The papers report that the ICTY has rendered a decision to start the trial against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj in November of the coming year. Papers say that, according to the Judge, the entire trial should not last more than 12 to 18 months.
Dailies also report that Haradinaj’s defence counsel has asked the court to allow his client political engagement stressing that Haradinaj does not intend on entering Kosovo Government or participate in Kosovo status talks, but that he wants to “continue his public efforts for solving [Kosovo’s] problem in accordance with international standards, where minorities would also be included”. The trial body is expected to decide on the request at a later stage.
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History of Kosovo
Modern province has only existed as a political or territorial entity since 1945. Before then, its territory was ruled entirely or partially by Italian-occupied Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and the Roman Empire. Some have suggested that Kosovo has been a single distinctive region since ancient times but this is strongly contradicted by archaeological findings and historic records. Nor has Kosovo's population been ethnically consistent over the years: the province's complex ethnic map has included Latins, Turks, Roma, Gorani (Slavic Muslims), Circassians, and Jews in addition to Serbs and Albanians.
Little is known about Kosovo before about the 11th century AD. The region was certainly inhabited in prehistoric times: in particular, Bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found only in Metohia, and not in Kosovo. After the Indo-European invasion, Kosovo became inhabited by Illyrian and Thracian tribes, such as the Dardani and the Triballi. Later, the whole territory of Kosovo became part of the Roman Empire, although it is not clear whether it was part of the province of Moesia or was divided between Dalmatia and Moesia (a view which is supported by some archaeological evidence). [1]
According to most historians, Serbs entered the Balkans around the late 6th or early 7th century AD, possibly migrating from the northern Caucasus where Ptolemy placed the "Serboi" in the 2nd century AD. The initial spread of the Slavic population of the Balkans was much larger than today, reaching well into Greece and Albania. Placenames derived from Slavic root words are still widespread in the remaining non-Slav Balkan countries and particularly northern Albania to this day (Kamenica).
The origins of the Albanians are much less clear. Most believe that they are descended from the Illyrians, ancient inhabitants of the western Balkans in Roman times, although Romanian historians have suggested that they may alternatively be descended from the ancient Thracians, who inhabited the Eastern and Central Balkans. Albanian historians claim that in around the 6th century the Illyrians were forced south into what is now Albania by Slav tribes - the predecessors of modern day Serbs. This claim is challenged by the fact that Byzantine chroniclers date the arrival of Albanians (Alvanoi) from Southern Italy at 1043 in central Albania (Durrës) as mercenaries in the army of Maniakis. Some historians, including Serbian, claim the Albanians originate from the Caucasus, particularly Caucasian Albania, but most historians dispute these claims. Albanian linguists suggest that the vocabulary and structure of the Albanian language points to a much earlier presence in the western Balkans. See also: Origin of Albanians
The Kosovo region lay on the outer fringes of the Byzantine Empire and lay directly in the path of the Slav expansion. From about the 850s until about 1014, it was ruled by Bulgaria. Byzantine control was subsequently reasserted by the forceful emperor Basil "the Bulgar Slayer". Serbia at this time did not exist: a number of small Slav kingdoms lay to the north and west of Kosovo, of which Raška (Rascia, central modern Serbia) and Dioclea (Montenegro and norther Albania) were the strongest. In the 1180s, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja seized control of Dioclea and parts of Kosovo. His successor (also called Stefan) took control of the rest of Kosovo by 1216, creating a state incorporating most of modern Serbia-Montenegro.
Map: "Kosovo: History of a Balkan Hot Spot", 1998
During the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty, many Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were built throughout Serbian territory, particularly Kosovo which became the economic, demographic, religious and political heartland. The Nemanjić rulers alternatively used both Prizren and Priština as their capitals. Large estates were given to Serbian monasteries in Metohia (which included parts of Albania and Montenegro), for which the area earned the designation Metohia or "monastic land". The most prominent churches in Kosovo - the Patriarchate at Peć, the church at Gračanica and the monastery at Visoki Dečani near Dečani - were all founded during this period. Kosovo was economically important, as the modern Kosovo capital Priština was a major trading centre on routes leading to ports on the Adriatic Sea. As well, mining was an important industry in Novo Brdo and Janjevo which had its communities of émigré Saxonians miners and Ragusans merchants.
The ethnic composition of Kosovo's population during this period is a controversial issue among Serbian and Albanian historians. Serbs, Albanians and Vlachs were all clearly present, as all three groups were named explicitly in Serbian monastic charters or chrysobulls along with a token number of Greeks, Armenians and Bulgarians. A majority of the names given in the charters are overwhelmingly Slavic rather than Albanian. This has been interpreted as evidence of a crushing Serbian majority. However th chrysobulls show Serbian named sons to Albanian-named fathers and vice-versa. Albanian historians have suggested that this is evidence of cultural assimilation of an alleged pre-Ottoman Albanian population in Kosovo yet this is undermined by records of Serbian-named fathers giving sons Albanian names (which would surely not have happened if the assimilation was a one-way process) and the fact that such cases of mixed names represent a small fraction of less than a twentieth of all the names. This Serbian claim seems to be supported by the Turkish cadastral tax-census (defter) of 1455 which took into account religion and language and found an overwhelming Serb majority.
Ethnic identity in the Middle Ages was somewhat fluid throughout Europe and people at that time do not appear to have defined themselves rigidly by ethnic group. About all that can be said for sure is that Serbs appear to have been the dominant population culturally, and were probably a demographic majority as well.
In 1355, the Serbian state fell apart on the death of Tsar Stefan Dušan and dissolved into squabbling fiefdoms. The Ottoman Empire took the opportunity to exploit Serbian weakness and invaded, meeting the Serbian army on the field of Kosovo Polje on June 28, 1389. The Battle of Kosovo ended in the deaths of both the Serbian Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. Although the battle has been mythologised as a great Serbian defeat, at the time opinion was divided as to whether it was a Serbian defeat, a stalemate or even a Serbian victory. Serbia maintained its independence and sporadic control of Kosovo until a final defeat in 1455, following which it became part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Kosovo from 1455 to 1912
Teritorry of today's province was for centuries ruled by the Ottoman Empire. During this period, several administrative districts (known as sancaks ("banners" or districts) each ruled by a sancakbeyi (roughly equivalent to "district lord")) have included parts of the territory as parts of their territories. Despite the imposition of Muslim rule, large numbers of Christians continued to live and sometimes even prosper under the Ottomans. A process of Islamisation began shortly after the beginning of Ottoman rule but it took a considerable amount of time - at least a century - and was concentrated at first on the towns. It appears that many Christian inhabitants converted directly to Islam, rather than being replaced by Muslims from outside Kosovo. A large part of the reason for the conversion was probably economic and social, as Muslims had considerably more rights and privileges than Christian subjects. Christian religious life nonetheless continued, with churches largely left alone by the Ottomans, but both the Orthodox and Catholic churches and their congregations suffered from high levels of taxation.
Around the 17th century, there is evidence of an increasingly visible Albanian population initially concentrated in Metohia. It has been claimed (often by Serbian historians) that this was the result of migrations out of the south-west (i.e. modern Albania), and that the putative migrants brought Islam with them. There is certainly evidence of some migration: many Kosovo Albanians have surnames characteristic of inhabitants of the northern Albanian region of Malësi. However, many others do not. It is also clear that many Slavs - presumably members of the Serbian Orthodox Church - converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. Today, most Slavic Muslims of Serbia live in the Sandžak region of southern Serbia, northwest of Kosovo. Historians believe that there was probably a pre-existing population of probably Catholic Albanians in Metohia who mostly converted to Islam, but remained strictly a minority in a still largely Serb-inhabited region.
In 1689, Kosovo was greatly disrupted by the Ottoman-Habsburg war (1683-1699), in one of the pivotal events in Serbian national mythology. In October 1689, a small Austrian force under Margrave Ludwig of Baden breached into Turkey and reached as far as Kosovo, following their earlier capture of Belgrade. Many Serbs and Albanians pledged their loyalty to the Austrians, some joining Baden's army. This was by no means a universal reaction; many other Serbs and Albanians fought alongside the Ottomans to resist the Austrian advance. A massive Ottoman counter-attack the following summer drove the Austrians back to their fortress at Niš, then back to Belgrade, then finally back across the Danube into Austria from whence they had come in the first place.
The Ottoman offensive was accompanied by savage reprisals and looting, prompting many Serbs - including Arsenije III, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church - to flee along with the Austrians. This event has been immortalised in Serbian history as the Velika Seoba or "Great Migration". It is traditionally said to have accounted for a huge exodus of hundreds of thousands of Serbian refugees from Kosovo and Serbia proper, which left a vacuum filled by a flood of Albanian immigrants. Arsenije himself wrote of a figure of "30,000 souls" (i.e. individuals) who fled with him to Austria, a figure confirmed by other sources.
Vilayet of Kosovo in 1878
In 1878, one of the four vilayets with Albanian inhabitants that formed the League of Prizren was Vilayet of Kosovo. The League's purpose was to resist both Ottoman rule and incursions by the newly emerging Balkan nations.
in 1910, an Albanian organised insurrection broke out in Priština and soon spread to the entire vilayet of Kosovo; lasting for three months. The Ottoman Sultan visited Kosovo in June 1911 during peace settlement talks covering all Albanian-inhabited areas.
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20th century
Following the First Balkan War of 1912, Kosovo was internationally recognised as a part of Serbia and Metohia as a part of Montenegro at the Treaty of London in May 1913. In 1918, Serbia became a part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Between the two world wars the Yugoslavian government tried to evacuate all the Albanian population from Kosovo and Macedonia sending them to Turkey and Albania and colonizing it with Serbian population. On March 7, 1937 a memorandum was presented to the government by Vaso Čubrilović from the Serbian Academy named Expulsion of the Albanians.
The partition of Yugoslavia, from 1941 and 1945, by the Axis Powers awarded most of the territory to the Italian-occupied Greater Albania, and smaller part of it to German-occupied Serbia and the Greater Bulgaria. During the occupation, thousands of Kosovo Serbs were expelled by armed Albanian groups, notably the Vulnetari militia. It is still not known exactly how many fell victim to this, but Serbian estimates put the figures at 10,000-40,000 killed with 70,000-100,000 expelled.
Kosovo within Serbia in 1946
Following the end of the war and the establishment of Tito's Communist regime, Kosovo was granted the status of an autonomous region of Serbia in 1946 and became an autonomous province in 1963. The Communist government did not permit the return of many of the refugees.
With the passing of the 1974 Yugoslavia constitution, Kosovo gained virtual self-government. The province's government has applied Albanian curriculum to Kosovo's schools: surplus and obsolete textbooks from Enver Hoxha's Albania were obtained and put into use.
Throughout the 1980s tensions between the Albanian and Serb communities in the province escalated. The Albanian community favoured greater autonomy for Kosovo, whilst Serbs favoured closer ties with the rest of Serbia. There was little appetite for unification with Albania itself, which was ruled by a Stalinist government and had considerably worse living standards than Kosovo.
Serbs living in Kosovo complained being discriminated against by the provincial government, notably by the local law enforcement authorities failing to punish reported crimes against Serbs. [2] The increasingly bitter atmosphere in Kosovo meant that even the most farcical incidents could become causes célèbres. When a Serbian farmer, Đorđe Martinović, turned up at a Kosovo hospital with a bottle in his rectum and a story about being assaulted in his field by "masked men", 216 prominent Serbian intellectuals signed a petition declaring that "the case of Đorđe Martinović has come to symbolize the predicament of all Serbs in Kosovo." Martinović's subsequent confession that his "assault" had been a botched act of self-gratification did nothing to defuse the ethnic tension that his case had produced.
Perhaps the most politically explosive complaint levelled by the Kosovo Serbs was that they were being neglected by the Communist authorities in Belgrade. In August 1987, during the dying days of Yugoslavia's Communist regime, Kosovo was visited by Slobodan Milošević, then a rising politician. He appealed to Serb nationalism to further his career. Having drawn huge crowds to a rally commemorating the Battle of Kosovo, he pledged to Kosovo Serbs that "No one should dare to beat you", and became an instant hero of Kosovo's Serbs. By the end of the year Milošević was in control of the Serbian government.
In 1989, the autonomy of Kosovo and the northern province of Vojvodina was drastically reduced by a Serbia-wide referendum. The referendum implemented a new constitution which allowed a multi-party system, introduced freedom of speech and promoted human rights. Even though in practice it was subverted by the Milošević's government, which resorted to rigging elections, controlled much of the news media, and was accused of abusing human rights of its opponents and national minorities, this was a step forward from the previous Communist constitution. It significantly reduced the provinces' rights, permitting the government of Serbia to exert direct control over many previously autonomous areas of governance. In particular, the constitutional changes handed control of the police, the court system, the economy, the education system and language policies to the Serbian government.
The new constitution was strongly opposed by many of Serbia's national minorities, who saw it as a means of imposing ethnically-based centralised rule on the provinces. Kosovo's Albanians refused to participate in the referendum, portraying it as illegitimate: as it was a Serbia-wide referendum and Albanians are a minority in Serbia as a whole, their participation would not have changed the outcome of the referendum whichever way they voted.
The provincial governments also opposed the new constitution. It had to be ratified by their assemblies, which effectively meant voting for their dissolution. Kosovo's assembly initially opposed the constitution but in March 1989, when the assembly met to discuss the proposals, tanks and armored cars surrounded the meeting place, forcing the delegates to accept the amendments.
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The 1990s
After the constitutional changes, the parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held for them. Kosovo Albanians refused to participate in the elections and held their own, unsanctioned elections instead. As election laws required (and still require) turnout higher than 50%, the parliament of Kosovo could not be established.
The new constitution abolished the individual provinces' official media, integrating them within the official media of Serbia while still retaining some programs in the Albanian language. The Albanian-language media in Kosovo was suppressed. Funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including that in the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made creating privately-owned media possible, however their functioning was very difficult because of high rents and restricting laws. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo [3]. However, privately-owned Albanian media outlets appeared; of these, probably the most famous is "Koha Ditore", which was allowed to operate until late 1998 when it was closed after it published a calendar which was claimed to be a glorification of ethnic Albanian separatists.
The constitution also transferred control over state-owned companies to the Serbian government (at the time, most of the companies were state-owned and de jure they still are). In September 1990, up to 123,000 Albanian workers were fired from their positions in government and the media, as were teachers, doctors, and workers in government-controlled industries [4], provoking a general strike and mass unrest. Some of those who were not sacked quit in sympathy, refusing to work for the Serbian government. Although the government claimed that it was simply getting rid of old communist directors, the sackings were widely seen as a purge of ethnic Albanians.
The old Albanian educational curriculum and textbooks were revoked and new ones were created. The curriculum was (and still is, as that is the curriculum used for Albanians in Serbia outside Kosovo) basically the same as Serbian and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in Albanian language. The new textbooks were (and still are) basically the same as those in Serbian, except that they were in the Albanian language. Education in Albanian was withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994. [5] At the Priština University, which was seen as a centre of Kosovo Albanian cultural identity, education in the Albanian language was abolished and Albanian teachers were also sacked en masse. Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and setting up an unofficial parallel system of Albanian-language education.
