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 rebel group 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.
Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The country bordered Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Albania to the southwest. The state was founded on 27 April 1992 as a federation comprising the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro. In February 2003, it was transformed from a federal republic to a political union until Montenegro seceded from the union in June 2006, leading to the full independence of both Serbia and Montenegro.
William Graham Walker is a United States Foreign Service diplomat who served as the US ambassador to El Salvador and as the head of the Kosovo Verification Mission.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, adopted on 10 June 1999, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998) and 1239 (1999), authorised an international civil and military presence in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and established the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). It followed an agreement by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević to terms proposed by President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari and former Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin on 8 June, involving withdrawal of all Yugoslav state forces from Kosovo.
The political status of Kosovo, also known as the Kosovo question, is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the Government of Kosovo, stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia (1991–92) and the ensuing Kosovo War (1998–99). In 1999, the administration of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was handed on an interim basis to the United Nations under the terms of UNSCR 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of that year. That resolution reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia over Kosovo but required the UN administration to promote the establishment of 'substantial autonomy and self-government' for Kosovo pending a 'final settlement' for negotiation between the parties.
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of armed conflicts on the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) that took place between 1991 and 2001. This article is a timeline of relevant events preceding, during, and after the wars.
The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.
United Nations Security Council resolution 787, adopted on 16 November 1992, after reaffirming Resolution 713 (1991) and all subsequent resolutions on the topic, the council called upon the parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to consider the draft outline constitution as a basis for negotiating a political settlement of the conflict in the country, and went on to impose further international sanctions on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
United Nations Security Council resolution 855, adopted on 9 August 1993, after reaffirming resolutions at putting an end to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and hearing representations from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the council called upon Serbia and Montenegro to reconsider its refusal to allow OSCE missions in its territory.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1186, adopted unanimously on 21 July 1998, after recalling resolutions 1105 (1997) and 1110 (1997), the Council extended and strengthened the mandate of the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) in Macedonia until 28 February 1999.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1199, adopted on 23 September 1998, after recalling Resolution 1160 (1998), the Council demanded that the Albanian and Yugoslav parties in Kosovo end hostilities and observe a ceasefire.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1203, adopted on 24 October 1998, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998) and 1199 (1998) on Kosovo, the Council demanded that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia comply with previous Security Council resolutions and co-operate with the NATO and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) verification missions in Kosovo.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1239, adopted on 14 May 1999, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998) and 1203 (1998), the Council called for access for the United Nations and other humanitarian personnel operating in Kosovo to other parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1298, adopted unanimously on 17 May 2000, after reaffirming resolutions 1177 (1998), 1226 (1999), 1227 (1999) and 1297 (2000) on the situation between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the Council condemned continuing hostilities and imposed an arms embargo on both countries.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1345, adopted unanimously on 21 March 2001, after reaffirming resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (2000), 1239 (1999) and 1244 (1999) on the situation in the former Yugoslavia, the council condemned extremist violence and terrorist activities in parts of Macedonia and southern Serbia and called upon Kosovo Albanian leaders to condemn the violence.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1367, adopted unanimously on 10 September 2001, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998) and reaffirming resolutions 1244 (1999) and 1345 (2001) in particular, the Council terminated the arms embargo against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after it had satisfied Council demands to withdraw from Kosovo and allow a political dialogue to begin.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1371, adopted unanimously on 26 September 2001, after reaffirming resolutions 1244 (1999) and 1345 (2001) on the situation in the former Yugoslavia including Macedonia, the Council called for the full implementation of its Resolution 1345 concerning violence and terrorist activities in Macedonia and southern Serbia.
The 1998-1999 Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) was an OSCE mission to verify that the Serbian and Yugoslav forces were complying with the UN October Agreement to end atrocities in Kosovo, withdraw armed forces from Kosovo, and abide by a ceasefire.
During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s and early 2000s, several rounds of international sanctions were imposed against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Operation Eagle Eye was the result of the NATO-Kosovo Verification Mission agreement which was signed in Belgrade on 15 October 1998, under which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agrees to establish an air surveillance system consisting of NATO non-combatant reconnaissance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.
