The Short History Of Kosovo

The short History of Kosovo 1300 BC -Ancestors of the Albanians known as Illyrians settle in Balkans 8th century AD-Various groups of Slavs, the ancestors of Serbs, settle in Balkans. 1459 Kosovo becomes a province of Ottoman Empire. 1912-13 Balkan War -Serbia conquers most of Kosovo region. 1939- WWII - Kosova Albanians revolt against Serbian rule and join Albania. 1946-Allied powers (particularly Russia, France, and Britain) forcibly incorporate Kosova into Serbia (Yugoslavia). Kosova remains under the Serb dominated Kosova League of Communists. 1974-Limited autonomy granted to Kosova, after Albanians take over Kosova League of Communists-still part of Yugoslavia. 1987-Milosevic, then head of Serbian communist party, used anti-Albanian and extreme Serb nationalist rhetoric to come to power. 1990-Milosevic terminates autonomy of Kosova. Kosovar Albanian autonomous government is shut down. Civil rights of Kosovar Albanians denied as de-facto Serb military control Kosova. June 25, 1991-Slovenia and Croatia are first Yugoslav republics to declare independence. 1992-Macedonia and Bosnia declare independence. 1992-Serbs start genocide in Bosnia. August, 1992- Concentration camps and Rape camps of Bosnians (primarily) and Croat victims uncovered. July, 1995- Serbs capture one of six U.N. declared safe havens, Srebrenica. Population of Bosnian teenage and adult males, executed by Serbian paramilitary forces; approximately. 12,000 in three days. U.N. soldiers do not intervene. Summer, 1997-Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) is formed. 1998- Serbs massacre mostly women and children in Kosovar Drenica village in March followed by Bosnia -style ethnic cleansing starting in mid- May. 1999 - A campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kosovo Albanians was initiated by Serbian forces. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. Thousands of people died in the conflict.

March 24 1999, NATO campaign against regime of Milosevic started, it lasted 78 days. April 13 1999, Leonardo left home (April 15-may 20 1999, I spend in refugee camp in Macedonia) May 21 199, Leonardo came to USA. The war ended on June 10, 1999 with the Serbian and Yugoslav governments signing the Kumanovo agreement, which agreed to transfer governance of the province to the United Nations. A NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entered the province following the Kosovo War, tasked with providing security to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo, as envisaged under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of 1999. In February 2007 United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveiled a plan to set Kosovo on a path to independence, an outcome immediately welcomed by Kosovo Albanians and rejected by Serbia. US President George Bush, with support of EU (European Union), has come out in favor of Kosovo independence, but Russia threatened to veto any UN resolution that endorses the Ahtisaari plan. Parliamentary elections in Kosovo in November saw the ethnic Albanian, former guerrilla leader Hasim Thaci win. Mr Thaci has said he will declare independence unilaterally on February 17 2008. Independence of Kosovo was declared on the February 17 2008.

Current FACTS • • • • • •

Current Status: UN-administered province Population: 1.8 million, 93% Albanians Capital: Pristina Major languages: Albanian, Serbian Major religions: Islam, Christianity Natural resources: Coal, lead, zinc, chromium, silver and gold