Kosovo Albanians were outraged by what they saw as an attack on their rights. Following mass rioting and unrest from Albanians as well as outbreaks of inter-communal violence, in February 1990, a state of emergency was declared, and the presence of the Yugoslav Army and police was significantly increased to quell the unrest.
Unsanctioned elections were held in 1992, which overwhelmingly elected Ibrahim Rugova as "president" of a self-declared Republic of Kosovo; however these elections were not recognised by Serbian nor any foreign government. In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.
Albanian opposition to sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Priština. Ibrahim Rugova advocated non-violent resistance, but later when it became apparent that this was not working, opposition 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).
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War and its aftermath
See the article Kosovo War for a fuller treatment.
The KLA launched a low-intensity guerrilla war characterised by regular bomb and gun attacks on Serbian security forces, state officials and civilians accused of "collaborating" with the Serbian government. In March 1998 Yugoslav army units joined Serbian police to fight the separatists, using military force on a large scale. In the months that followed, hundreds of people were killed and more than 200,000 fled their homes; most of these people were Albanians. Many Albanian families were forced to flee their homes at gunpoint, as a result of fighting between Serbian and KLA forces and also as the result of expulsions instigated by the security forces and associated paramilitary militias. There was violence against ethnic Serbs as well: UNHCR reported (March 1999) that over 90 mixed villages in Kosovo "have now been emptied of Serb inhabitants" and other Serbs continue leaving, either to be displaced in other parts of Kosovo or fleeing into central Serbia. The Yugoslav Red Cross estimated there were more than 30,000 non-Albanian displaced in need of assistance in Kosovo, most of whom are Serb. [6]
A full-scale war broke out on March 24, 1999 following the breakdown of negotiations between Serbian and Albanian representatives. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened, heavily bombing Yugoslav civil targets (like bridges in Novi Sad). Simultaneously, Albanian fighters continued to attack Serbian forces and Kosovo Serb civilians, and Serbian/Yugoslav forces continued to fight Albanian rebels amidst a massive displacement of the population of Kosovo, which most human rights groups and international organisations regarded as an act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the government forces. A number of senior Yugoslav government officials and military officers, including President Milošević, were subsequently indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes for which they were allegedly responsible during the war.
The United Nations estimated that during the Kosovo War, nearly 640,000 Albanians fled or were expelled from Kosovo between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. Most of the refugees went to Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, or Montenegro. Government security forces confiscated and destroyed the documents and licence plates of many fleeing Albanians in what was widely regarded as an attempt to erase the identities of the refugees, the term "identity cleansing" being coined to denote this action. This made it difficult to distinguish with certainty the identity of returning refugees after the war. Serbian sources claim that many Albanians from Macedonia and Albania - perhaps as many as 300,000, by some estimates - have since migrated to Kosovo in the guise of refugees. The entire issue may be moot, however, due to the survival of birth and death records.
Kosovo Refugees in Kukes, Albania (1999)
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Kosovo from June 10, 1999
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). Before and during the handover of power, an estimated 300,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians, mostly Romas, fled the province for fear of reprisals. In the case of the non-Albanians, the Roma in particular were regarded by many Albanians as having assisted the Serbs during the war. Many left along with the withdrawing Serbian security forces, expressing fears that they would be targeted by returning Albanian refugees and KLA fighters who blamed them for wartime acts of violence. Thousands more were driven out by intimidation, revenge attacks and a wave of crime after the war as KFOR struggled to restore order in the province.
Large numbers of refugees from Kosovo still live in temporary camps and shelters in Serbia proper. In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro reported hosting 277,000 internally displaced people (the vast majority being Serbs and Roma from Kosovo), which included 201,641 persons displaced from Kosovo into Serbia proper, 29,451 displaced from Kosovo into Montenegro, and about 46,000 displaced within Kosovo itself, including 16,000 returning refugees unable to inhabit their original homes. [7][8] Some sources put the figure far lower; the European Stability Initiative estimates the number of displaced people as being only 65,000, with another 128,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo. The largest concentration is in the north of the province above the Ibar river, but an estimated two-thirds of the Serbian population in Kosovo continues to live in the Albanian-dominated south of the province. [9]
In March 17, 2004, serious unrest in Kosovo led to several deaths, and the destruction of a large number of Orthodox churches and monastries in the province, as Albanians clashed with Serbs. Several thousand more Kosovo Serbs were reported to have left their homes to seek refuge in Serbia proper or in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo proper.
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History of Kosovo
Modern province has only existed as a political or territorial entity since 1945. Before then, its territory was ruled entirely or partially by Italian-occupied Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, the Ottoman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria and the Roman Empire. Some have suggested that Kosovo has been a single distinctive region since ancient times but this is strongly contradicted by archaeological findings and historic records. Nor has Kosovo's population been ethnically consistent over the years: the province's complex ethnic map has included Latins, Turks, Roma, Gorani (Slavic Muslims), Circassians, and Jews in addition to Serbs and Albanians.
Little is known about Kosovo before about the 11th century AD. The region was certainly inhabited in prehistoric times: in particular, Bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found only in Metohia, and not in Kosovo. After the Indo-European invasion, Kosovo became inhabited by Illyrian and Thracian tribes, such as the Dardani and the Triballi. Later, the whole territory of Kosovo became part of the Roman Empire, although it is not clear whether it was part of the province of Moesia or was divided between Dalmatia and Moesia (a view which is supported by some archaeological evidence). [1]
According to most historians, Serbs entered the Balkans around the late 6th or early 7th century AD, possibly migrating from the northern Caucasus where Ptolemy placed the "Serboi" in the 2nd century AD. The initial spread of the Slavic population of the Balkans was much larger than today, reaching well into Greece and Albania. Placenames derived from Slavic root words are still widespread in the remaining non-Slav Balkan countries and particularly northern Albania to this day (Kamenica).
The origins of the Albanians are much less clear. Most believe that they are descended from the Illyrians, ancient inhabitants of the western Balkans in Roman times, although Romanian historians have suggested that they may alternatively be descended from the ancient Thracians, who inhabited the Eastern and Central Balkans. Albanian historians claim that in around the 6th century the Illyrians were forced south into what is now Albania by Slav tribes - the predecessors of modern day Serbs. This claim is challenged by the fact that Byzantine chroniclers date the arrival of Albanians (Alvanoi) from Southern Italy at 1043 in central Albania (Durrës) as mercenaries in the army of Maniakis. Some historians, including Serbian, claim the Albanians originate from the Caucasus, particularly Caucasian Albania, but most historians dispute these claims. Albanian linguists suggest that the vocabulary and structure of the Albanian language points to a much earlier presence in the western Balkans. See also: Origin of Albanians
The Kosovo region lay on the outer fringes of the Byzantine Empire and lay directly in the path of the Slav expansion. From about the 850s until about 1014, it was ruled by Bulgaria. Byzantine control was subsequently reasserted by the forceful emperor Basil "the Bulgar Slayer". Serbia at this time did not exist: a number of small Slav kingdoms lay to the north and west of Kosovo, of which Raška (Rascia, central modern Serbia) and Dioclea (Montenegro and norther Albania) were the strongest. In the 1180s, the Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja seized control of Dioclea and parts of Kosovo. His successor (also called Stefan) took control of the rest of Kosovo by 1216, creating a state incorporating most of modern Serbia-Montenegro.
Map: "Kosovo: History of a Balkan Hot Spot", 1998
During the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty, many Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were built throughout Serbian territory, particularly Kosovo which became the economic, demographic, religious and political heartland. The Nemanjić rulers alternatively used both Prizren and Priština as their capitals. Large estates were given to Serbian monasteries in Metohia (which included parts of Albania and Montenegro), for which the area earned the designation Metohia or "monastic land". The most prominent churches in Kosovo - the Patriarchate at Peć, the church at Gračanica and the monastery at Visoki Dečani near Dečani - were all founded during this period. Kosovo was economically important, as the modern Kosovo capital Priština was a major trading centre on routes leading to ports on the Adriatic Sea. As well, mining was an important industry in Novo Brdo and Janjevo which had its communities of émigré Saxonians miners and Ragusans merchants.
The ethnic composition of Kosovo's population during this period is a controversial issue among Serbian and Albanian historians. Serbs, Albanians and Vlachs were all clearly present, as all three groups were named explicitly in Serbian monastic charters or chrysobulls along with a token number of Greeks, Armenians and Bulgarians. A majority of the names given in the charters are overwhelmingly Slavic rather than Albanian. This has been interpreted as evidence of a crushing Serbian majority. However th chrysobulls show Serbian named sons to Albanian-named fathers and vice-versa. Albanian historians have suggested that this is evidence of cultural assimilation of an alleged pre-Ottoman Albanian population in Kosovo yet this is undermined by records of Serbian-named fathers giving sons Albanian names (which would surely not have happened if the assimilation was a one-way process) and the fact that such cases of mixed names represent a small fraction of less than a twentieth of all the names. This Serbian claim seems to be supported by the Turkish cadastral tax-census (defter) of 1455 which took into account religion and language and found an overwhelming Serb majority.
Ethnic identity in the Middle Ages was somewhat fluid throughout Europe and people at that time do not appear to have defined themselves rigidly by ethnic group. About all that can be said for sure is that Serbs appear to have been the dominant population culturally, and were probably a demographic majority as well.
In 1355, the Serbian state fell apart on the death of Tsar Stefan Dušan and dissolved into squabbling fiefdoms. The Ottoman Empire took the opportunity to exploit Serbian weakness and invaded, meeting the Serbian army on the field of Kosovo Polje on June 28, 1389. The Battle of Kosovo ended in the deaths of both the Serbian Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. Although the battle has been mythologised as a great Serbian defeat, at the time opinion was divided as to whether it was a Serbian defeat, a stalemate or even a Serbian victory. Serbia maintained its independence and sporadic control of Kosovo until a final defeat in 1455, following which it became part of the Ottoman Empire.
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Kosovo from 1455 to 1912
Teritorry of today's province was for centuries ruled by the Ottoman Empire. During this period, several administrative districts (known as sancaks ("banners" or districts) each ruled by a sancakbeyi (roughly equivalent to "district lord")) have included parts of the territory as parts of their territories. Despite the imposition of Muslim rule, large numbers of Christians continued to live and sometimes even prosper under the Ottomans. A process of Islamisation began shortly after the beginning of Ottoman rule but it took a considerable amount of time - at least a century - and was concentrated at first on the towns. It appears that many Christian inhabitants converted directly to Islam, rather than being replaced by Muslims from outside Kosovo. A large part of the reason for the conversion was probably economic and social, as Muslims had considerably more rights and privileges than Christian subjects. Christian religious life nonetheless continued, with churches largely left alone by the Ottomans, but both the Orthodox and Catholic churches and their congregations suffered from high levels of taxation.
Around the 17th century, there is evidence of an increasingly visible Albanian population initially concentrated in Metohia. It has been claimed (often by Serbian historians) that this was the result of migrations out of the south-west (i.e. modern Albania), and that the putative migrants brought Islam with them. There is certainly evidence of some migration: many Kosovo Albanians have surnames characteristic of inhabitants of the northern Albanian region of Malësi. However, many others do not. It is also clear that many Slavs - presumably members of the Serbian Orthodox Church - converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. Today, most Slavic Muslims of Serbia live in the Sandžak region of southern Serbia, northwest of Kosovo. Historians believe that there was probably a pre-existing population of probably Catholic Albanians in Metohia who mostly converted to Islam, but remained strictly a minority in a still largely Serb-inhabited region.
In 1689, Kosovo was greatly disrupted by the Ottoman-Habsburg war (1683-1699), in one of the pivotal events in Serbian national mythology. In October 1689, a small Austrian force under Margrave Ludwig of Baden breached into Turkey and reached as far as Kosovo, following their earlier capture of Belgrade. Many Serbs and Albanians pledged their loyalty to the Austrians, some joining Baden's army. This was by no means a universal reaction; many other Serbs and Albanians fought alongside the Ottomans to resist the Austrian advance. A massive Ottoman counter-attack the following summer drove the Austrians back to their fortress at Niš, then back to Belgrade, then finally back across the Danube into Austria from whence they had come in the first place.
The Ottoman offensive was accompanied by savage reprisals and looting, prompting many Serbs - including Arsenije III, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church - to flee along with the Austrians. This event has been immortalised in Serbian history as the Velika Seoba or "Great Migration". It is traditionally said to have accounted for a huge exodus of hundreds of thousands of Serbian refugees from Kosovo and Serbia proper, which left a vacuum filled by a flood of Albanian immigrants. Arsenije himself wrote of a figure of "30,000 souls" (i.e. individuals) who fled with him to Austria, a figure confirmed by other sources.
Vilayet of Kosovo in 1878
In 1878, one of the four vilayets with Albanian inhabitants that formed the League of Prizren was Vilayet of Kosovo. The League's purpose was to resist both Ottoman rule and incursions by the newly emerging Balkan nations.
in 1910, an Albanian organised insurrection broke out in Priština and soon spread to the entire vilayet of Kosovo; lasting for three months. The Ottoman Sultan visited Kosovo in June 1911 during peace settlement talks covering all Albanian-inhabited areas.
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20th century
Following the First Balkan War of 1912, Kosovo was internationally recognised as a part of Serbia and Metohia as a part of Montenegro at the Treaty of London in May 1913. In 1918, Serbia became a part of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Between the two world wars the Yugoslavian government tried to evacuate all the Albanian population from Kosovo and Macedonia sending them to Turkey and Albania and colonizing it with Serbian population. On March 7, 1937 a memorandum was presented to the government by Vaso Čubrilović from the Serbian Academy named Expulsion of the Albanians.
The partition of Yugoslavia, from 1941 and 1945, by the Axis Powers awarded most of the territory to the Italian-occupied Greater Albania, and smaller part of it to German-occupied Serbia and the Greater Bulgaria. During the occupation, thousands of Kosovo Serbs were expelled by armed Albanian groups, notably the Vulnetari militia. It is still not known exactly how many fell victim to this, but Serbian estimates put the figures at 10,000-40,000 killed with 70,000-100,000 expelled.
Kosovo within Serbia in 1946
Following the end of the war and the establishment of Tito's Communist regime, Kosovo was granted the status of an autonomous region of Serbia in 1946 and became an autonomous province in 1963. The Communist government did not permit the return of many of the refugees.
With the passing of the 1974 Yugoslavia constitution, Kosovo gained virtual self-government. The province's government has applied Albanian curriculum to Kosovo's schools: surplus and obsolete textbooks from Enver Hoxha's Albania were obtained and put into use.
