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The Kosovo Conflict - Part One
The 1998/99 Kosovo conflict included the fighting that took place throughout this period between the Serbian dominated security forces and the Albanian Kosovars and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Featured Author:
Peter Padley
Former Warrant Officer Class One (Garrison Sergeant Major) Peter A Padley MBE
Served in the British Army from 1962 until 2000 as a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).
Served with a variety of units including Parachute and Commando Forces on active duty and operations in many theatres around the world.
Former Parachute Instructor and founder member of 3 military Parachute Teams.
August 31, 2010
The last of the wars in the former Yugoslavia took place in Kosovo in 1998/99 and was directly linked to other wars in the region. With ethnic divisions and a repressive and militaristic regime in Belgrade the ‘end’ result was bloodshed and the eventual re-drawing of international borders.
The 1998/99 Kosovo conflict included the fighting that took place throughout this period between the Serbian dominated security forces and the Albanian Kosovars and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. In essence there were two conflicts ‘running’ in tandem with each other and to the current day the territory that constitutes Kosovo continues to be the most disputed area in Europe!
The much anticipated conflict between President Slobodan Milosevic’s armed forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) erupted into full scale fighting in the early part of 1998. With a Contact Group established the American Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, placed the blame for the violence squarely on Milosevic’s shoulders when addressing group representatives during March 1998. Terms were put to Milosevic that included the presence of international observers in Kosovo, an end to the killing and ‘enhanced’ status for Kosovo. Milosevic’s government refused to accept these terms and the war intensified.
On 23rd September 1998 the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 1199 demanding that Kosovan and Yugoslav parties end hostilities in Kosovo and observe a ceasefire. The UN Resolution stated grave concerns regarding the intense level of fighting in Kosovo, in particular the indiscriminate and excessive use of force by both the Yugoslav Army and Serbian Security Forces resulting in the displacement of approximately 230,000 persons from their homes. Numerous civilian casualties also gave grave cause for concern. The UN further stated deep concerns about the flow of refugees into northern Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other European countries resulting from the indiscriminate force being used and that there was also an estimated number of 50,000 refugees with no shelter or basic facilities.
In October 1998 the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) Commander was authorized to launch air strikes against the armed forces of the FRY if Milosevic failed to comply with the UN Security Council’s political and humanitarian demands with regard to Kosovo. At the end of October it was deemed that Milosevic had ‘complied’ sufficiently with the demands and therefore the proposed air strikes would not proceed – ‘at this time’. An agreement was struck with Milosevic that he would withdraw a large percentage of his military assets from Kosovo and allow nearly 2,000 UN observers into the region as well as allowing NATO aircraft to overfly the country. The October agreement later ‘fell apart’ when Milosevic’s request that NATO lift the order authorizing air strikes was refused and the KLA – sensing that it had NATO support – intensified its military efforts. The Serbians in turn intensified their campaign against the KLA in the hope that they would defeat them.
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