Kosova Crisis: The Time Line

1998

October

Massacres are discovered in Kosova that point to continued Serbian aggression against Albanian civilians, despite Serbian assurances that the offensive is over.

September

The Serbian army continues to attack villages in the Drenica region of Kosova.

United Nations Security Council votes in favor of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Kosova, and warning the Yugoslav government of "additional measures" if it fails to comply.

NATO takes the first formal steps toward military intervention in Kosova.

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic announces the defeat of the Albanian separatists and the withdrawal of government forces from Kosova.

August

A massive month-long offensive severely weakens the KLA until a significant stronghold—the village of Junik—falls into Serb hands on the 16th of the month. The UN called for a cease-fire.

July

France and Britain draft a UN Security Council resolution to try to bring about a ceasefire.

June

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Nato that it must seek a Security Council mandate for any military intervention in the Serbian province.

May

U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke begins a round of shuttle diplomacy which results in Yugoslav President Milosevic inviting Ibrahim Rugova for peace talks.

Ethnic Albanian and Serb negotiators start talks in Pristina as fighting continues.

March-April

Intermittent clashes continue. Facing mounting international pressure, and the threat of sanctions, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic proposes talks that he says could lead to broad autonomy. Albanian leaders refuse, insisting on foreign mediation and, ultimately, independence. 95% of Serbs vote against international intervention in Kosova, in a referendum.

Serbian and Albanian leaders agree to get Kosovar Albanians into Kosova's state schools and universities after a seven-year boycott, but hard-line Serb university lecturers reject the deal.

The U.N. Security Council votes 14-0 to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia to force a peaceful settlement. Yugoslavia is called upon to meet conditions that include: beginning a substantive dialogue with the Kosovar Albanians; withdrawing special police units that spearheaded the recent crackdown; and allowing access to Kosova by humanitarian organizations. The resolution also calls for action to prevent "terrorist activities" in Kosova.

Yugoslavia rejects the U.N. embargo as "unfounded" and unacceptable interference in its affairs.

Kosovar Albanian separatist leader Ibrahim Rugova rejects Serbian plans to hold a referendum on foreign mediation in the Kosova crisis, accusing the Serbs of defying the international community.

The bodies of six men are found by the side of a road near Orahovac in southwest Kosova. Reports of mass graves surface.

Serbia amends a referendum law to allow a vote to be held on foreign mediation in Kosova before a Big Power deadline expires. Albanian separatists reject the referendum proposal, boycotting peace talks with Serbia. Serbia hardens its stance against foreign mediation.

February-March

A police crackdown on Kosovar Albanians leaves some 80 people dead. Gun battles leave 16 Albanians and four police dead.

Tens of thousands protest in the Kosova capital, Pristina, against the violence, and street clashes erupt.

U.S. special envoy Robert Gelbard accuses the Serbian government of using "brutal, disproportionate and overwhelming" force against Albanians in Kosova. He urges Belgrade to find a political solution through dialogue.

Serbs insist that Kosova Albanian leaders publicly renounce "terrorism and secession" before talks with Serbia can begin.

Foreign powers touring the region witness heightened tensions and fear a new Balkan war. Six foreign powers agree on sanctions — and threaten more — to halt what they condemn as Serbian police brutality.

Milosevic agrees to withdraw special police units from Kosova, but the U.S. and four European powers insist on a U.N. arms embargo. Russia opposes the measure.

Heavily armed Serbian police and army groups surround and attack the village of Prekaz, which they identify as a stronghold of Kosova's militant separatists.

January

An Kosovar Serb politician is killed in apparent retaliation for a police action 24 hours before in which an Kosovar Albanian was reported killed.

1997

March

Four people are injured when a bomb explodes in the center of Pristina.

The state prosecutor charges 18 alleged members of the illegal "National Movement for the Liberation of Kosova" with terrorism offenses.

Within weeks, at least 26 Kosovar Albanians are arrested in a series of police raids, and a suspected leader of the outlawed Liberation Army of Kosova is killed in a gun battle with police.

January

The Serb ultra nationalist rector of Pristina University is badly injured by a car bomb.

1996

Serbia signs a deal with Kosovar Albanian leaders to return Albanian students to mainstream education after they were forcefully removed from their schools in Albanian language. This deal was never implemented.

Separatists claim to have shot down a Yugoslav Airlines training aircraft.

A Serbian court sentences 17 Kosovar Albanians to a total of 186 years in jail on terrorism charges.

1995

August

Serbian authorities settle several hundred Croatian Serb refugees in Kosova, drawing protests from Kosovar Albanian leaders.

July

A Serbian court sentences 68 Kosovar Albanians for up to eight years in prison for allegedly setting up a parallel police force.

1993

Police arrest more than 30 Kosovar Albanians on suspicion of preparing an armed uprising.

1992

October

Serb and Kosovar Albanian leaders in Kosova hold face-to-face peace talks for the first time in three years.

May

Writer Ibrahim Rugova is elected president of the self-proclaimed republic after an election held in defiance of Serbian authorities.

1991

The Bosnian war begins.

Albania's parliament recognises Kosova as an independent republic.

1990

July

Kosovar Albanian legislators in the province declare independence. Serbia dissolves the Kosova assembly. Strikes and protests continue.

February

Yugoslavia sends troops, tanks, warplanes and 2,000 more police to Kosova.

By the end of the month more than 20 people have been killed and a curfew imposed.

January

Police use tear gas, truncheons and water cannon on thousands of Kosovar Albanian demonstrators.

The unrest escalates and on January 28 police shoot dead at least 10.

1989

Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic takes away Kosova's autonomy.

Street violence erupts when the Kosova assembly approves the measure.

More than 20 people are killed and scores arrested when violence escalates to gun battles.

1988

More than 6,000 Serbs and Montenegrin residents of Kosova stage a mass protest over alleged harassment by Kosovar Albanians.

1981
Albanians in Kosova riot asking for equal rights in Yugoslavia; many students are arrested and many killed.

At least nine people die and hundreds are injured. Troops are sent in and martial law is briefly imposed.

1974

A new Yugoslav constitution grants Kosova autonomy, but not independence.

1968

Kosovar Albanian students, encouraged at being given a first tentative measure of self-rule, stage mass protests.

1945

Once German forces are driven out of Yugoslavia, around 10,000 Albanians fight for independence they were promised by the serbs. 40,000 Yugoslav troops sent by Tito to supress this movement and take control of Kosova. The rebellion is suppressed with heavy casualties.

Hundreds of thousands of Albanians are subsequently deported to Turkey and dozens are killed in various incidents in the 1950s.

1941

Yugoslavia is invaded by Germany and its allies and divided into puppet states.

1912

Serbia joins other Balkan states in a war to drive the Ottoman Empire out of Europe. They win the war and Serbia re-acquires Kosova.

Austria insists that Serbia and Montenegro give up part of their newly-conquered territory to form an independent Albania.

Between the first and second world wars the Serbians attempt to consolidate their hold on Kosova by expelling Albanians, Muslims and Turks.

A land reform program gives the property of those expelled and other large land-owners to Serb colonists.

1830

The Serbian principality is given full autonomy from the Ottoman Empire.

1389
Prince Lazar, legendary Serb hero, leading the army of Serbs, Albanians, and other nations, is defeated by the Turks in Kosova.

This marks the beginning of the end of the the medieval Serb nation. Serbia is ruled by Turkey for the next 500 years, and Kosova for the first tame begins to take its place at the heart of Serbian nationalist history.

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