Throughout the 1980s tensions between the Albanian and Serb communities in the province escalated. The Albanian community favoured greater autonomy for Kosovo, whilst Serbs favoured closer ties with the rest of Serbia. There was little appetite for unification with Albania itself, which was ruled by a Stalinist government and had considerably worse living standards than Kosovo.
Serbs living in Kosovo complained being discriminated against by the provincial government, notably by the local law enforcement authorities failing to punish reported crimes against Serbs. [2] The increasingly bitter atmosphere in Kosovo meant that even the most farcical incidents could become causes célèbres. When a Serbian farmer, Đorđe Martinović, turned up at a Kosovo hospital with a bottle in his rectum and a story about being assaulted in his field by "masked men", 216 prominent Serbian intellectuals signed a petition declaring that "the case of Đorđe Martinović has come to symbolize the predicament of all Serbs in Kosovo." Martinović's subsequent confession that his "assault" had been a botched act of self-gratification did nothing to defuse the ethnic tension that his case had produced.
Perhaps the most politically explosive complaint levelled by the Kosovo Serbs was that they were being neglected by the Communist authorities in Belgrade. In August 1987, during the dying days of Yugoslavia's Communist regime, Kosovo was visited by Slobodan Milošević, then a rising politician. He appealed to Serb nationalism to further his career. Having drawn huge crowds to a rally commemorating the Battle of Kosovo, he pledged to Kosovo Serbs that "No one should dare to beat you", and became an instant hero of Kosovo's Serbs. By the end of the year Milošević was in control of the Serbian government.
In 1989, the autonomy of Kosovo and the northern province of Vojvodina was drastically reduced by a Serbia-wide referendum. The referendum implemented a new constitution which allowed a multi-party system, introduced freedom of speech and promoted human rights. Even though in practice it was subverted by the Milošević's government, which resorted to rigging elections, controlled much of the news media, and was accused of abusing human rights of its opponents and national minorities, this was a step forward from the previous Communist constitution. It significantly reduced the provinces' rights, permitting the government of Serbia to exert direct control over many previously autonomous areas of governance. In particular, the constitutional changes handed control of the police, the court system, the economy, the education system and language policies to the Serbian government.
The new constitution was strongly opposed by many of Serbia's national minorities, who saw it as a means of imposing ethnically-based centralised rule on the provinces. Kosovo's Albanians refused to participate in the referendum, portraying it as illegitimate: as it was a Serbia-wide referendum and Albanians are a minority in Serbia as a whole, their participation would not have changed the outcome of the referendum whichever way they voted.
The provincial governments also opposed the new constitution. It had to be ratified by their assemblies, which effectively meant voting for their dissolution. Kosovo's assembly initially opposed the constitution but in March 1989, when the assembly met to discuss the proposals, tanks and armored cars surrounded the meeting place, forcing the delegates to accept the amendments.
[edit]
The 1990s
After the constitutional changes, the parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held for them. Kosovo Albanians refused to participate in the elections and held their own, unsanctioned elections instead. As election laws required (and still require) turnout higher than 50%, the parliament of Kosovo could not be established.
The new constitution abolished the individual provinces' official media, integrating them within the official media of Serbia while still retaining some programs in the Albanian language. The Albanian-language media in Kosovo was suppressed. Funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including that in the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made creating privately-owned media possible, however their functioning was very difficult because of high rents and restricting laws. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo [3]. However, privately-owned Albanian media outlets appeared; of these, probably the most famous is "Koha Ditore", which was allowed to operate until late 1998 when it was closed after it published a calendar which was claimed to be a glorification of ethnic Albanian separatists.
The constitution also transferred control over state-owned companies to the Serbian government (at the time, most of the companies were state-owned and de jure they still are). In September 1990, up to 123,000 Albanian workers were fired from their positions in government and the media, as were teachers, doctors, and workers in government-controlled industries [4], provoking a general strike and mass unrest. Some of those who were not sacked quit in sympathy, refusing to work for the Serbian government. Although the government claimed that it was simply getting rid of old communist directors, the sackings were widely seen as a purge of ethnic Albanians.
The old Albanian educational curriculum and textbooks were revoked and new ones were created. The curriculum was (and still is, as that is the curriculum used for Albanians in Serbia outside Kosovo) basically the same as Serbian and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in Albanian language. The new textbooks were (and still are) basically the same as those in Serbian, except that they were in the Albanian language. Education in Albanian was withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994. [5] At the Priština University, which was seen as a centre of Kosovo Albanian cultural identity, education in the Albanian language was abolished and Albanian teachers were also sacked en masse. Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and setting up an unofficial parallel system of Albanian-language education.
Kosovo Albanians were outraged by what they saw as an attack on their rights. Following mass rioting and unrest from Albanians as well as outbreaks of inter-communal violence, in February 1990, a state of emergency was declared, and the presence of the Yugoslav Army and police was significantly increased to quell the unrest.
Unsanctioned elections were held in 1992, which overwhelmingly elected Ibrahim Rugova as "president" of a self-declared Republic of Kosovo; however these elections were not recognised by Serbian nor any foreign government. In 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities.
Albanian opposition to sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had surfaced in rioting (1968 and March 1981) in the capital Priština. Ibrahim Rugova advocated non-violent resistance, but later when it became apparent that this was not working, opposition 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).
[edit]
War and its aftermath
See the article Kosovo War for a fuller treatment.
The KLA launched a low-intensity guerrilla war characterised by regular bomb and gun attacks on Serbian security forces, state officials and civilians accused of "collaborating" with the Serbian government. In March 1998 Yugoslav army units joined Serbian police to fight the separatists, using military force on a large scale. In the months that followed, hundreds of people were killed and more than 200,000 fled their homes; most of these people were Albanians. Many Albanian families were forced to flee their homes at gunpoint, as a result of fighting between Serbian and KLA forces and also as the result of expulsions instigated by the security forces and associated paramilitary militias. There was violence against ethnic Serbs as well: UNHCR reported (March 1999) that over 90 mixed villages in Kosovo "have now been emptied of Serb inhabitants" and other Serbs continue leaving, either to be displaced in other parts of Kosovo or fleeing into central Serbia. The Yugoslav Red Cross estimated there were more than 30,000 non-Albanian displaced in need of assistance in Kosovo, most of whom are Serb. [6]
A full-scale war broke out on March 24, 1999 following the breakdown of negotiations between Serbian and Albanian representatives. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened, heavily bombing Yugoslav civil targets (like bridges in Novi Sad). Simultaneously, Albanian fighters continued to attack Serbian forces and Kosovo Serb civilians, and Serbian/Yugoslav forces continued to fight Albanian rebels amidst a massive displacement of the population of Kosovo, which most human rights groups and international organisations regarded as an act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the government forces. A number of senior Yugoslav government officials and military officers, including President Milošević, were subsequently indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes for which they were allegedly responsible during the war.
The United Nations estimated that during the Kosovo War, nearly 640,000 Albanians fled or were expelled from Kosovo between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. Most of the refugees went to Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, or Montenegro. Government security forces confiscated and destroyed the documents and licence plates of many fleeing Albanians in what was widely regarded as an attempt to erase the identities of the refugees, the term "identity cleansing" being coined to denote this action. This made it difficult to distinguish with certainty the identity of returning refugees after the war. Serbian sources claim that many Albanians from Macedonia and Albania - perhaps as many as 300,000, by some estimates - have since migrated to Kosovo in the guise of refugees. The entire issue may be moot, however, due to the survival of birth and death records.
Kosovo Refugees in Kukes, Albania (1999)
[edit]
Kosovo from June 10, 1999
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). Before and during the handover of power, an estimated 300,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians, mostly Romas, fled the province for fear of reprisals. In the case of the non-Albanians, the Roma in particular were regarded by many Albanians as having assisted the Serbs during the war. Many left along with the withdrawing Serbian security forces, expressing fears that they would be targeted by returning Albanian refugees and KLA fighters who blamed them for wartime acts of violence. Thousands more were driven out by intimidation, revenge attacks and a wave of crime after the war as KFOR struggled to restore order in the province.
Large numbers of refugees from Kosovo still live in temporary camps and shelters in Serbia proper. In 2002, Serbia and Montenegro reported hosting 277,000 internally displaced people (the vast majority being Serbs and Roma from Kosovo), which included 201,641 persons displaced from Kosovo into Serbia proper, 29,451 displaced from Kosovo into Montenegro, and about 46,000 displaced within Kosovo itself, including 16,000 returning refugees unable to inhabit their original homes. [7][8] Some sources put the figure far lower; the European Stability Initiative estimates the number of displaced people as being only 65,000, with another 128,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo. The largest concentration is in the north of the province above the Ibar river, but an estimated two-thirds of the Serbian population in Kosovo continues to live in the Albanian-dominated south of the province. [9]
In March 17, 2004, serious unrest in Kosovo led to several deaths, and the destruction of a large number of Orthodox churches and monastries in the province, as Albanians clashed with Serbs. Several thousand more Kosovo Serbs were reported to have left their homes to seek refuge in Serbia proper or in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo proper.
[edit]
Demographic history of Kosovo
15th century
1455: Turkish cadastral tax census (defter)[1] of the Brankovic dynasty lands (covering 80% of present-day Kosovo and Metohija) recorded 480 villages, 13,693 adult males, 12,985 dwellings, 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males). By ethnicity:
* 12,985 Serbian dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
* 75 Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
* 46 Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
* 17 Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
* 5 Greek dwellings in Lauša, Vučitrn
* 1 Jewish dwelling in Vučitrn
* 1 Croat dwelling
[edit]
17th-18th century
The Great Turkish War of 1683-1699 between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs led to the flight of a substantial part of Kosovo's Serbian population to Austrian held Vojvodina and the Military Frontier. Following this an influx of Muslim Albanian[2] from the highlands (Malesi) occurred, mostly into Metohija. The process continued in 18th century[3].
[edit]
19th century
19th century data about the population of Kosovo tend to be rather conflicting, giving sometimes numerical superiority to the Serbs and sometimes to the Albanians. Many historians regard Ottoman statistics as being unreliable, as the empire counted its citizens by religion rather than nationality, using birth records rather than surveys of individuals.
A study in 1838 by an Austrian physician, dr. Joseph Müller found Metohija to be mostly Slavic (Serbian) in character.[4] Müller gives data for the three counties (Bezirke) of Prizren, Pec and Djakovica which roughly covered Metohija, the portion adjacent to Albania and most affected by Albanian settlers. Out of 195,000 inhabitants in Metohija, Müller found:
* 73,572 Orthodox Serbs 38%
* 5,120 Catholic Albanians 3%
* 2,308 other non-Muslims (Vlachs etc.)
* 114,000 Muslims (58%), of which:
o c. 38,000 are Serbs (19%)
o c. 76,000 are Albanians (39%)
Müller's observations on towns:
* Peć: 11.050 Serbs, 500 Albanians
* Prizren: 16,800 Serbs, 6150 Albanians
* Đakovica: majority of Albanians, surrounding villages Serbian
Map published by French ethnographer G. Lejean[5] in 1861 shows that Albanians lived on around 57% of the territory of today's province while a similar map, published by British travellers G. M. Mackenzie and A. P. Irby[6] in 1867 shows slightly less; these maps don't show which population was larger overall.
A study done in 1871 by Austrian colonel Peter Kukulj[7] for the internal use of the Austro-Hungarian army showed that the mutesarifluk of Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo and Metohija) had some 500,000 inhabitants, of which:
* 318.000 Serbs (64%),
* 161.000 Albanians (32%),
* 10.000 Roma (Gypsies) and Circassians,
* 2.000 Turks
Miloš S. Milojević travelled the region in 1871-1877 and left accounts which testify that Serbs were majority population, and were predominant in all cities, while Albanians were minority and lived mostly in villages[8]. According to his data, Albanians were majority population in southern Drenica (Muslim Albanians), and in region around Djakovica (Catholic Albanians), while the city was majorly Serbian. He also recorded several settlements of Turks, Roma and Circassians.
It is estimated that some 400,000[9] Serbs were cleansed out of the Vilayet of Kosovo between 1876 and 1912, especially during the Greek-Turkish war of 1897.
Maps published by German historian Kiepert[10] in 1876, J. Hahn[11] and Austrian consul K. Sax[12], show that Albanians live on most of the territory of today's province, however they don't show which population is larger. According to these, the regions of Kosovska Mitrovica and Kosovo Polje were settled mostly by Serbs, whereas most of the terrirory of western and eastern parts of today's province was settled by Muslim Albanians.
An Austrian statistics[13] published in 1899 estimated:
* 182,650 Albanians (47.88%)
* 166,700 Serbs (43.70%)
* Remaining 8.42% Tsintsars, Turks, Circassians, Roma and Jews
[edit]
20th century
British journalist H. Brailsford estimated[14] that two-thirds of the population of Kosovo was Albanian and one-third Serbian. The most populous western districts of Djakovica and Pec were said to have between 20,000 and 25,000 Albanian households, as against some 5,000 Serbian ones. Map of Alfred Stead[15], published in 1909, shows that similar numbers of Serbs and Albanians were living in the territory.
German scholar Gustav Weigand gave the following statistical data about the population of Kosovo in Ethnography of Macedonia (1924, written 1919), based on the pre-war situation in Kosovo in 1912:
* Pristina District: 67% Albanians, 30% Serbs
* Prizren District: 63% Albanians, 36% Serbs
* Vucitrn District: 90% Albanians, 10% Serbs
* Ferizovic (Urosevac) District: 70% Albanians, 30% Serbs
* Gilani (Gnjilane) District: 75% Albanians, 23% Serbs
* Mitrovica District: 40% Albanians, 60% Serbs
Metohija with the town of Djakovica is furthermore defined as almost exclusively Albanian by Weigand.
[edit]
Serbia and Yugoslavia
[edit]
Balkan Wars and World War I-World War II
Retaking of Kosovo by Serbia in 1912 resulting in suppression of the local Albanian population and ethnic cleansning of some regions[16].
* 1921 439,010 total inhabitants[17]
A map of the Serbian census of 1921[18] shows that most of the terrirory was settled by Albanians, with Serbian enclaves around Prizren, Sredska Zupa and Pristina. Religion on the largest part of the territory was Islam with Eastern Orthodox enclaves around Kosovska Mitrovica, Pristina and Gnjilane[19].
* 1931 552,064 total inhabitants[20]
[edit]
World War II-1968
Most of the teritorry of today's province is occupied by Italian-occupied Greater Albania, massacres of some 10,000[21] Serbs, ethnic cleansing of about 80[22]-100,000[23][24] and settling of 100,000[25] of Albanians from Albania.
* 1948: 727,820 total inhabitants[26]; 498,242 Albanians or 68.46%[27]
* 1953: 524,559 Albanians or 65%[28]
* 1961: 646,604 Albanians or 67.1%[29]
[edit]
1968-1989: Autonomy
After the province gained autonomy, local provincial Statistical office given authority over census whereas the rest of the country's census was under the tutelage of the Federal Statistical Commission. Allegations of census rigging (for the 1971 and 1981) by Turk, Muslim and Roma minorities who claim forceful Albanization. Serb claims Albanians drastically overincreased their own numbers. Nothing could be substantiated though because the Kosovo Statistical offices were under exclusive Albanian control which was against the national norm at the time which dicated that census takers had to be of different nationalities (i.e. one Albanian and one Serb not both Albanian as was the case in the two following censa).
