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Serbia and Kosovo

Serbia

Capital: Belgrade
Ethnic Groups: Serb, Hungarian, Bosniak, Roma, Croat and Romanian
Official Languages: Sebian
Government: Parliamentary Democracy

Kosovo

Capital: Pristina
Ethnic Groups: Albanian, Serb, Roma, Ashkali, Gorani
Official Languages: Albanian and Serbian (Serbian enclaves)
Government: Parliamentary Republic/United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

Serbia

Serbia was dominant in Yugoslavia, originally founded in 1918 as Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Yugoslavia began to fall apart in early 1990s as the economic and political failures of the Titoist system -- coupled with introduction of multi-party elections -- brought nominally nationalist forces to fore. Slovenia and Croatia voted to secede in June 1991 following the failure of Yugoslav politicians to negotiate federative solution. The Yugoslav Army, operating under Slobodan Milosevic’s direction, fought briefly in Slovenia and Croatia from 1991 to 1995. Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.

Belgrade-directed security forces -- first as Yugoslav National Army, and later in guise of Bosnian and Croatian Serb forces -- carried out ethnic cleansing inside Bosnia and Croatia in effort to create a Greater Serbia, this leading to further actions and reprisals all over the former Yugoslavia. A weak and poorly defined UN peacekeeping mandate in Bosnia and Croatia proved unable to protect civilian populations in certain situations. The fighting in Bosnia and Croatia stopped thanks to the Dayton Peace Accords, brokered by the U.S. in November 1995.

Milosevic’s rule was marked by rampant corruption, hyperinflation, criminalisation of security services, bureaucracy and economy. He opposed any post-socialist reform and restricted press and judicial independence. The active Serbian opposition won country-wide municipal and parliamentary elections in 1996, which Milosevic stole. Following months of daily street protests, Milosevic caved in on municipal elections, but continued to control the all-important Serbian Parliament and security forces. To distract public attention from failing domestic policies, Milosevic began a crack-down on Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in 1998. International concerns over mounting violence and ethnic cleansing forced Milosevic to accept an OSCE monitoring mission. Refusal by Milosevic to halt violence led to the pull-out of the OSCE mission and ultimately, following a failed negotiating process at Rambouillet, the NATO military intervention in late March 1999. Milosevic eventually lost the national elections for presidency of Yugoslavia in September 2000.

Serbia's first post-Milosevic premier, Zoran Djindjic, engaged in an energetic reform campaign. Following Milosevic's transfer to The Hague in June 2001, the then President Kostunica began feud with Djindjic that led to a standstill in Serbian political life and series of political crises. By November 2001 almost all the new reform initiatives ceased. The EU-brokered agreement between Serbia and Montenegro resulted in the formation of new state union, Serbia and Montenegro, which formally came into existence in February 2003. Lack of reform and constant political crises continued until Djindjic's assassination in March 2003, followed by a month-long period of martial law. The Serbian government staggered through until late 2003, when early parliamentary elections were called.

On June 5 2006, following the referendum in Montenegro, the National Assembly of Serbia declared the ‘Republic of Serbia’ to be the legal successor to the ‘State Union of Serbia and Montenegro’, and Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations.

In April 2008 Serbia was offered to enter the intensified dialogue programme with NATO despite the diplomatic rift with the Alliance over Kosovo.

Kosovo

Following the NATO air strikes that began in March 1999 and Milosevic's June capitulation, Kosovo became a UN protectorate under the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) thank to the UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). From April 2002, the UNMIK followed a policy of "standards before status", in order to defer pressures within Kosovo for independence. This policy was brought to life with the re-engagement of the Contact Group in 2003 and its announcement that the review of final status could begin mid-2005 if Kosovo’s fledgling institutions met benchmarks of good governance and inter-ethnic accommodation.

Tensions exploded in March 2004 in Kosovo, with Albanian rioters targeting the Serb population and UNMIK. Several churches and monasteries were looted and destroyed. Unfounded allegations of Serbs drowning Albanian children sparked fighting in Mitrovica, leading to two days of Kosovo-wide riots that killed 19 and wounded 900. The responses from NATO forces (KFOR) and UNMIK were disorganised and harmed their credibility, particularly amongst Serbs. Significant progress has been achieved in the three years since, during which the risk of renewed violence and the concept of earned independence have driven the status process in uneasy tandem.

In October 2005 UN the Secretary-General appointed Martti Ahtisaari to lead the settlement effort. After Serbia's 2007 elections, Ahtisaari presented his draft Comprehensive Proposal to both Belgrade and Pristina. Ahtisaari’s proposals were put before the UN Security Council on 26 March.

After the UN Security Council was unable to agree on a resolution backing supervised independence, the six-nation Contact Group’s ‘Troika’ – the EU, U.S. and Russia – started a new round of negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade. On December’s summit, EU leaders discussed preparations to proceed towards supervised independence based on the Ahtisaari plan and the deployment of a 1,800-strong EU security and rule of law mission.

Kosovo declared independence on 17 February 2008, confirming its acceptance of the Ahtisaari plan, its willingness for the EU to deploy new missions and for NATO to keep its force there. In Serbia, independence was met with some street violence and government disunity. The members of the “Quint” – France, Germany, Italy, the UK and U.S. – and many other EU states and countries further afield are in the process of recognizing Kosovo’s independence amid continued Serbian and Russian objection. The EU approved a mission deployment (EULEX) on 18 February, to include a rule of law mission, EU special representative (EUSR) and civilian office, and a development and reform commission unit. EULEX will be deployed over a transition period of 120 days. The Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith has been appointed as the EUSR and serves simultaneously as the ICR.

South of the River Ibar, Serbs have protested peacefully. In north Mitrovica and the compactly Serb-settled territory above it, reactions have been more militant. Following the 17 February declaration, the burning and blowing up of two northern border posts by large groups of Kosovo Serbs acting with Belgrade’s consent led UNMIK and KFOR to seal them, pending the re-establishment of border services, thereby temporarily cutting the area’s direct access to Serbia. On 21 February former Serbian court workers, who sought to recover Milosevic-era jobs, as well as women and children, began to picket the Mitrovica regional court and occupied it on 14 March, pushing past UNMIK Police and Serb Kosovo Police Service (KPS) officers. UNMIK and KFOR forces attempting to remove the peaceful protestors were attacked by mobs throwing stones, petrol bombs and grenades, and gunfire was exchanged. Around 100 internationals and 80 Serbs were injured in the violence. Though UNMIK Police initially withdrew to south Mitrovica, they returned under heavy KFOR escort on 19 March 2008.