Kosovo Verification Mission

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OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission
AbbreviationKVM
PredecessorOSCE Missions of Long Duration in Kosovo, Sandjak and Vojvodina
Successor OSCE Mission in Kosovo
Formation25 October 1998
Dissolved9 June 1999
Headquarters Pristina, Kosovo
Region
Kosovo
Director
 William G. Walker
Deputy Director
 Gabriel Keller
Parent organization
 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Staff
1,400 ground observers
Website https://www.osce.org/kvm-closed

The OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) was an OSCE mission to verify that the Serbian [1] [2] and Yugoslav forces [3] [4] [5] [6] were complying with the UNSC Resolution 1203 to end atrocities in Kosovo, withdraw armed forces from Kosovo, and abide by a ceasefire. [1] [7] The mission was deployed on 25 October 1998, withdrawn in March 1999 and was closed on 9 June 1999. [8]

Contents

Remit

The KVM's job was to monitor parties' compliance with the agreement, to report any breaches to the OSCE, and to help affected civilians in Kosovo. Other requirements included:

Operations

United States diplomat William Walker was appointed head of the mission; he was relatively senior, reflecting the importance that NATO put on a peaceful settlement. His deputy was Gabriel Keller. [10]

Despite being much larger and more complex than any previous OSCE mission, [10] the KVM was put together relatively quickly; parts of the team arrived in Kosovo a month after the 16 October agreement. The KVM was divided into five regions, with a headquarters in Pristina.

Immediately after the Agreement, neither side adhered to the ceasefire; state loyalist forces continued to shoot at civilians, and there were sporadic KLA attacks on state forces. [11]

When a KVM team arrived at the scene of the Račak massacre, they found "36 bodies 23 of which were lying in a ditch". [12] [13] An independent Finnish forensic investigation established that the bodies had evidence of ballistic gunshot trauma from a distance and traces of gunpowder residue on their hands, suggesting that they were killed as a result of a skirmish with Yugoslav police force. [14]

Operation Eagle Eye

Operation Eagle Eye was part of the Kosovo Verification Mission during the Kosovo War using aircraft were contributed by France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the UK, and the USA. Beginning on 17 October 1998. The aim was to monitor the federal Yugoslav government's compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199, and in particular the withdrawal of armed forces from Kosovo and compliance with the ceasefire. [15]

The monitors comprised 1,400 ground observers. As a result of Yugoslav troop activities and other forms of non-compliance, the ground observers withdrew citing "an unacceptable level of risk to the peace support verification mission", resulting in an end to aerial verification on 24 March 1999.

Withdrawal

In March 1999, together with the Rambouillet Agreement which the Serbian government refused to sign, there was an increase in ceasefire violations by both sides; as the risks increased, it was decided to withdraw the KVM to Ohrid in Macedonia. Yugoslav forces' reaction to the withdrawal was "remarkably docile" and the KVM was downsized to 250 staff. [7]

Then, after the KVM had left, state forces [16] [17] [18] began a campaign of killings, rapes, detentions, and deportations of the Kosovar Albanian population. [19]

Refugees fled to Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro; many refugees had their documents destroyed.

As a result, on 24 March NATO started its bombing campaign in what remained of Yugoslavia. [1]

In April 1999, the OSCE decided that the KVM should help deal with the refugee chaos; 70 verifiers were sent to Tirana, where they helped coordinate disaster-response and interviewed refugees. [7]

The mission was formally closed on 9 June 1999, leaving behind a residual OSCE Task Force for Kosovo to prepare for a longer term OSCE Mission in Kosovo which was established on 1 July 1999. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Kosovo War, was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian separatist militia known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The conflict ended when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo Liberation Army</span> Ethnic-Albanian nationalist paramilitary organization (1992–1999)

The Kosovo Liberation Army was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the 1990s. Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans, stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation.

The Rambouillet Agreement, formally the Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo, was a proposed peace agreement between the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia on the one hand and the delegation of political representatives of the ethnic Albanian majority population of Kosovo on the other. It was drafted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and named for the Château de Rambouillet, where it was initially proposed in early 1999. Among other things, the accords called for 30,000 NATO peacekeeping troops in Kosovo; an unhindered right of passage for NATO troops on Yugoslav territory; and immunity for NATO and its agents to Yugoslav law. Yugoslavia's refusal to sign the accords was used by NATO to justify the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.

The Račak massacre or Račak operation was the massacre of 45 Kosovo Albanians that took place in the village of Račak in central Kosovo in January 1999. The massacre was perpetrated by Serbian security forces in response to Albanian separatist activity in the region. The Serbian government refused to let a war crimes prosecutor visit the site, and maintained that the casualties were all members of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) killed in combat with state security forces.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 1203</span> United Nations Security Council resolution

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "WINNING THE WAR AND THE PEACE IN KOSOVO". The White House. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15.
  2. ↑ "SECURITY COUNCIL REJECTS DEMAND FOR CESSATION OF USE OF FORCE AGAINST FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. 26 March 1999.
  3. ↑ "OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission (closed) - OSCE". osce.org .
  4. ↑ Ristic, Marija (23 April 2013). "Serbian Paramilitary Describes Massacre of Kosovo Villagers". BIRN. BALKAN TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE.
  5. ↑ "Serbian court jails nine for 1999 war crimes in Kosovo". Reuters. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2019– via www.reuters.com.
  6. ↑ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 3. Forces of the Conflict". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 Brigadier-General Maisonneuve (Spring 2000). "THE OSCE KOSOVO VERIFICATION MISSION" (PDF). Canadian Military Journal.
  8. ↑ https://www.osce.org/kvm-closed
  9. ↑ Bellamy (April 2001). "Reconsidering Rambouillet". Contemporary Security Policy. 22 (1): 31–56. doi:10.1080/13523260512331391056. S2CID   218543746.
  10. 1 2 Bellamy; Griffin (2002). "OSCE Peacekeeping: Lessons From the Kosovo Verification Mission". European Security. 11 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1080/09662830208407522. S2CID   154248326.
  11. ↑ "Serbs Leave Kosovo as Deadline Closes In". Los Angeles Times. 27 October 1998. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-08-04. Retrieved 2012-07-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ "Richard Holbrooke interview". Frontline. PBS. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  14. ↑ Rainio, J.; Lalu, K.; Penttilä, A. (February 2001). "Independent forensic autopsies in an armed conflict: investigation of the victims from Racak, Kosovo". Forensic Science International. 116 (2–3): 171–185. doi:10.1016/S0379-0738(00)00392-3. PMID   11182269.
  15. ↑ "Operation Eagle Eye". NATO . Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "CNN - No evidence of Yugoslav troop withdrawal from Kosovo, NATO says - May 11, 1999". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  17. ↑ "Human Rights Watch, Kosovo: Focus on Human Rights". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  18. ↑ "BBC News - Europe - Kosovo: The conflict by numbers". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  19. ↑ Erasing History: Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo. Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. U.S. Department of State. May 1999. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  20. ↑ https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/e/9/28926.pdf
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