1971: 1,243,693 total inhabitants[30]
* 916,168 Albanians or 73.7%[31]
* 259,816 Serbs/Montengrins or 20.9%[32]
* 26,000 Muslims or 2.1%
* 14,593 Roma or 1.2%
* 12,244 Turks or 1.0%
* 8,000 Croats or 0.7%
Albanians take ever-increasing control of Autonomous province with the introduction of the 1974 Constitution of SFRY.
* 1981:
1,584,440 total inhabitants
* 1,226,736 Albanians 77.42%
* 236,525 Serbs/Montenegrins 14.93%[33][34]
[edit]
1989-1999: Centralized Yugoslav Control
Yugoslav Central Government reasserts control over Kosovo in 1989.
Official Yugoslav statistical results, almost all Albanians and some Roma, Muslims boyott the census following a call by Ibrahim Rugova to boycott Serbian institutions. 1991 359,346 Total population
* 214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
* 9,091 Albanians (most boycotted)
* 57,758 (Slavic) Muslims
* 44,307 Roma
* 10,445 Turks
* 8,062 Croats (Janjevci, Letnicani)
* 3,457 Yugoslavs
Official Yugoslav statistical corrections and projections, with the help of previous census results (1948-1981):
1,956,196 Total population[35] (corrected from 359,346)
* 214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
* 1,596,072 or 81,6 % Albanians (corrected from 9,091)
* 66,189 (Slavic) Muslims (corrected from 57,758)
* 45,745 Roma (corrected from 44,307)
* 10,445 Turks
* 8,062 Croats (Janjevci, Letnicani)
* 3,457 Yugoslavs
The corrections should not taken to be fully accurate. The number of Albanians is sometimes regarded as being an underestimate. On the other hand, it is sometimes regarded as an overestimate, being derived from earlier censa which are believed to be overestimates. The Statistical Office of Kosovo states that the quality of the 1991 census is "questionable." [36].
[edit]
1999-present: UN administration
During the Kosovo War in 1999, over 700,000 ethnic Albanians[37] and around 100,000 ethnic Serbs were forced out of the province to neighbouring Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia. After the United Nations took over administration of Kosovo following the war, the vast majority of the Albanian refugees returned.
Many non-Albanians - chiefly Serbs and Roma - fled or were expelled, mostly to the rest of Serbia at the end of the war, with further refugee outflows occurring as the result of sporadic ethnic violence. The number of registered refugees is around 250,000[38][39][40]. The non-Albanian population in Kosovo is now about half of its pre-war total. The largest concentration of Serbs in the province is in the north, but many remain in Kosovo Serb enclaves surrounded by Albanian-populated areas.
Various, mostly Serbian, sources claim that a large number of Albanians (usually stated as being around 200,000) have moved into Kosovo since 1999, due to the complete liberalization of the Kosovo-Albania border. The veracity of this claim is unclear; the Statistical Office of Kosovo states that "there are at present no reliable statistics on migration in Kosovo."
2000 Living Standard Measurement Survey by Statistical Office of Kosovo (rejected by Belgrade[41]). Total population estimated at 1 900 000 est.[42]
* 88% Albanians (1,733,600)
* 7% Serbs (137,900)
* 3% Muslim Slavs (59,100)
* 2% Roma (39,400)
* 1% Turks (19,700)
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates the population at 2.0 to 2.2 million people, extrapolating from voter registration data recorded by the UNMIK Department of Local Administration in 2000. [43]
Some estimates by Albanian demographers estimate a population of 2.4 million Albanians living in Kosovo today. This is regarded by most independent observers as an overestimate as it would imply a total population of some 2.5-2.6 million people in Kosovo, much higher than other estimates.
Demographic history of Kosovo
15th century
1455: Turkish cadastral tax census (defter)[1] of the Brankovic dynasty lands (covering 80% of present-day Kosovo and Metohija) recorded 480 villages, 13,693 adult males, 12,985 dwellings, 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males). By ethnicity:
* 12,985 Serbian dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
* 75 Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
* 46 Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
* 17 Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
* 5 Greek dwellings in Lauša, Vučitrn
* 1 Jewish dwelling in Vučitrn
* 1 Croat dwelling
[edit]
17th-18th century
The Great Turkish War of 1683-1699 between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs led to the flight of a substantial part of Kosovo's Serbian population to Austrian held Vojvodina and the Military Frontier. Following this an influx of Muslim Albanian[2] from the highlands (Malesi) occurred, mostly into Metohija. The process continued in 18th century[3].
[edit]
19th century
19th century data about the population of Kosovo tend to be rather conflicting, giving sometimes numerical superiority to the Serbs and sometimes to the Albanians. Many historians regard Ottoman statistics as being unreliable, as the empire counted its citizens by religion rather than nationality, using birth records rather than surveys of individuals.
A study in 1838 by an Austrian physician, dr. Joseph Müller found Metohija to be mostly Slavic (Serbian) in character.[4] Müller gives data for the three counties (Bezirke) of Prizren, Pec and Djakovica which roughly covered Metohija, the portion adjacent to Albania and most affected by Albanian settlers. Out of 195,000 inhabitants in Metohija, Müller found:
* 73,572 Orthodox Serbs 38%
* 5,120 Catholic Albanians 3%
* 2,308 other non-Muslims (Vlachs etc.)
* 114,000 Muslims (58%), of which:
o c. 38,000 are Serbs (19%)
o c. 76,000 are Albanians (39%)
Müller's observations on towns:
* Peć: 11.050 Serbs, 500 Albanians
* Prizren: 16,800 Serbs, 6150 Albanians
* Đakovica: majority of Albanians, surrounding villages Serbian
Map published by French ethnographer G. Lejean[5] in 1861 shows that Albanians lived on around 57% of the territory of today's province while a similar map, published by British travellers G. M. Mackenzie and A. P. Irby[6] in 1867 shows slightly less; these maps don't show which population was larger overall.
A study done in 1871 by Austrian colonel Peter Kukulj[7] for the internal use of the Austro-Hungarian army showed that the mutesarifluk of Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo and Metohija) had some 500,000 inhabitants, of which:
* 318.000 Serbs (64%),
* 161.000 Albanians (32%),
* 10.000 Roma (Gypsies) and Circassians,
* 2.000 Turks
Miloš S. Milojević travelled the region in 1871-1877 and left accounts which testify that Serbs were majority population, and were predominant in all cities, while Albanians were minority and lived mostly in villages[8]. According to his data, Albanians were majority population in southern Drenica (Muslim Albanians), and in region around Djakovica (Catholic Albanians), while the city was majorly Serbian. He also recorded several settlements of Turks, Roma and Circassians.
It is estimated that some 400,000[9] Serbs were cleansed out of the Vilayet of Kosovo between 1876 and 1912, especially during the Greek-Turkish war of 1897.
Maps published by German historian Kiepert[10] in 1876, J. Hahn[11] and Austrian consul K. Sax[12], show that Albanians live on most of the territory of today's province, however they don't show which population is larger. According to these, the regions of Kosovska Mitrovica and Kosovo Polje were settled mostly by Serbs, whereas most of the terrirory of western and eastern parts of today's province was settled by Muslim Albanians.
An Austrian statistics[13] published in 1899 estimated:
* 182,650 Albanians (47.88%)
* 166,700 Serbs (43.70%)
* Remaining 8.42% Tsintsars, Turks, Circassians, Roma and Jews
[edit]
20th century
British journalist H. Brailsford estimated[14] that two-thirds of the population of Kosovo was Albanian and one-third Serbian. The most populous western districts of Djakovica and Pec were said to have between 20,000 and 25,000 Albanian households, as against some 5,000 Serbian ones. Map of Alfred Stead[15], published in 1909, shows that similar numbers of Serbs and Albanians were living in the territory.
German scholar Gustav Weigand gave the following statistical data about the population of Kosovo in Ethnography of Macedonia (1924, written 1919), based on the pre-war situation in Kosovo in 1912:
* Pristina District: 67% Albanians, 30% Serbs
* Prizren District: 63% Albanians, 36% Serbs
* Vucitrn District: 90% Albanians, 10% Serbs
* Ferizovic (Urosevac) District: 70% Albanians, 30% Serbs
* Gilani (Gnjilane) District: 75% Albanians, 23% Serbs
* Mitrovica District: 40% Albanians, 60% Serbs
Metohija with the town of Djakovica is furthermore defined as almost exclusively Albanian by Weigand.
[edit]
Serbia and Yugoslavia
[edit]
Balkan Wars and World War I-World War II
Retaking of Kosovo by Serbia in 1912 resulting in suppression of the local Albanian population and ethnic cleansning of some regions[16].
* 1921 439,010 total inhabitants[17]
A map of the Serbian census of 1921[18] shows that most of the terrirory was settled by Albanians, with Serbian enclaves around Prizren, Sredska Zupa and Pristina. Religion on the largest part of the territory was Islam with Eastern Orthodox enclaves around Kosovska Mitrovica, Pristina and Gnjilane[19].
* 1931 552,064 total inhabitants[20]
[edit]
World War II-1968
Most of the teritorry of today's province is occupied by Italian-occupied Greater Albania, massacres of some 10,000[21] Serbs, ethnic cleansing of about 80[22]-100,000[23][24] and settling of 100,000[25] of Albanians from Albania.
* 1948: 727,820 total inhabitants[26]; 498,242 Albanians or 68.46%[27]
* 1953: 524,559 Albanians or 65%[28]
* 1961: 646,604 Albanians or 67.1%[29]
[edit]
1968-1989: Autonomy
After the province gained autonomy, local provincial Statistical office given authority over census whereas the rest of the country's census was under the tutelage of the Federal Statistical Commission. Allegations of census rigging (for the 1971 and 1981) by Turk, Muslim and Roma minorities who claim forceful Albanization. Serb claims Albanians drastically overincreased their own numbers. Nothing could be substantiated though because the Kosovo Statistical offices were under exclusive Albanian control which was against the national norm at the time which dicated that census takers had to be of different nationalities (i.e. one Albanian and one Serb not both Albanian as was the case in the two following censa).
1971: 1,243,693 total inhabitants[30]
* 916,168 Albanians or 73.7%[31]
* 259,816 Serbs/Montengrins or 20.9%[32]
* 26,000 Muslims or 2.1%
* 14,593 Roma or 1.2%
* 12,244 Turks or 1.0%
* 8,000 Croats or 0.7%
Albanians take ever-increasing control of Autonomous province with the introduction of the 1974 Constitution of SFRY.
* 1981:
1,584,440 total inhabitants
* 1,226,736 Albanians 77.42%
* 236,525 Serbs/Montenegrins 14.93%[33][34]
[edit]
1989-1999: Centralized Yugoslav Control
Yugoslav Central Government reasserts control over Kosovo in 1989.
Official Yugoslav statistical results, almost all Albanians and some Roma, Muslims boyott the census following a call by Ibrahim Rugova to boycott Serbian institutions. 1991 359,346 Total population
* 214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
* 9,091 Albanians (most boycotted)
* 57,758 (Slavic) Muslims
* 44,307 Roma
* 10,445 Turks
* 8,062 Croats (Janjevci, Letnicani)
* 3,457 Yugoslavs
Official Yugoslav statistical corrections and projections, with the help of previous census results (1948-1981):
1,956,196 Total population[35] (corrected from 359,346)
* 214,555 Orthodox Serbs (194,190 Serbians and 20,365 Montenegrins)
* 1,596,072 or 81,6 % Albanians (corrected from 9,091)
* 66,189 (Slavic) Muslims (corrected from 57,758)
* 45,745 Roma (corrected from 44,307)
* 10,445 Turks
* 8,062 Croats (Janjevci, Letnicani)
* 3,457 Yugoslavs
The corrections should not taken to be fully accurate. The number of Albanians is sometimes regarded as being an underestimate. On the other hand, it is sometimes regarded as an overestimate, being derived from earlier censa which are believed to be overestimates. The Statistical Office of Kosovo states that the quality of the 1991 census is "questionable." [36].
[edit]
1999-present: UN administration
During the Kosovo War in 1999, over 700,000 ethnic Albanians[37] and around 100,000 ethnic Serbs were forced out of the province to neighbouring Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia. After the United Nations took over administration of Kosovo following the war, the vast majority of the Albanian refugees returned.
Many non-Albanians - chiefly Serbs and Roma - fled or were expelled, mostly to the rest of Serbia at the end of the war, with further refugee outflows occurring as the result of sporadic ethnic violence. The number of registered refugees is around 250,000[38][39][40]. The non-Albanian population in Kosovo is now about half of its pre-war total. The largest concentration of Serbs in the province is in the north, but many remain in Kosovo Serb enclaves surrounded by Albanian-populated areas.
Various, mostly Serbian, sources claim that a large number of Albanians (usually stated as being around 200,000) have moved into Kosovo since 1999, due to the complete liberalization of the Kosovo-Albania border. The veracity of this claim is unclear; the Statistical Office of Kosovo states that "there are at present no reliable statistics on migration in Kosovo."
2000 Living Standard Measurement Survey by Statistical Office of Kosovo (rejected by Belgrade[41]). Total population estimated at 1 900 000 est.[42]
* 88% Albanians (1,733,600)
* 7% Serbs (137,900)
* 3% Muslim Slavs (59,100)
* 2% Roma (39,400)
* 1% Turks (19,700)
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates the population at 2.0 to 2.2 million people, extrapolating from voter registration data recorded by the UNMIK Department of Local Administration in 2000. [43]
Some estimates by Albanian demographers estimate a population of 2.4 million Albanians living in Kosovo today. This is regarded by most independent observers as an overestimate as it would imply a total population of some 2.5-2.6 million people in Kosovo, much higher than other estimates.
1. Reported Atrocities, 15 Jan 1999 - 12 June 1999
15-16 Jan 1999 Security forces operation around Racak, near Stimlje; 45 civilians, mainly male, found massacred. Human Rights Watch report that at least 23 were apparently executed and 18 others, including a twelve-year-old boy and 2 women, were also killed.
24 Jan Five Albanian civilians (2 men, a woman and 2 children) killed near Rakovina, Djakovica area. According to an eye witness their tractor was ambushed by the MUP.
29 Jan MUP operation in Rogovo, between Djakovica and Prizren; 1 MUP member, 24 Albanians killed (some UCK members, some probably civilians).
(6-23 Feb Rambouillet talks).
12 Feb Council for Human Rights reports 20 Albanians kidnapped over the previous 2 months in Pec were found executed.
22-23 Feb Security forces carry out operation west of Vucitrn, displacing over 4,000 Albanian villagers.
