Kosovo

Poor old Kosovo.

Since 1999, this little province of Serbia has been under United Nations administration. The vast majority of the Kosovo population - up to 90% by some estimates - are ethnic Albanians and want to secede from Serbia and become their own ruling country.

In theory, this is fair enough. The vast majority of the population want to break free from Serbian rule and when you're talking about such a vast percentage of the population, it's kind of reasonable to bow to democracy.

However, two obstacles stand in their way.

Firstly, the United Nations made Resolution 1244 in 1999, which said that Kosovo could not become an independent country without their thumbs up.

Secondly, Serbia itself is fiercely opposed to letting it's province break away. It's taken brutal military action in the past to ensure that Kosovo remains under their jurisdiction.

Serbia's obsession with Kosovo dates back. Way back.

The Battle of Kosovo

It was actually the Battle of Kosovo, in the year 1389, that really set this whole unfortunate situation up. Until that time, Kosovo was part of a medieval Serbian state and her population was made up of Slavic Serbs. However, the advancing armies of the Ottoman Empire had their eye on this prize piece of land and in 1389, the armies of Prince Lazar of Serbia and Sultan Murad of the Ottoman Empire clashed to decide possession.

The Ottoman's outnumbered the Serbs two-to-one and scattered the defending army. Prince Lazar himself fell to Ottoman swords. However, defeat was not total. A cunning Serbian knight, Miloš Obilić, assassinated Sultan Murad just after the battle, leaving a vacuum at the head of the opposing army.

The battle of Kosovo left the region in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. However, they'd regrouped after Murad's death and a small portion of Kosovo remained under the leadership of the Serbian House of Branković, which was little more than a vassal state under de facto Turkish authority.

Following the Battle

Kosovo remained firmly in Ottoman hands for the next five hundred years. However, the Serbs never forgot the crushing defeat of 1389 and talk had always been of one day reclaiming what they saw as Serbian territory.

In fact, Serbia had made sporadic strikes into Ottoman territory throughout the last decades of the 19th century. In 1912, under the united banner of the Balkan League (along with Montenegro Bulgaria and Greece,) they moved forward in a united push. The Kingdom of Serbia reconquered Kosovo.

However, the demographics of their prize left it hard to hold onto. The vast majority of the population was Muslim, loyal to the Ottoman Empire. The only option was a powerful surge of recolonization, matching the Albanian population with Serbs loyal to the Kingdom.

What followed was a rather brutal period of ethnic cleansing, with ethnic Albanians driven from Kosovo's towns and cities and replaced by Serbs. This was seen as 'revenge' for the 1389 Battle of Kosovo (as any James bond fan will know, the Eastern Europeans have long memories.)

So with a larger Serb population in place and Serbian troops stationed to enforce sovereignty, the Conference of Ambassadors in London (in some ways, a forerunner to the UN) acknowledged Serbian sovereignty in Kosovo.

World War I

And that should have been the end of the story, but it wasn't.

The outbreak of World War I changed everything. Serbian troops, fighting against the Austro-Hungarian Empire - were forced to retreat from Kosovo territory. This enabled the Albanians, who joined the fight in support of the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, to surge into Kosovo and 'liberate' it from the Serbians.

And it was liberation, no doubt about that. The vast majority in Kosovo was still ethnic Albanian and they heralded the 'invasion' with cheers.

It wasn't until the end of the war, in 1918, that the crippled Serbian army had recovered sufficiently to press home a counter attack.

Unable to count on the support of the Central Powers, who were themselves battling the British, French and Russian armies, the Albanians retreated and Serbs once again swept into Kosovo - committing countless atrocities and ethnic cleansing to once again lay claim to this war torn province.

Following the War

The peace treaties that ended World War I saw Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia (including Kosovo) united in a great Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

While Yugoslavia was a largely Serbian/Slavic state, the territory of Kosovo still consisted of an 80% Albanian population. In 1921, they begged the League of Nations to allow them to secede from Yugoslavia and join their countrymen as part of Albania. This request was refused and the Serbs identified Kosovo as a troublesome province that needed sorting out.

This 'sorting out' consisted of even more colonization and ethnic cleansing.

Land and housing was roughly appropriated from the Albanian population and an estimated 150,000 Albanian Muslims were forced from Kosovo soil. Vasa Cubrilovic, a Serbian intellectual, was the father of this plan - a simple solution to reduce the Albanian population of the territory by simply deporting them.

World War Two

The Serb/Kosovo conflict played an important part in the treatment of the territory during World War II.

