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Where and what is Kosova? |
Kosova [see map] After the
revocation of Kosova's autonomy, the Serbian authorities
closed schools in the Albanian language, massively dismissed
Albanians from state-owned enterprises, and suspended
Kosova's legal parliament and government. Serbia instituted
a regime of systematic oppression of the Albanian population
in Kosova, and flagrant violations of basic rights of
Albanians occured frequently. Initially the Albanians
responded to the repression with peaceful and passive
resistance. In 1992 the people of Kosova held free elections
in which they chose their leadership, expressed their
determination for the independence of Kosova in the 1991
referendum, and in the same year the Kosovaian parliament
declared the independence of Kosova. They formed a parallel
government, found means of continuing Albanian-language
education outside of occupied premises and providing health
care (most Albanian doctors were dismissed from state-owned
hospitals by Serb installed authorities).
In early 1998 the Serbian government began a crackdown
against the Kosova Liberation Army (UÇK), a guerilla
movement which emerged after it became apparent that the
peaceful approach was ineffective in face of the brutal
regime of Milosevic. After 1998 Serbian security forces
conducted a scorched earth policy in Kosova, raising
villages to the ground, creating an exodus of over one
million refugees and internally displaced persons, and
committed horrific atrocities against unarmed civilians,
including women and children.
The NATO bombing campaign, which began in March 1999 after
Serbia's refusal to sign a peace accord for the settlement
of the conflict in Kosova, lasted until June 1999 when the
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic capitulated and agreed
to withdraw all Serbian security forces from Kosova. United
Nations Security Council resolution 1244 established a
United Nations civilian administration in Kosova (known as
the United Nations Mission in Kosova; UNMIK) and allowed a
NATO-led peacekeeping force to enter Kosova to ensure
security.
The war in Kosova had created over one million refugees and
internally displaced persons, left over 300,000 people
without shelter, an estimated 14,000 dead, and mass graves
containing bodies of up to one hundred civilians, including
women and children, who have been summarily executed.
The people of Kosova, UNMIK, NATO and the international
community are now making efforts to rebuild Kosova,
revitalize its economy, establish democratic institutions of
self-government, and heal the scars of war. (For more
up-to-date information on the deveopments in Kosova please
check out the Kosova Crisis Center.)
Geographic Features
Kosova borders Serbia in the north and northeast, Montenegro
in the northwest, Albania in the west and the FYR of
Macedonia in the south. It covers a total of 12,887 squared
kilometers and its population is around 2.2 million, 94
percent of which are ethnic Albanian oldest nation in Balkan
Peninsula. |
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More about Kosovo, Here! |
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