26 Feb Serb attacks on 3 villages south of Kacanik sends 530 refugees fleeing across border into Macedonia.
2 March Security forces launch operation against UCK west of Kacanik-Djeneral Jankovic road.
5 March UNHCR estimated that there were 2l0,000 people currently displaced within in Kosovo.
9 March Serb forces attack Ivaja, and 5 other villages near Kacanik, displacing some 4,000 ethnic Albanians and burning houses.
10 March UCK Kosovapress report that 27 villages in the region of Vucitrn (north Kosovo) had been under attack for more than two weeks. The villages had been shelled and some 20,000 people driven from their homes.
12 March Serb and Albanian sources reported twelve ethnic Albanians killed and three Serb police officers injured in separate clashes between the UCK and Serb forces near Prizren, Kosovska Mitrovica, Vucitrn and Podujevo.
13 March 3 explosives devices detonated in Mitrovice and Podujevo markets. At least 6 killed and dozens injured. Serb Radio B92 reported that at least 5 people had been killed and 60 wounded in three bomb blasts in the centre of Podujevo and Kosovska Mitrovica (north Kosovo).
16 March Albanian TV reported 7,500 Albanians driven from their homes in the villages of Klina (central Kosovo) by Serb shelling. (Serb forces launch attack on Cicavica ridge in central Kosovo).
17 March FRY news agency Tanjug reported the discovery of the bodies of three ethnic Albanian brothers showing signs of torture. Serb police said that the brothers had reported that the UCK had threatened to kill them if they associated with Serbs.
18 March (Kosovo Albanian delegation signs Rambouillet Accords after talks reconvened in Paris).
20 March (KVM monitors complete their withdrawal from Kosovo). Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA reported that the UCK killed a Serb policeman near Luzani (near Pristina).
20-21 March VJ offensive against UCK strongholds in central Drenica region of Kosovo. Reports in Srbica of the MUP forcing Albanian civilians out of their homes, separating men from women and children and executing up to 20. Muhamet Ahmeti, a member of the Human Rights Watch Committee, was amongst those wounded. He also claimed to have witnessed some of the executions.
22 March 2 separate attacks on Albanian cafes in Pristina. 2 dead, 6 injured. Kosovo Albanian website Radio 21 reports most of Srbica burned to the ground, male residents taken hostage in the ammunition factory and 15,000 people displaced from the central Drenica region.
24 March (NATO bombing starts). FRY news agency Tanjug reported that ethnic Albanians killed two policemen in the village of Ljubodza near Istok (north west Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had set Podujevo (north east Kosovo) on fire.
25 March Refugees reported that more than 60 ethnic Albanian men were executed in Bela Crkva near Orahovac (SW Kosovo), including 20 members of the Popaj family and 25 members of the Zhuniqi family. (Human Rights Watch) Refugees arriving in Albania from the villages of Goden and Zylfaj, near Dobrune on the Kosovo-Albanian border report that their villages had been razed by artillery fire and 20 teachers massacred in front of 96 school children. Refugees reported that the VJ had rounded up 20,000 ethnic Albanian civilians in Qirez.
26 March Prominent Human Rights lawyer, Bayram Kelmendi, and his two sons, found shot dead after being taken away by police in Pristina on the first night of NATO air strikes. US officials produced an aerial photograph showing signs of a mass grave in Velika Krusa. Human rights workers previously alleged that 40 Kosovar males had been killed by Serb forces. Aftermath of alleged massacre in the village of Velika Krusa near Prizren (SW), captured on video tape by survivor Milaim Bellanica. The tape showed the bodies of l5 men lying amid burnt out houses, some shot in the back of the head, others charred beyond recognition. Albanian radio reported that Serb forces had set the entire Podujevo neighbourhood alight and were carrying out massacres of civilian ethnic Albanians. OSCE monitors reported that Serb forces had attacked and burned the villages of Rahovec and Babaj Boks near the Kosovo-Albanian border.
27 March UCK Kosovapress reported that 2 FRY airforce MiGs bombed the village of Berisha. UCK Kosovapress reported that 500 people had been massacred in villages in the Orahovac region. UCK Kosovapress reported that the bodies of 200 massacred Albanians were in the Pristina hospital morgue. The UCK reported that Serb paramilitary gangs may have killed 70 Kosovars in 2 houses in Djakovica. UCK Kosovapress reported that 20 people were burned inside their houses in Djakovica and a further 12 executed in Pec.
28 March UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb "special forces" sealed the routes leading out of Pristina to use the population as human shields against NATO airstrikes. Anyone attempting to leave the town was either maltreated or killed. UCK Kosovapress reported that 30,000 Kosovars had been forcibly expelled from Pec (west Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported that the Serbs had massacred 53 people at Bellaja Bridge (between Bellacerk, Celina and Rugova). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had displaced thousands of people in the Klina-Srbica-Glogovac triangle (central Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb military police were issuing ultimata to people in villages of western Kosovo to leave their homes. Chairman of the Human Rights watch Committee in Kosovoska Mitrovica, Hari Drani, says on Albanian TV that Serb forces had forced over 70,000 people from their homes in Mitrovice (north Kosovo) and that they were staying in the open on Mt Smiq.
29 March Refugees report that Serb forces ethnically cleansing Pec. UCK Kosovapress reported terror and massacre in Djakovica (south west Kosovo).
30 March UNSG issues statement expressing "profound outrage" at reports of ethnic cleansing conducted by Serbian militry and paramilitary forces. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces were rounding up Albanian men in Pristina stadium. Serb forces reported to be shelling the Paragusa valley (south Kosovo) where thousands of displaced ethnic Albanians had fled for safety.
31 March UNHCR estimates numbers of Kosovo refugees at 90,000 in Albania, 42,000 in Montenegro and over 30,500 in Macedonia as well as some 260,000 internally displaced within Kosovo. Serbs destroying repositories containing Kosovo Albanian legal documents (birth certificates, etc) to make return of refugees more difficult. UCK Kosovapress reported that 100 people had been killed in Djakovica. UCK Kosovapress reported that 22 people had been murdered by Serbs and buried in a mass grave in the village of Kotlink.
1 April UCK Kosovapress reported the discovery of massacres in southwest Kosovo including the villages of Pastasel (82), Burim (38), Kaznik (7) and Polluzhe (10). Albanian TV reported that Serb paramilitary forces had burnt alive a number of (named) disabled ethnic Albanians in their homes in the vilages of Sec and Lubove from the Istok area in western Kosovo.
1-4 April According to refugees Serb security forces killed at least 47 men in a violent depopulation campaign in Djakovica. (Human Rights Watch)
2 April UCK Kosovapress reported a massacre of over 150 Albanian civilians, including children, women and old people, in the village of Izbice in Drenice (central Kosovo). Albanian TV reported that Serb paramilitary forces had executed more than l00 men in Lubenish (west Kosovo near Pec) before burning homes in the area. Albanian TV reported that over 100,000 people in the Drenica region (central Kosovo) were now homeless and hiding in the mountains without food or shelter.
3 April Chairman of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Kosovska Mitrovica, Halit Berani, reported that from 24 March onwards Serb police, together with Serb civilians and gypsies, had killed over 100 Albanians in Mitrovica, burnt more than 300 Albanian shops and houses and displaced some 70,000 Albanians from their homes by force. Albanian TV reports that the town of Malisevo in central Kosovo and surrounding villages had been razed to the ground by Serb forces and 75 percent of the Albanian inhabitants forced to flee to Albania. Italian journalist Antonio Russo reported that he had witnessed executions in Pristina over the previous week as Serb forces went about looting, burning and forcing Albanians from their homes.
4 April UCK Kosovapress reported that 35 people had been executed in the village of Sopi (near Suva Reka).
5 April Refugee Hasim Berisha arriving in Albania reported that Serb forces had killed about 40 men in Suva Reka (south west Kosovo) and buried them in 2 mass graves.
6 April BBC Monitoring reported an (unconfirmed) eye witness account by villagers in the Prizren area (SW) of a mass grave dug under militia supervision into which tractors tipped dead bodies. A member of ICTY investigating team in Kukes, Albania reported that there had been so many credible reports of rape that the team was convinced that it was part of a systemtic campaign of sexual abuse by the Serb forces. (6-11 April Milosevic offers unilateral ceasefire over Orthodox Easter).
7 April Albanian TV reported continued fierce fighting in northern and central parts of Kosovo. UCK Kosovapress reported that the UCK had discovered 51 bodies, including men, women and 5 children, in the village of Celin (SW of Orahovac). UCK Kosovapress reported that over 250,000 displaced people in north east Kosovo in serious condition.
8 April Albanian TV reported that Serb forces continued shelling villages in the Pec area.
9 April A Pentagon spokesman reported that Kosovar women were being systematically raped at a VJ training camp near Djakovica (south west Kosovo) and that as many as 20 women may have died as a result. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had killed l5 members of the same family near Istok (north west Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had massacred 45 people in Kacanik (south Kosovo).
l0 April Pentagon officials report possible evidence from satellite images of three mass graves containing up to 200 bodies each at Malakrusa (south Kosovo), Podujevo (north) and Pastasel.
11 April NATO issued an aerial photograph showing what appeared to be a mass grave at Pusto Selo near Orahovac (SW Kosovo).
12 April UCK Kosovapress reported the discovery of 21 bodies in villages near Malisevo (west of Pristina).
13 April Serbian army deserter said that he was ordered to shoot 25 Kosovar women, children and pensioners.
14 April Refugees reported that Serb helicopters had attacked a group of refugees near Prizren killing 40 of them. Refugees reported that Serb forces had killed 47 men in Djakovica (south west Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported "massive killing" of over 1,000 people in the Srbica area (north west Kosovo).
15 April Albania's Chief Prosecutor, Albert Rakipi, said that his office was detailing acts of rape, murder and violence and that those interviewed claimed evidence of massacres at Raak, Goden, Orahovac, Djakovica, Kosovska Kamenica amongst other places. UCK Kosovapress reported a massacre of 31 people at Lipljan in central Kosovo. Albanian TV reported the discovery of a mass grave containing 70 bodies in the village of Rrezall and strong suspicions of mass graves in Polas near Srbica and Prekaz.
16 April Refugees claim Serb troops using young Albanian men as "slave labour" digging trenches and to provide blood for wounded Serb troops. One labour camp said to have been set up in a sports centre at Prizren. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had set fire to villages around Lipljan (south of Pristina).
18 April The UCK reported that Serb forces had shelled a group of refugees on the high ground between Lapusnik and Orlate (west of Pristina). Of the estimated l0,000 refugees 100 were said to have been killed. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had launched an attack on 40,000 refugees in Berishk mountains in Kosovo from positions in Tkrepezk and Krizharekk. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb police and paramilitary units had killed 40 people in 8 villages in Lipljan area (south of Pristina). Albanian TV reported that Serb forces had killed dozens of people in the village of Sopinj (south west Kosovo) and buried them in mass graves. There were reports of similar occurrences in neighbouring villages.
19 April The UCK reported that Serb forces had burnt 8 villages near Istok (north west Kosovo). The villages are Novosellk, Jabllanick e Vogkl, Jabllanick e Madhe, Kaligan, Studenick, Vrellk and Prigodk.
20 April Refugees reported that 6 Kosovo refugees, including a 70 year old woman and a 13 year old boy, were killed on the Kosovo-Montenegro border near Rozaje by unidentified uniformed forces.
22 April Albanian TV reported the massacre of 64 Albanians at Poklek, near Glogovac on 18-19 April.
24 April UCK Kosovapress reported that the UCK had found 15 bodies, including that of a young boy, in the Shale area (north Kosovo south of Vucitrn). UCK Kosovapress reported that up to 6 people were executed in the Gnjilane area. A separate report suggested that Serb forces had seized 6 young Albanian women in the village of Katundi Vjekr (Urosevac area). It also reported that 20 other women had been raped in the village of Mirash.
25 April Albanian TV reported the discovery by the UCK of 7l bodies in the villages of Sfecel, Rimanishte, Dyze and Koliq (in north east Kosovo). The UCK claimed to have evidence of 3 massacres in Poklek (61), Koliq (51) and Izbica (l60 plus) (Srbica area).
26 April Refugees arriving in Albania told UNHCR that a group of women and young children were being held as human shields in Prizren (south Kosovo). Refugees reported that over 100 people had been killed in the village of Slavina.
27 April 300 Kosovo Albanian women refugees arriving in Albania reported having been imprisoned for three days by Serb soldiers in a rape camp near Dragocin, near Suva Reka. On the basis of refugee reports UNHCR said that it was sure that a massacre had taken place. Between 100 and 200 men evicted from their homes in Djakovica were reported to have been taken from a refugee convoy near the village of Meja (SW Kosovo) and shot.
28 April Refugees reported that Serb forces were ethnically cleansing the Presevo area (outside Kosovo itself in Serbia).
30 April UNHCR said that judging by the numbers of refugees entering Albania they believed that the "final cleansing" of Prizren (south Kosovo) was underway.
1 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had attacked the villages of Verboc and Shtutice in the municipality of Gllogoc (south of Pristina) forcibly displacing 7,000 civilians and possibly killing over 100 people. A refugee in the Stankovic refugee camp in Macedonia claimed that the Serbs had sliced off his ear four days previously. He sported a large dressing on his head where his ear used to be.
2 May Refugees reported that several thousand people had been herded into a field in the village of Smrekonice near Vucitrn (north Kosovo). Over 100 young men taken away to prison had not been seen since. Albanian TV reported that Serb forces had burned the village of Nadergjan (western Kosovo) killing 12 civilians, mainly old men and women. Albanian TV reported that Serb police had expelled the inhabitants of the village of Zest (unknown) and buried 70 bodies in the village graveyard. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had burnt and looted the villages of Dubove and Nabrgjan in the commune of Pec (western Kosovo) killing 12 civilians from Nabrgjan. Albanian TV reported that Serb Chetniks had attacked the village of Morine in the Srbica region (north west of Pristina) killing 19 elderly men.
3 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had killed more than 100 refugees and used a tractor to bury the corpses in a mass grave in Studime te Poshteme in the municipality of Vushtri (north west of Pristina). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had ordered the opening of a mass grave of people killed in Hallaq te Vogel in Lipljan region (south of Pristina). Their families were forced to come and identify the bodies and to bury them again separately.
4 May Refugees reported that 100 men were dragged from their refugee convoy and shot dead between the villages of Upper and Lower Studime, near Vucitrn (north Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported the names of 15 people from the village of Kllodernice (central Drenica region) who had been executed, along with many others from other villages in the region, by Serb Chetniks. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb Chetniks, together with Serb civilians and gypsies, had burned over 950 houses in the Mitrovice region (north Kosovo). Albanian TV reported that Serb Chetniks had shot 150 men and women in the villages of Vergoc, Qirez, Shtukiz, and Gllanaselle (central Drenica region). Another 30 people were reported to have been forced to undress and were then subjected to acts of unprecedented violence and brutality before being taken to a place called Shavarina and shot.