The Nazis swept into Serbia from the north and the fascist Italians, under Mussolini, conquered Albania and Kosovo in vengeance for the Italian army's defeat at their hands in 1920.

Soviet Influence

Following the defeat of Germany and Italy at the hands of the Allies, Kosovo was once again clumped with Serbia in another European restructuring. The parliament of the newly reconstructed Yugoslavia then democratically elected a communist ruling party and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was born.

Although at first allied with the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia remained an independent communist state following president Josip Broz Tito's falling out with Stalin.

As part of his regime, Tito planned to end the hundreds of years of ethnic antagonism between Serb and Albanian by way of his Brotherhood and Unity policy - the belief that all Yugoslav ethnicities should be recognized as equal national groups and coexist peacefully in the federation.

What followed was a relatively blissful time for Kosovo. Although part of Yugoslavia, their province was pretty much autonomous and the Albanian population even had independent Albanian-speaking schools and universities to reinforce their cultural identity.

In fact, the living and economic prospects and freedoms the Albanians enjoyed in Kosovo were so good that actual Albanians fled their post-war People's Republic to come to Kosovo!

The rise of Slobodan Milošević

Tito's successful regime was based partly on his policy of subjugating the Serbian majority. While Kosovo was made up of an Albanian population, Serbs themselves made up the majority of Yugoslavia's 12 million residents and it was only by reducing their influence that the Brotherhood and Unity policy could work.

Within Yugoslavia itself, Serbia was as autonomous as Kosovo - recognized as a Republic. This led the Serbian leaders to start questioning their place in the Yugoslavian federation. In 1986, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) decided that Serbia was contributing more than her fair share.

It was Kosovo that angered them. Since they'd started enjoying the fruits of Tito's regime, the government in Kosovo had been strengthening the position of the Albanian majority by firing Serbs from positions in government and industry. The Serbs living in Kosovo rebelled and protested.

This led a relatively unknown communist party member, Slobodan Milošević, to travel from the Republic of Serbia to meet with the Kosovo Serbs and see if he could quell their anger. There, he witnessed Kosovo police beating the protesting Serbs.

In an impromptu speech that won him the support of Serbs on both sides of the border, Milošević was seen on the Serbian evening news announcing to the Kosovan Serbs: "No one should dare to beat you again!"

He followed his new-found popularity by returning to the Serbia and organizing a coup d'etat. Slobodan Milošević became president of the Serbian Republic and leader of Yugoslavia.

Kosovo under Milošević

The regime change in Kosovo was brutal.

It went beyond countering discrimination of Serbs by the ethnic Albanians. When Milošević took power, he immediately revoked the autonomy of Kosovo and replaced her leaders with his own men - strengthening his position in Yugoslavia.

The Province of Kosovo lost it's government and political institutions. Albanian language media, such as the newspaper Rilindja and radio and television broadcasts in Albanian, were banned outright.

Serbian troops replaced the police and security forces. The Albanian-language university was disbanded, throwing over 20,000 students onto the streets. All the sovereignty and identity Kosovo had enjoyed since 1945 was eliminated overnight.

Kosovo became a police state - so tightly controlled by the Serbs that 80% of the Albanians found themselves unable to find work. Families were faced with starvation under Milošević’s rule.

The Fall of Communism

Meanwhile, as the Berlin Wall fell and communism ended across Eastern Europe, there was common cry throughout the other republics that made up the Federation of Yugoslavia. They wanted independence.

In 1991, Croatia and Slovenia both broke from the Yugoslav Federation, to be closely followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Slobodan Milošević strongly opposed this succession and what followed was a brutal period of violence and bloodshed known as the Yugoslav Wars.

The Battle for Independence

In order to regain control of these errant territories, Slobodan Milošević equipped Croatian and Bosnian Serbs (who made up a minority in their respective republics) with supplies, weapons, money and leadership in order to combat their governments and prevent each nation's independence.

It was a bloody struggle. Milošević's Serbs fought with ferocity and brutality. Their tactics were violent and inhuman - in Bosnia, for example, Serbs ruthlessly massacred 8,000 boys and men in the town of Srebrenica just to avoid them possibly fighting for independence.

In the end, it took the UN and NATO bombardment to quell the atrocities the Serbs were committing and bring about the independence of Bosnia and Croatia.

