Kosovo

Kosovo Kosovo Kosovo and Metohia (Serbian: &#1050;&#1086;&#1089;&#1086;&#1074;&#1086; &#1080; &#1052;&#1077;&#1090;&#1086;&#1093;&#1080;&#1112;&#1072;; Albanian: Kosova) or Kosovo is a region in the western Balkan Peninsula with an Albanian population (estimated at 80% prior to the international conflict of 1999, but now somewhat larger owing to the fleeing of Serbs and other non-Albanians; see Kosovo population data-points). "Kosovo" is from "Kosovo Polje" which means "Blackbird's field" in Serbian language. "Metohia" is a Greek word which denotes church-owned land.

Its international status is anomalous in that although it is formally a province of the Republic of Serbia, actual administration is presently conducted by the United Nations with no involvement on the part of the Serbian governments (under Security Council resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999; see Security Council Resolutions 1999). A parliament was elected in November 2001 and Ibrahim Rugova was selected as president in March 2002, however the UN retained control of security, justice and external affairs.

Despite the International Community's official use of the Euro, the Serbian dinar is very widespread in Kosovo because most trade is done with the rest of Serbia. The Kosovo Serb enclaves also use the Serbian dinar widely. Other international currencies (Dollar, Swiss Franc) are also widespread.

With an area of 10,887 km2 and a population of almost 2 million on the eve of the 1999 crisis, Kosovo borders with Montenegro to the northwest, rest of Serbia to the north and east, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the south and Albania to the southwest. The largest cities are Pri&#353;tina, the capital, with 190,000 inhabitants, and Prizren in the southwest with 120,000: five other towns have populations in excess of 50,000.

Kosovo's anomalous status is the result of the Kosovo War of March-June 1999, in the course of which air strikes against the Federal republic of Yugoslavia's armed forces and civilian infrastructure aimed at stopping the Serbian para-military crackdown on Albanian armed guerrilas and civilians, by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization forced the signing of the Kumanovo agreement which provided for the withdrawal of military and the province's occupation by a NATO-led international force (KFOR) including also Russian troops (no longer serving as of July 2003).

Entered by Serbs migrating from the north-east around the early 7th century AD, Kosovo was a centre of the medieval Serbian kingdom until its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in the late 14th century. The existing Albanian population is partly formed by migrants from the south-west (modern Albania) during the centuries of Ottoman rule (particularly during and after the 17th century), when Islam also became the faith of most of the Albanian people.

From the 1870s onwards Albanians formed the League of Prizren to resist Ottoman rule, and a provisional government was formed in 1881. In 1912 Kosovo was briefly included in the newly independent state of Albania. But the following year the Great Powers (Britain, America, France etc) forced Albania to cede the region to Serbia as at that time about 60% of the population was Serb (see Kosovo population data-points). In 1918, Kosovo became a part of the newly formed Yugoslavia.

Between 1941 and 1945, Kosovo was included under the Italian-occupied Greater Albania. Following the end of the war and the establishment of Tito's Communist regime, Kosovo was given the status of an autonomous region of Serbia in 1946 and an autonomous province in 1963. Kosovo enjoyed almost complete self-government under predominantly Albanian local communist party leaders from 1974 until 1989, when its autonomy was revoked by referendum, without Albanian participation, which implemented a new Serbian constitution, following discrimination against Serbs.

Albanian opposition to sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia, which had surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Pri&#353;tina, subsequently took the form of separatist agitation by opposition political groups and armed action from 1996 by the "Kosovo Liberation Army" (Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës, or UÇK). The Serbian police and UÇK actions by 1998 created a state of low intensity warfare with some 2000 dying prior to Kosovo War of 1999.

Kosovo Albanians were outraged by these developments. In the illegal elections in 1992, Ibrahim Rugova was overwhelmingly elected as "president". In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.

The KLA repeatedly attacked Serbian police. In March 1998 a major Serbian crackdown began in Kosovo, with Yugoslav army units joining Serbian police to fight the ethnic Albanian separatists. In the months that followed, hundreds of people were killed and more than 200,000 were driven from their homes, most of these people were ethnic Albanians. Many Albanian families were forced to flee their homes at gunpoint.

The United Nations estimated that during the Kosovo War, nearly 640,000 Albanians fled Kosovo between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. Most of the refugees went to Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or Montenegro. At the border crossing, their identification papers were destroyed by Serbian officials.

Slobodan Milosevic and other senior Serb officials were indicted by the United Nations for war crimes commited by Serb forces in Kosovo. There were no indictments of NATO and KLA officials.

Both NATO and the UN continue to recognise Kosovo as a part of Serbia, but with the departure since 1999 of much of the Serb population and the reluctance of local Albanians to see Serbian sovereignty restored in practice, it is difficult to imagine how the removal of de facto Serbian authority in the province can be reconciled with assurances of Serbia's continued territorial integrity given by the NATO powers and reaffirmed (June 1999) in UN Security Council resolution 1244.

At the same time, it is also difficult to see how Serbia would consent to recognizing independence of Kosovo, and without Serbia's approval, recognition of Kosovo independence would be extremely problematic under international law as it would be a violation of the principles of territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs. The most likely outcome is the indefinite continuation of the current situation.