5 May Albanian TV reported the discovery of several mass graves in the village of Jashanice in Kline (6 bodies) and in the villages of Buroje (4 bodies), Turiqec (2 bodies), Llaushe (5 bodies), Kopiliq i Eperm (16 bodies) and Rezalle in Srbica (100 bodies). Most of the victims were young people. Albanian TV reported that Serb forces had expelled civilians sheltering in Gllogovc (central Kosovo). UCK Kosovapress reported that the bodies of 5 civilians had been found and identified in the village of Popova (north east Kosovo).
9 May Relatives confirm death of Fehmi Agani, senior LDK member and member of Kosovo Albanian negotiating team at Rambouillet. Reportedly taken from a train trying to flee to Macedonia and shot by Serb police on 7 May.
10 May UCK Kosovapress reported the discovery of 25 bodies of men, women and children in Carralluk in the Malisevo municipality (south west Kosovo). The bodies had been burned. 36 more bodies were reported found in other villages in the area. UCK Kosovapress reported that 12 civilians, including women and children, had been executed in Orahovac (south west Kosovo).
11 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces were shelling 70,000 civilians on Mt Topilla (south of Kosovo). Albanian TV reported that mass graves had been discovered in the villages of Kline e Eperme and Klina e Mesme (central Kosovo) with 7 bodies and 5 bodies respectively. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb police took a 60 year old man from the village of Budakova in the Suva Reka region (south west Kosovo), put him on a hay stack and set fire to him. His family was forced to watch as he burned to death. A 55 year old man from the same village was burned to death in his home tied to his stove. Burning oil was poured on another two men.
13 May UCK Kosovapress reported that in south Kosovo Serb forces had executed 3 civilians from the village of Jeserci and detained 50-60 young men in a primary school at Shtime. 7 more (named) men from neighbouring villages, mostly elderly and disabled, were also reported to have been executed. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb police killed 35 civilians from the villages of Vraniq and Magiteve in the Suva Reka region (south west Kosovo). One man had had his eyes gouged out while still alive and salt poured in his wounds. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb police executed some 30 civilians, many of them elderly, sick and paralysed in the village of Reke te Keqe in the Suva Reka region (south west Kosovo). The Serbs claimed that NATO cluster bombs killed about 100 ethnic Albanians in the village of Korisa near Prizren. A Kosovo 'eyewitness' subsequently claimed that Serb forces were holding villagers in Korisa as human shields.
14 May UCK Kosovapress reported that four bodies and evidence of a mass grave had been found in the village of Meje near Djakovica (south west Kosovo). Another body, showing signs of having been electrocuted, was found in the village of Dobrush. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had killed 27 men at Radafc (north of Pec) on the road from Rozaje. The bodies were buried using a bulldozer. Some of the victims were not yet dead.
15 May Albanian TV reported that Serb forces had executed 12 boys aged between 12 and 16 in Izbice near Srbica (north west of Pristina) in retaliation for the death of a Serb soldier killed during fighting. 3 women were also reported killed at Zabelet in Kline e Poshteme.
16 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces in Gllogoc (south of Pristina) had exhumed the bodies of 50 civilians, who had been executed and buried in a mass grave near the factory of Ferronikeli, transported them towards Old Cikatova and buried them separately.
17 May Refugees reported that a group of about 100 men were rounded up by Serb soldiers as they attempted to leave Montenegro for Albania on 15 May. They were transported across the country into Serbia before being released on 17 May. The men, aged between 15 and 55, allege that while being held by the Serbs they were beaten, robbed and in some cases forced to strip naked and perform oral sex on each other.
18 May Albanian news agency ATA reported that Serb forces were burning and looting houses in south east Kosovo. One civilian was reported killed in the Kamenice region and three in Hogosht and Kopernice. David Scheiffer, the US State Department Ambassador at large for war crimes, claimed that at least 5,000 people, and probably many more, had been killed in mass executions in 75 villages in Kosovo. About 225,000 men in Kosovo between the ages of 14 and 59 were unaccounted for.
19 May Albanian TV reported the murder of a number of civilians by Serb forces in the Drenica region (central Kosovo) including two women and two girls aged 15 and 11 in the village of Tic, three people in Rezala (south of Srbica) and two boys aged 11 and 9 in Ovcarevo (north east of Klina).
20 May Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug reported that Kosovo Albanian terrorists had shot dead a 51 year old man outside his house in the village of Dubovo in Istok municipality (north west Kosovo) and cut off his left ear. UCK Kosovapress reported that there was evidence of Serb civilians participating in the murder and looting of Kosovo Albanian neighbours' property. In the Tusus quarter of Prizren a man and his nephew were killed in their garden by armed Serb civilians. UCK Kosovapress reported that the number of people killed at Verboc (on 30 April) was now thought to exceed 200. 152 bodies had been identified and buried, 22 of whom were children aged between 12 and 17. 5 bodies including 3 children were found in a well.
23 May UCK Kosovapress reported that 12 dead civilians, including women and children, and 7 injured had been found near the village of Stagova. They had apparently been killed by retreating Serb forces in revenge for losses incurred in battle.
23-25 May Some 2,000 Kosovo Albanian men from the Kosovska Mitrovica region allowed to cross into Albania had been held captive by the Serbs for three weeks in squalid conditions. Some showed signs of moderate malnutrition. Some reported having been beaten.
24 May UCK Kosovapress reported an eye witness survivor's account of a massacre committed by Serb paramilitary forces in the village of Shtutice (central Drenica region). About 200 people from Shtutice, Daheci, Verboci, Qirez and other villages were taken to the mosque in Shtutice where they were beaten and tortured. People had their eyes gouged out, heads split open and limbs sawed off. They were then taken by truck to the Ferronikeli factory (see entry for 16 May), pushed towards large ditches and shot. Head of UN humanitarian mission Sergio Vieira de Mello said after his three day visit to Kosovo that the situation was worse than expected with clear evidence of widespread ethnic cleansing by Serb forces. He described the situation as revolting.
25 May UN Population Fund report, based on interviews with refugees, concluded that Serb forces were committing widespread rape. Villages in the area of Djakovica, Pec and Prizren were often indicated as places where kidnapping and collective rapes took place. Refugees reported that any resistance was met with threats of being burned alive. Kosovo Albanian men who tried to intervene were killed on the spot. Women reported that in Berlenitz masked soldiers had slit the throats of young boys and then cut open the stomachs of pregnant women, skewering their foetuses on sharpened knives. UCK Kosovapress reported a refugee who claimed to have witnessed two weeks earlier in Regani near Suva Reka (south Kosovo) Serb police using bulldozers to open a grave in which 30 bodies were buried.
26 May A refugee arriving in Albania reported that Serb forces arriving in the Tusus district of Prizren (south Kosovo) burned houses leaving the old and disabled inside and executed 22 members of her family including her husband, 2 sons-in-law and 2 nephews. UCK Kosovapress reported the discovery of bodies in a number of homes in the village of Vushtrrise near Vucitrn (north Kosovo). A writer for the 'Koha Ditore' daily newspaper arriving in Albania, who had been released from the Smrekonica concentration camp, reported that the Serbs were torturing their victims in the camp. UCK Kosovapress reported the murder of 5 civilians following a Serb offensive at Begiq in the central Drenica region. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces in the region of Kacanik (south Kosovo) kidnapped 20 civilians killing 6 of them and injuring 2 in retaliation for the deaths of 20 Serbs killed in fighting. Those kidnapped included women, children and the elderly. UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb soldiers were unearthing mass graves in Rezalle (see entry for 5 May) and forcing captives to dig individual graves and rebury the dead.
27 May International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) listed more than 340 ethnic Albanians whose killings form the core of the evidence in an indictment against President Milosevic and four of his closest senior colleagues. The list included the shooting of 19 women including a 2 year old girl by Serb police during the mass expulsion of ethnic Albanians from their homes in Djakovica on 2 April. Most of them were gunned down in a single house Milos Gilic Street, which was then torched. The oldest of the named victims was 95 years old and was executed in the massacre in the village of Izbica on 25 March (see entry for 25 April and copy of indictment attached). UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces set fire to 450 houses and killed over 20 civilians in the Tusus district of Prizren (south Kosovo) in retaliation for the death of 21 Serbs killed in fighting. One woman had petrol poured over her and was set on fire. UCK Kosovapress reported that in the Stimlje, Ferizaj and Shterpce region (south Kosovo), Serb forces had used the 'Panvera beer hall' located behind the ex-prison of Ferizaj as a place of torture for some of the 3,000 civilians held there.
28 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had attacked the villages of Gikatove e Re and Shtrubullove in the Glogovac region (central Kosovo) beating people with wooden clubs and steel poles and taking 350-400 people hostage in a concentration camp set up at a dairy farm in Kroikove. They killed a young man by firing flame throwers at him. His father similarly received serious wounds. A young woman was also killed.
29 May Swiss-based Kosovo Albanian daily newspaper 'Koha Ditore' reported claims by a driver from Vojvodina that since the beginning of February and on a regular basis he had personally transported the bodies of Kosovo civilians and VJ soldiers in a military refrigerated van to a foundry at an undisclosed location in Serbia. On arrival the bodies were cremated. He fled FRY 3 days before NATO bombing started. He said that he would be willing to testify to the International Court in the Hague. (Kosovo Albanians in Pristina and Urosevac reported that Serb forces were registering the remaining Kosovo Albanians in these towns and issuing them new green cards. Those found not to be normally resident were forcibly evicted).
30 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb police had shelled a convoy of IDPs attempting to escape the Shala region near Vucitrn (north Kosovo). The attacks resulted in more than 100 dead.
31 May UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces opened fire on a column of civilians near the Smerkovnica concentration camp. There were no details of numbers killed and injured.
2 June A representative of the World Food Programme told Reuters that 51 males released from Lipjan prison and interviewed in Macedonia were undernourished and had been cruelly treated. One had been beaten to the point of unconsciousness revived with water and beaten again. They reported that other prisoners had broken limbs.
3 June UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had reopened mass graves of civilians killed on 28 March and 11 May in the village of Izbice near Srbica, loaded the bodies onto trucks and taken them away in the direction of Klina. (See entries for 2 April and 15 May). (Milosevic, Serb parliament (136 votes for, 74 against, 3 abstentions) and FRY government accept 'Chernomyrdin/Ahtisaari document').
4 June Human Rights group 'Association for People in Danger' based in Goettingen in Germany estimates at least 30,000 Kosovo Albanians killed though says that the number could be many more. Reports that 650 villages destroyed, old historical sites such as Pec and Djakovica destroyed and most Catholic churches burned down.
5 June UCK Kosovapress reported that Serb forces had attacked villages in the Malisevo region (south west of Pristina) killing 3 civilians in the village of Senik.
6 June Various Kosovo Albanian sources reported that the Serbs have been disposing of the evidence of atrocities in Kosovo by burning bodies at the Trepca mine. FRY state newsagency Tanjug reported that in Rudnik near Kosovska Mitrovica (north Kosovo) the UCK killed a Serb trade union official from Krusevac (central Serbia) taking humanitarian aid to Kosovo.
7 June Swiss-based Kosovo Albanian daily newspaper 'Koha Ditore' reported an eyewitness account of Serb forces torching houses, including his own, in the Srbica area (north west of Pristina) at the start of the conflict. He also saw an excavator digging a hole in the new cemetery in the village of Obiliq and a tractor and horse and cart unloading 30 corpses into it.
8 June Albanian TV reported receipt of a letter from a Pristina based family which claimed that on 9 May Serb Chetniks had shot a 75 year old woman and her 55 year old daughter for refusing to leave their home.
9 June A refugee arriving in Macedonia reported that Serb forces had attacked the villages of Vranic and Bukoc a week earlier. He witnessed them filling a house with women and children and throwing in a grenade. FRY state newsagany Tanjug reported that on 7 June Albanian terrorists had killed three civilians in the village of Trgovac in the Orahovac region (south west Kosovo).
10 June Pentagon releases aerial images which spokesman said provided first firm evidence that the Serbs had been trying to conceal evidence of atrocities. The images appear to show that the Serbs forces had dug up the bodies of massacre victims at Izbice. (See entry for 3 June). Kosovo Albanian website Radio 21 reported that on 9 June Serb police had gathered a large number of Kosovo Albanians in the village of Zhabar in the Mitrovica region (north Kosovo) and killed 7 men. (NATO Secretary General Solana announces the suspension of NATO's air operations against Yugoslavia). (FRY starts withdrawal of forces from Kosovo). (UNSCR 1244 on Kosovo adopted).
12 June Kosovo Albanian website Radio 21 reported that Serb forces were still burning villages in western Kosovo (Junik, Baba i Bokes, Korenice, Nec, Ponoshec and Nivokaz). In Djakovica Serb paramilitaries were reported to be demanding money in return for the release of Albanian hostages. They are reported to be holding some 1,000 hostages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Reported Atrocities, 10 June 1999 - 20 June 1999
Notes:
Unless otherwise stated, the dates column refers to the day the incident was first reported in the press.
Newspaper titles are in bold italic type.
Place names are in underlined bold type.
The assumption is that each incident was an atrocity committed by Serbian forces against the Kosovar Albanians. However, where an atrocity has been committed by the UCK/KLA, or otherwise affecting Serb lives or property, details are given in italic type.
The table probably features elements of repetition, in part because of different spellings used, and variations in the degree of precision employed, by the different sources to record the place and time of the incidents being reported.
A glossary of the acronyms used is provided below.
Reportage of the events reported below does not mean that they have all been confirmed officially; the International War Crimes Tribunal is currently investigating.
SERIAL DATE
INCIDENT
SOURCE
METHOD
1 10 Jun 1999 Junik, Ramok, Mulliq, and other villages in the Reka e Keqe area, close to the Albanian border reportedly burnt by Serb forces. (Source: DIS atrocity list, 24 Mar 99 - 15 Jun 1999 .) UCK Kosovapres BBC
2 11 Jun 1999 Evening Standard reports Serb shelling of villages inside Albania on 10 Jun 1999. Press Report
3 12 Jun 1999 The bodies of 8 ethnic Albanians apparently killed in April reportedly found (7 near Sheremet village and 1 near Dobrush village. Retreating Serb forces said to be burning houses across Western Kosovo and also to be holding 1,000 abducted ethnic Albanians in Djakovica. (Source: DIS atrocity list, 24 Mar 1999 - 15 Jun 1999.) Radio Station 21 (Kosovo Albanian radio) BBC
4 12 Jun 1999 Reports of Serb forces, destroying evidence of atrocities and looting and burning houses as they retreated. The Independent reported Serb homes in villages on the Pristina - Merdare road also burning. Press reports.