Kosovo Seeks Freedom

The success of the breakaway Bosnia and Croatia inspired Kosovo to break free from Milošević's oppressive rule as well. In 1995, Albanians organized into the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and launched a bitter campaign of bombings and murders against Serbian police and civilians living in Kosovo territory.

It was a situation that mirrors struggles for independence throughout the ages. To the people of Kosovo, the KLA were Freedom Fighters. To the people of Serbia, they were terrorists.

The Serbian response was brutal. In 1997, as the KLA grew in strength, Serbian police responded to attacks by killing dozens of civilians, both women and children. Over 300,000 Albanians were 'displaced' by the Serb forces. Tens of thousands of Albanians fled to the woods, where they faced a bitter winter without adequate food or shelter. Serbian security forces committed atrocities, murdering hundreds of civilians as they fought the KLA.

But after the successful independence of Croatia and Bosnia, it was difficult for Milošević to retain control of the disputed territory. The United States did not recognize the KLA as a terrorist organization and the US envoy, Richard Holbrooke, was photographed with KLA members, further strengthening the independence movement's legitimacy.

As more and more atrocities emerged, the United Nations offered Milošević a deal. Stop the military action in Kosovo or watch American bombers reduce Belgrade to rubble.

When Milošević failed to negotiate, the bombing started. The goal of NATO was clear - to get Serb forces out of Kosovo, to bring United Nations peacekeeping forces in and to allow the hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees back home.

But Milošević did not go down easy. Serbs stepped up their campaign of ethnic cleansing, killing hundreds and driving almost a million Albanians from their homes. They called it Operation Horseshoe - a deliberate plan to ensure the 'Serbinization' of Kosovo by driving the ethnic Albanian population out.

It was only after continued bombardment that Milošević surrendered. His Serbian forces withdrew and a UN Peacekeeping Force, backed by NATO troops, entered Kosovo to help bring stability and peace.

As American tanks rolled into Kosovo, the grateful Albanian population, both young and old alike, greeted the NATO troops by cheering and throwing flowers.

The Aftermath

As the smoke cleared, UN Security Council passed Resolution 1244 - placing Kosovo under transitional UN administration until her fate could be determined.

Bruised and bloodied, Slobodan Milošević tried to consolidate his position in Yugoslavia by calling early elections - and ordering his security forces to assassinate his political opponents.

However, when the opposition party won the first round of elections, Milošević rejected the decision and in doing so, sparked 'The Bulldozer Revolution,' which saw his regime collapse. His back-up plan, a brutal coup d'etat, was foiled when the Army commanders he'd counted on to support his regime refused to support him.

Vojislav Koštunica took the presidency - and without the immunity of the highest office, Yugoslav officials arrested Milošević and delivered him to the United Nations, where he was charged with the atrocities committed by his Serbian forces during the Yugoslav and Kosovo wars.

He died from a heart attack in the detention centre of The Hague.

The Future of Kosovo

For almost eight years now, Kosovo has been under the authority of the United Nations - and during that time, the population has continued to demand independence from Serbia.

While the international community generally acknowledges Serbia's sovereignty over the province, there is widespread sympathy for Kosovo. The vast majority of the population is not Serbian and has no ties to that country. After Croatia and Bosnia successfully battled for independence, it seems grossly unfair that this small province should be denied the same right.

But there's more at stake than just the future of the ethnic Albanians.

Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia and a fellow Slavic nation, is battling her own independence problem in breakaway states such as Chechnya. If the United Nations was to accept Kosovo's right to breakaway from Serbia and become independent, it would put great pressure on Russia to allow member states to do the same.

In addition, there are still Serbs living in Kosovo. If the country did become independent, Serbia would most likely send troops to protect the minority population still living there. As recently as the 1980s, the ethnic Albanian population has show itself just as capable of discrimination as the Serbs.

Right now, there's stalemate.

The Americans and British are backing Kosovo's independence, which is clearly the right thing to do. Kosovo has a long and bloody history as a pawn between greater powers. The nation deserves an independent run.

However, the Russia we see now is very different from that which gave grudging support to the UN in the days of Milošević. Premier Vladamir Putin is harboring a warm nostalgia amongst his people for the days of Communism - it's been just long enough for them to have forgotten what it was like really like living under the regime of the Hammer and Sickle.

Putin knows that the future of his country hands in the balance. The decision of the UN will either support or break apart his fragile hold on member states with itchy feet. Now that Russia has regained some of her former clout, this ruthless KGB officer will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the UN plays the game on his terms.

Kosovo itself in a betting chip in a newly reenacted battle between East and West.