macedonia, virtually emptying all major
towns, such as Pristina, of Albanians.
April-May 1999
International agencies, governments and a special humanitarian
task force from NATO called AFOR begin to construct dozens of
camps for refugees in anticipation they will spend many months
in exile. Some 444,600 refugees flee to Albania, 244,500 to
Macedonia and 69,900 to Montenegro. Because of political
pressures on the Macedonian government, more than 90,000
Albanians are airlifted to 29 countries for temporary safety.
June 3, 1999
Yugoslavia accepts a peace plan requiring withdrawal of all
forces from Kosovo and the entry of peacekeepers under a U.N.
mandate.
June 12, 1999
Russian and NATO forces enter Kosovo, followed the next day by
the first contingent of UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies.
June 14, 1999
Despite appeals by NATO and UNHCR to be patient, refugees begin
to flood back into Kosovo, and in one of the fastest refugee
returns in history 600,000 return to the shattered province
within the first three weeks. As the Albanians stream home,
however, around 200,000 Serbs and Roma head the other way,
seeking safety in Serbia and Montenegro in yet another new
refugee exodus.
June, 1999
UNHCR opens offices in seven locations in Kosovo and under a new
U.N. civil administration, backed by tens of thousands of NATO
troops, begins the work of helping hundreds of thousands of
people rebuild their homes and find access to food, water and
electricity with the harsh Balkan winter fast approaching.
|
Document compiled by Dr S D
Stein