5 13 Jun 1999 Sunday Times reports of 99 graves found in Kastranic, southern Kosovo. Surviving villagers had hid in the surrounding hills for several weeks. They told KFOR the killings were committed on 9 Apr 1999 by Serb paramilitaries. Press Reports
6 13 Jun 1999 Sunday Times reports of UCK attack on Serbs in Goradzevic, near Pec. Indeterminate number of Serb civilians killed. Serb refugees Press Reports
7 13 Jun 1999 Sunday Times reports of 4 unidentifiable (but suspected Albanian) bodies in Doberdelan. Press Reports
8 13 Jun 1999 Sunday Telegraph reports a mass grave at Kacanik, said to have contained the bodies of 28 Albanian men aged between 18 and 35. Local villagers claimed the bodies had been exhumed and dumped in a well in an attempt to conceal the evidence. (Note: later reports (e.g. The Guardian, of 17 Jun 1999) report 200-300 killed in a bombardment, 400 more shot dead on 31 Mar 1999 and local claims of a mass grave containing 150 bodies. The Sun of 16 Jun 1999 puts the total number of bodies in the grave at 172.) Independent on Sunday reports Kacanik, a town once of 20,000 (mostly Serb) people, deserted and stripped. Other newspapers report the town abandoned. Daily Mail (of 15 Jun 1999) reports victims included a 3 month old baby and that the murders were carried out by Serb paramilitaries (although The Guardian of 15 Jun 1999 says the Army and Police were also involved) on 8-9 Apr 1999, preceded by an artillery bombardment. Daily Express (of 15 Jun 1999) reports killing was systematic, also that 350 buildings were burnt down. Eye witness reports Press Reports
9 13 Jun 1999 Independent on Sunday reports ethnic cleansing by Serb paramilitaries supported by Army artillery in villages near Podvujevo. Also of a massacre witnessed by an Albanian women of 6 men and 1 women (she also knew of 10 other dead and rumours of others) that was carried out by Serb paramilitaries in Pishino Selo (near the Montenegrin border). Goes on to report of tensions in Pristina with Serb paramilitaries engaging in violent extortion almost up to the moment they withdrew. Eye witness reports (both Serb Army and refugees) Press Reports
10 13 Jun 1999 Sunday Express reports that Serbs fired houses in Urosevac immediately before KFOR troops entered the town. The Times (of 19 Jun 1999) reports there was a massacre or a mass grave here but of unknown extent. Albanian eye witness Press Report
11 13 Jun 1999 Sunday People reports of mass graves in the Drenica region and of murders committed by Serb paramilitaries in Gjakova. (The Guardian of 17 Jun 1999 reports a UCK assertion that 530 people were killed and the bodies used to poison wells.) Press Report
12 14 Jun 1999 5 Serbs kidnapped, presumably by the UCK, in the Pristina suburb of Vranjevac. Serb authorities demanded KFOR rescue them. BBC
13 14 Jun 1999 Financial Times reports Serb army and police plundered Prizren before withdrawing. The Times, The Independent and others report Serbs taking "last minute vengeance" on Albanians before leaving with buildings, including the Xhamia Ellapit mosque and an Islamic Centre in Pristina set ablaze. (The Daily Mail reports Serbs abandoning the city had first set fire to their own homes.) Several reports of brutal treatment of ethic Albanians living in Pristina, and a comparison of the requirement for Albanians to carry special papers to those of Nazi Germany in respect of the Jews. 5 Serb policemen in Pristina are said to have been killed by the UCK. Press Reports
14 14 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports from Drenica valley - devastated by the Serbs with 100s, perhaps 1,000s, of young men missing and feared killed by the Serbs. Quoted 13 men murdered in Trstenik. Most houses are destroyed and the survivors are in a state of abject poverty. Albanians from Glogovac allegedly used as "human shields" during the air campaign. Eye witness accounts Press Reports
15 14 Jun 1999 The Independent reports KFOR found partially destroyed identity papers for 1,000s of ethnic Albanians. Press Reports
16 14 Jun 1999 The Telegraph reports the graves of 26 people found in Mali Ribar, killed by Serb paramilitaries on 18 Apr 1999. Other villagers fled and their homes set on fire. At least 1 child murdered (a 14 year old boy) and a 73 year old man. Both (and 8 other others) were from the same family. Additionally, 50 men were detained on Apr 19 1999 in the nearby village of Hallaq. 20 were murdered because they could not pay for their release. Originally buried in a mass grave, the bodies were reburied in individual graves. The buildings in the village were set on fire. International Herald Tribune (of 15 Jun 1999) contains similar reports and also that in Hallaq the bodies were burnt before burial. Eye witness Accounts Press Reports
17 14 Jun 1999 Daily Express reports UCK allegedly fired on miners at a coal mine in Belacevac and kidnapped 4 Serbs. Press Report
18 14 Jun 1999 Daily Mirror reports 4 Albanian farm workers wounded "months ago" by "armed Serbs" in Breguizi. Press Report
19 15 Jun 1999 Daily Mail reports refugees massacred by Serbs using grenades and machine guns while crossing a bridge in the village of Proni Rakocit. Daily Telegraph reports 35 were killed and some houses destroyed. Those responsible were a mixture of Army, MUP and paramilitaries. Eye witness Account Press Report
20 15 Jun 1999 Daily Mail reports 19 members of 1 family murdered in Gjakova in early Apr 1999 but that large scale killing of the city’s Albanian residents began on 24 Mar 1999. The Old Town had been deliberately destroyed. The Mirror (of 16 Jun 1999) reports 7 bodies found in the open at Gjakova from where a 1,000 men are reportedly missing out of 3,000 Albanians expelled from their homes. Eye witness Account Press Report
21 15 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports evidence of a massacre (bloodstains etc) in Stutice in the Drenica area. Graves of 43 former inhabitants (dug by the UCK) reported and a further 32 men (out of total village population of 1,000) are missing. Most of the dead were killed by the Serb reservist troops from 30 Apr 1999 who were supported by armour and artillery. Eye witness Account Press Report
22 15 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports 3 Serbs killed by the UCK on the Koilovac - Pristina road as they tried to leave Kosovo on 14 Jun 1999. The Mirror reports the Serbs arrested 200 young men of Pristina in May, beat them up and took them away. Their whereabouts are unknown. Press Report
23 15 Jun 1999 Daily Express reports that in Prizren withdrawing Serb forces committed murders, raped women and burned houses as they left but also that the UCK was itself beating Serbs and setting fire to their properties. Press Report
24 15 Jun 1999 Daily Express reports that 18,500 people living in the remains of Glogovac but that almost all the men aged between 15 and 50 were missing. The Times reports the Serbs arrested 200 men in the previous month, whose fate is unknown. Also that Serbian forces had been "maltreated young girls and women" (quote from an elderly woman who saw it) and children had died from malnutrition. 37 graves are said to be those of people who died of exhaustion and malnutrition. The Mirror reports 20,000 refugees are sheltering in the surrounding woods (it is unclear whether these are same people other newspapers report as sheltering in the town). Press Report
25 15 Jun 1999 The Guardian publishes excerpts of a diary kept by an Albanian couple living in Prizren. States that Serb police began shooting on 24 Mar 1999. Living conditions and food supplies deteriorate steadily. By 2 May 1999 Serbs are killing and seizing people in the streets. Eye witness Account Press Report
26 15 Jun 1999 The Independent reports the hamlets of Stagova, Rumjev and Kotlina are almost entirely destroyed and depopulated. These hamlets are in the region of Kacanik and the paper links them with the massacre there. The Daily Star however reports that 27 people aged between 15 and 62 were killed by beatings and with grenades in Kotlina. Press Report
27 15 Jun 1999 The Mirror reports a "makeshift graveyard" containing 65 bodies in Koleic, 5 from one family. The murders were carried out on 19 Apr 1999 by Serb paramilitaries. The village itself has been destroyed. Press Report
28 15 Jun 1999 Reports of graves of 20 Albanians in Hallac and of a further 26 in Ribar (possibly the same place as Mali Ribar).
29 16 Jun 1999 Daily Mail reports 2 mass graves found in Belacrka, 39 bodies in 1 and 24 bodies in the other (i.e. 63 in total). Victims included a 2 year old child. The report implies there may have been more killed - the murders were carried out along the banks of the river Ura Belajes and bodies fell in the water.) The massacre was the work of "Serb militiamen" and was carried out on 25 Mar 99. Press Report
30 16 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports inter-ethnic killings and mutilations in Pristina as the Serbs complete their withdrawal. 4 Albanians reported killed (after a fight between Serb and Albanian children) escalated. Another Albanian was left dying at a KFOR checkpoint after being shot elsewhere. Financial Times and The Guardian report KFOR arrested 5 UCK men who had abducted a Serb in Pristina and that across Kosovo the UCK had kidnapped 30 Serbs. Eye witness reports. Press Report
31 16 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports that in Velika Krusa, in south -western Kosovo, KFOR found 20 shot and burnt bodies, presumed to be the victims of the Serbs. (Daily Express reports these people may have been alive when the building they were found in was set alight but most newspapers think not.) The Guardian reports at least 40 bodies found in the village, 20 in the house, including those of 11 children. Massacre reported to have taken place on 24-26 Mar 99.The Star and The Sun report the massacre to be the work of Arkhan’s Tigers, possibly under his personal supervision (he denies both charges), but supported by Serb Army tanks. One Albanian said to have been killed by having his heart cut out. The Independent of 17 Jun 1999 puts the total number of dead as 105 men and boys killed in Velika Krusa and Mali Krusa combined. Eye witness reports. Press Report
32 16 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph reports that in Djakovica the Serbs razed the centre of the city just after the air campaign started. Serb paramilitary and police units controlled by the mayor (an Orthodox priest in a city with a population that was 97% Albanian) engaged in large scale killings and beatings, including patients in the local hospital. 100 unidentified bodies in the local cemetery and mass graves said to contain 100s more. The Independent (of 17 June 99) reports that Serb forces did most of the killing on 10 May 1999 - the blood stains are still visible outside a Roman Catholic church. Some of the victims were burnt alive. 20, however, 19 of whom were women and children were murdered in the Querim area of the town on 2 Apr 1999. Eye witness reports. Press Report
33 16 Jun 1999 Daily Express reports 3 unburied bodies, presumably of Albanians, found at Kecekolla. Close to Koliqi is the remains of a refugee convoy allegedly attacked by the "Serb military" on 19 Apr 1999. 71 killed and 50-odd vehicles destroyed. The Times (of 17 Jun 1999 puts the death toll at 77 (based on local UCK testimony) and that there is extensive other evidence that a massacre took place here. Some of the dead were beheaded.) 13 more Albanians killed on 21 Apr 1999 in Kecekolla. A shallow mass grave discovered by KFOR (on 15 Jun 1999) at Koronica believed to contain 150 bodies (The Independent puts the total at 60 - 70 bodies). Serbian forces still burning houses as they withdraw. In Gnilane 8 children and 2 adults celebrating the Serbs’ departure were wounded by a grenade thrown by a Serb (The Daily Mirror puts the casualties at 10 children and 3 adults). Eye witness reports Press Report
34 16 Jun 1999 Financial Times reports a mass grave holding up to 150 bodies in Makovc. Eye witness reports Press Report
35 16 Jun 1999 The Guardian reports Serbs setting fire to houses in Donje Ljubce. Press Report
36 16 Jun 1999 The Independent reports the UCK shot 2 Serbs, 1 north east of Pristina and 1 in Kacanik. Both led to KFOR arresting UCK fighters. In Grmija Serb paramilitaries killed an Albanian. Press Report
37 16 Jun 1999 The Times reports a mass grave containing perhaps 30 bodies found in Kuasaj. The UCK claim 112 Albanians from the town are missing. Press Report Press Report
38 16 Jun 1999 The Mirror reports a refugee convoy of some 250 people massacred at Meja on 28 Apr 1999 and bodies then burned and piled into 15 foot high stacks. Daily Mail (of 17 Jun 1999) estimates death toll to be between 130 and 250 but notes a report that up to 1,000 men were held in the area. Eye witness reports Press Report
39 16 Jun 1999 The Star and the Evening Standard report a mass grave found at Male Krusa that contains the bodies of 112 murdered Albanian men. Some of the dead were local people, others were refugees. The Star also reports the use of torture (beatings with baseball bats) against Albanians held in a prison camp run by Serb police near Pristina. Eye witness reports
40 16 Jun 1999 The Sun reports 65 bodies were found on 14 Jun 1999 in Koeic. Press Reports
41 16 Jun 1999 Wall Street Journal Europe reports a mass grave 10 metres across found in Grashtica. Bullet cases and abandoned clothes and identity papers were nearby while the local mosque had been vandalized. Press Reports
42 17 Jun 1999 Daily Mail, The Independent and others report KFOR troops in Pristina (UK Parachute Regiment) rescued two Albanian young women from the MUP who intended to rape them. Also reports that on 31 Mar 99 Serb paramilitaries murdered 34 men (including some teenagers) in the village of Burim, returning on 18 Apr 1999 to murder two more (but The Independent (of 18 Jun 1999) puts the death toll at 18, that the massacre took place on 1 Apr 1999 and possibly included victims from the villages of Simetishi, Studengani, and Samadaxhe with most of the victims elderly). Eye witness accounts
43 17 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph features an interview with a Serb paramilitary "soldier". He and his 240 or so colleagues appear to be coarse and ill-educated drunks and drug abusers but well supported by Arkan. He shows little remorse for his actions which include murder, rape, and looting. His group are responsible for perhaps a 1,000 deaths. Eye witness accounts
44 17 Jun 1999 Daily Telegraph and others report Serb Orthodox Bishop Artemije of Prizren driven out of Prizren by an Albanian mob although he is said to favour a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo. Financial Times also reports this, and that the Holy Trinity monastery, Prizren, had been burned down and another monastery abandoned.. Press Reports
45 17 Jun 1999 The Express reports the discovery of up to 100 bodies dumped down 4 wells in a "village near Pristina". Press Reports
46 17 Jun 1999 The Guardian reports on ethnic cleansing in Suva Reka, beginning on 26 Mar 99. Eye witness accounts of children (including infants) murdered. Number of victims put at 100. The town has been extensively damaged by fire. It also reports that sporadic inter-ethic violence continues in Pristina. Press Reports
47 17 Jun 1999 The Guardian publishes a photograph of an alleged mass grave at Bruznik said to contain 60 bodies. Press Report
48 17 Jun 1999 The Guardian reports KFOR (French) found burnt human remains in Vlastion. Up to a 100 bodies, some dumped down wells. The Independent, however, says 13 were killed on 30 Apr 1999 (with more bodies apparently dropped into the wells). Eye witness accounts Press Reports
49 17 Jun 1999 The Guardian reports that an estimated 10,000 Albanians have been killed in up to 130 separate massacres. Serbs have attempted to conceal the evidence. A mass grave containing 80 bodies in Rezalla was emptied 2 weeks previously. NATO has also published photographs suggesting the same happened at Izbica where a mass grave that may have contained up to 150 bodies (The Independent says 130 killed in Izbica) had been spotted but is now disturbed. Features a map listing main massacre sites. First mention of :
Trepca Mine - a makeshift crematorium 700 bodies found;
Ribari Vogel - 26 dead;
Kutlin - 60 killed on 26 Mar 99;
Pec - 5 young men killed on 15 Apr 1999. A further 200 killed on 8 Apr 1999;
Orahovic - Mass grave that could contain some 500 bodies.
Other sites:
Korenica - 150 bodies;
Djakovica - 70 bodies.
Drenica - 530 killed;
Izbica - 43 "mass graves"
Rezalla -100 bodies;
Velika Krusa - Between 20 and 50 bodies;
Vlastion - Up to a 100 bodies;
Ravine North of Pristina - 82 graves.
Press Report
50 17 Jun 1999 The Independent reports the centre of Pec badly damaged by fire and all Albanian property, plus the mosque, destroyed. Also that 3 mass graves discovered by KFOR (Italian) containing perhaps 120 dead. The Times (of 19 Jun 1999) reports at least 500 new graves in the city’s cemetery and that the western suburb of Capesnica was ruined. Press Report
51 17 Jun 1999 The Independent reports "policemen" in Cysk killed 32 local Albanian men and burnt their bodies on 14 May 1999. The Times reports 44 men massacred in Qyshk (probably the same place as Cysk). Eye witness reports Press Report
52 17 Jun 1999 The Independent reports 77 Albanians murdered (including 10 women and children) in Bela Crvka on 25 Mar 99 (but on 18 Apr 1999 the same newspaper puts the death toll at 35, including 7 children and 2 invalids). Press Report
53 The Times reports 2 decapitated bodies and 5 mass graves found in Lukare. The Sun (of 18 Apr 1999) gives additional details such as an infant purposely left by the Serbs to die of exposure and hunger. Press Report
54 17 Jun 1999 The Sun reports the discovery by KFOR (UK) of a Serb Police torture centre in Pristina. Torture implements found (e.g. knuckle-dusters) and rape apparently also used. Accommodation for prisoners was squalid. Locals report 100s of Albanians detained there. Police also said to have sniped at Albanians in the streets for "target practice". All newspapers (of 18 Jun 1999) covered the Pristina torture chamber extensively. Main details are:
The centre belonged to the MUP;
It was windowless and poorly lit cellar;
Implements found in the cellar and the building above it included guns, knives, sharpened knuckle-dusters, batons, baseball bats, vacuum cleaner pipe, sunflower oil, a hacksaw blade, axes, a 2’ long sword, a garrotte, a chainsaw, a hangman’s noose, bloodied field dressings and a bed fitted with restraints;
Estimated that about 500 held there;
The prisoners were held in conditions of extreme squalor and overcrowding;
The anti-nerve gas agent Atropin was injected into victims (including children) to cause convulsions;
The use of rape was commonplace;
Large quantities of violent pornography and drink were found;
Attempts to destroy evidence, notably documentation, had been made.
Eye witness reports Press Report
55 17 Jun 1999 International Herald Tribune reports 13 killed in Vlastica in mid Apr 1999 by soldiers. Killing was systematic and the village was razed utterly. Eye witness reports Press Report
56 17 Jun 1999 International Herald Tribune reports a mass grave in Cikatova containing 80 bodies killed by soldiers on 1 May 1999. Some of the bodies (or those of others?) had been also been burnt in the Feronikel foundry nearby. Also reports of attempts to conceal evidence by moving the bodies. The Telegraph (of 18 Jun 1999) cites the Feronikl smelting works near Glogovac (the same works?) taken over by Serb "special forces". The complex served as a garrison and detention centre while its ovens were used as crematoria with reportedly hundreds of bodies burnt there. Many were killed in the aftermath of air raids on the complex. Victims are said to have come from Cikatova Vjeter (64 dead, some as young as 12), Vrbovac (43 buried in and around the village, and 200 others taken away - they may be buried in a shallow mass grave at Shavarina, near the Feronikl works). Eye witness reports Press Report
57 17 Jun 1999 International Herald Tribune reports 6 killed in Siqeva on 14 May 1999 by Serb paramilitaries. All but 1 were elderly who believed themselves safe. The village was extensively looted (partly by neighbouring Serbs). Eye witness reports Press Report
58 17 Jun 1999 Kosova Crisis Centre Internet site - Chicago Tribune article reports that in Gjkova Serb paramilitaries deliberately sought out and killed Albanian professionals including political leaders, doctors and lawyers.
59 18 Jun 1999 The Telegraph reports that the UCK shot dead a returning teenage Serb refugee in Pec and that in the same city 2 UCK soldiers were also killed. Press Report
60 18 Jun 1999 The Telegraph reports a man was shot in Pristina. He was aided by a BBC film crew and KFOR (UK) troops - his ethnic origins were unknown. Press Report
61 18 Jun 1999 The Express reports that 30 men were killed, probably in May 1999, in the village of Zahac by Serb paramilitaries. They returned on 10 Jun 1999 and killed 4 women and 12 children (including a 1 year old and 3 5 year olds). 3 other children (out of 12) and 2 more women also killed. Total deaths in the village appear to be 51. Extensive additional evidence of the killings (bloodstains etc). Dum-dum bullets (use of which is illegal) allegedly used. Eye witness account Press Report
62 18 Jun 1999 Financial Times reports 20 murdered in Crkolez and a nearby streambed on 27 Mar 99. Press Report
63 18 Jun 1999 The Independent lists 66 massacres details of which HMG released on 17 Jun 1999. :
Sites not mentioned previously are:
Goden and Zylfaj - 20 teachers killed on 25 Mar 99;
Qurez - 20,000 civilians rounded up by the Army on 25 Mar 99;
Podujevo - Area destroyed by fire and Albanians massacred on 26 Mar 99;
Rahovec and Babaj Eoks - villages burnt on 26 Mar 99;
Berisha - Bombed by Yugoslav air force on 27 Mar 99;
Orahovac area - 500 killed in local villages on 27 Mar 99;
Pristina - The bodies of 200 massacred Albanians seen in the
hospital morgue on 27 Mar 99;
Pristina - Albanians detained for use as human shields on 28 Mar
99;
Pec - 30 Albanians expelled on 28 Mar 99;
Bellaja Bridge - 53 Albanians killed by Serbs on 28 Mar 99;
Arllat - Village burnt down on 30 Mar 99;
Kotlink - 22 Albanians killed on 31 Mar 99;
Lybeniq - 35 Albanian men killed and the village burnt on 1 Apr 99;
Pastasei - 70 Albanians rumoured killed on 2 Apr 1999;
Sopi - 35 Albanians killed on 4 Apr 1999;
Celin - 51 bodies (5 of children) found on 7 Apr 1999;
Djakovica - Women systematically raped - 20 said to have died, on 9Apr 1999 (Sunday Times (of 20 Jun 1999) puts death toll at 86);
Istak - 15 members of 1 family rumoured killed on 9 Apr 1999;
Stari Trg - All Albanian houses burnt on 9 Apr 1999;
Prizren - 40 refugees killed by Yugoslav helicopters on 14 Apr 99;
Liplijan - Local villages set on fire on 16 Apr 1999 and 40 people killed on 18 Apr 1999;
Lapuanik - Orlate area - refugee column reportedly shelled on 18 Apr 1999 - 100 dead;
Berishk Mountains - 40,000 refugees apparently attacked on 19 Apr 1999;
Istok - 8 villages burnt on 18 Apr 1999 (Novosclik,
Jabllanick, e Vogki, Jabllanick e Madhe, Kaligan,
Sludenick, Vrellk and Prigodk);
Rozaje - 6 refugees killed (1 was 13 years old) on 20 Apr 1999;
Shale - UCK claim to have found 15 bodies on 24 Apr 1999;
Kalundi Vjekr - UCK report 6 young women seized on 24 Apr 1999;
Mirash -UCK report 20 women raped on 24 Apr 1999;
Slavina - On 26 Apr 1999 refugees claim 100+ killed in this village;
Presevo - Reports of ethnic cleansing on this town in Serbia proper on 28 Apr 1999;
Studime-Vushtri road - refugees report on 4 May 1999 that something between 50 - to several 100 bodies seen on this route. Men of military age subject to summary execution;
Drenica area - On 5 Apr 1999 150 civilians from Vergoc, Quirez, Shtukiz and Glanalieto murdered and 30 more brutally treated before being killed near Shavarina;
Zezi - 70 bodies buried in the cemetery by Police on 2 May 1999;
Izbice - 12 youths aged 12 - 16 killed on 15 May 1999 in reprisal for the death of a Serb soldier;
Montenegro border - On 15 May 1999 some 100 Albanian men abducted and beaten, robbed and humiliated before being released on 17 May 1999;
Istok - On 3 Jun 1999 150 bodies buried by Serbs in the cemetery. Another 190 are buried at Padaliste after their execution at Staradran;
Press Report
64 18 Jun 1999 The Times also details mass graves sites. Most have been referred to previously but new sites include:
Ruckhat - 2 mass graves;
Poklek - 52 people killed.
Press Report
65 18 Jun 1999 The Mirror reports that the Trepca Mine may hold the burnt remains of 700 - 1,000 people. Described as a death camp in the mould of Auschwitz. Press Report
66 18 Jun 1999 NATO Press Lines list new evidence of an atrocity at:
Verboves - 196 people reported killed when Serbs fired on 6,500 villagers fleeing to the hills.
67 19 Jun 1999 Daily Mail report UCK looted and desecrated the St Joanikios monastery in Devic. The priest was beaten and nuns sexually assaulted. Also reports, with other newspapers that KFOR (German) rescued 15 bound and badly beaten prisoners (suspected informers) held by the UCK in Prizren. A 70 year old man, was found dead, tied to a chair. He had been beaten. Eye witness reports Press Report
68 19 Jun 1999 The Telegraph reports KFOR (UK) rescued 6 Albanians held by the MUP in Podujevo. They had been beaten. Serbs continue to set fire to houses in the area and extort money in advance of KFOR’s arrival. Press Report
69 19 Jun 1999 The Express reports the experiences of Albanians held in the Lipjan prison. Extensive use of beatings (1 man stamped on his stomach until he died) and psychological torture (e.g. mock executions). Accommodation was badly over-crowded and insanitary. Eye witness reports Press Report
70 19 Jun 1999 The Guardian reports on ethnic cleansing in Korenica. Said to have been carried out by "Franki’s Boys", paramilitaries headed by Franki Simatovic and with links to Arkan. Evidence found that they were paid by Yugoslav Army. Several testimonies to their brutality. Also reproduces MOD map of mass graves released on 18 Jun 1999. Eye witness reports Press Report
71 19 Jun 1999 The Independent reports mass graves found on 18 Jun 1999 by KFOR (UK) in Podujevo. They contain about 30 bodies. Serbs were still sniping at Albanians at the start of the week and engaging in extortion. The Times reports the Serbs set alight a clinic. Eye witness reports Press Report
72 19 Jun 1999 The Times and others reports the discovery by KFOR (UK) of a second torture chamber in Pristina. Initial impressions suggest victims were tortured by being subjected to "white noise". Press Report
73 19 Jun 1999 The Times reports on the experiences of an Albanian woman from Dragacin. Serb police and Army units arrived on 5 Apr 1999 and separated the women from the men. The women were subject to multiple rapes and other abuses. Also reports that rape used frequently throughout Kosovo as a means of undermining Albanian society, noting the extreme social stigma it can attract. Eye witness reports Press Report
74 19 Jun 1999 The Times publishes another map of massacres and mass graves derived from MOD, NATO and other sources. Most have not been listed previously but details of what happened in most of these new sites is not given. They are listed below (figures in brackets are from Sunday Times or Independent on Sunday of 20 Jun 1999, otherwise none are available):
Radovac;
Cirez;
Dobrosevac;
Donje Prekadse;
Gladno Selo;
Golemo Selo;
Nevoljane;
Kolic - 70 killed;
Nakarad - 160 killed;
Ljubenic;
Ratis;
Kraljane;
Slovinje - 50 killed;
Klecka;
Malisevo - over 700 dead;
Pusto Selo;
Pagarusa;
Rogovo and Celina;
Zrse;
Vata.
Press Report
75 20 Jun 1999 Sunday Telegraph reports KFOR has found 60,000 refugees (including children) held by Serbs in burnt out villages (near Podujevo) used as concentration camps. They were captured in Apr 1999 after hiding in the mountains. The refugees are badly malnourished and often ill. Beatings and random shootings, both to kill and to wound, were frequent. Serb snipers killed refugees almost to the moment KFOR (UK) troops reached the camps. Eye witness reports Press Report
76 20 Jun 1999 Sunday Telegraph reports KFOR (Italian) found a chair used for electric shock torture in Serb Police headquarters in Pec. It also featured a clamp used to crush a victim’s hands. Press Reports
77 20 Jun 1999 Sunday Times reports up to 3,000 Albanian prisoners held by the Serbs have been taken to gaols in Serbia itself. They are mostly professionals. They may be for use as hostages. 2,500 others have been released. It also details the experiences of Albanians living in Pristina, Kacikol, Kolic, Slovinje, Velika Krusa, Pec, Ljubenic and Cuska as the Serbs attacked them. Several accounts of massacres and beatings. Further accounts of torture at Lipljan and also of the use of electric shock torture in the Police station at Urosevac. Maps the main massacre and mass grave sites, most mentioned before. New ones are:
Siceva - 5 dead;
Srbica -140 dead;
Caraluk - 26 dead;
Leslovci - 50 dead;
Duz - 40 dead.
Eye witness reports Press Report
78 20 Jun 1999 The Observer maps mass graves. Most listed before but new ones are:
Donje Preklaz;
Dushnai;
Glavnik Areaduz.
No details given of the size of the graves.
Press Report
79 20 Jun 1999 NATO Press Lines list new evidence of atrocities at:
Kosova Kamencia - the bodies of 4 Albanians found under a bridge;
Gnjilane - Another possible mass grave found;
Urosevac - Another possible mass grave found;
Caralug - 22 civilians, 11 of them children, reported killed with machine guns.
80 20 Jun 1999 BBC Internet site reports 20 Albanians injured in 3 days by mines in the Kosovo / Albania border area.
81 20 Jun 1999 BBC Internet site reports evidence of new massacres at Pavlan (10 dead), Nabergjan (15 dead) and Zahac (21 dead). Kosovapres UCK (on 17 Jun 1999) BBC
82 20 Jun 1999 BBC Internet site reports evidence of new massacres at Gjakove (5 or 6 mass graves), Gjilan (a mass grave found by KFOR (French) and Ruhot (a mass grave with 12 bodies, some burnt and 2 belonging to children). Kosovapres UCK (on 16 Jun 1999) BBC
83 20 Jun 1999 Former Serb village of Graca seized by Albanians and looted. In Rudnik Albanians are said to indiscriminately thrown grenades about and summarily executed a Serb suspected of being a policeman. (Source: DIS atrocity list, 24 Mar 99 - 20 Jun 1999 .)
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