Former Yugoslavia II

Kosovo enjoyed provincial autonomy within the former Yugoslavia, but former President Slobodan Milosevic reduced its autonomy through changes to the constitution in 1989. Subsequent measures increased unemployment for Kosovar Albanians and restricted the activities of their cultural organizations, triggering protests and rioting. After the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, ethnic Albanians declared independence of the Republic of Kosova from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in September 1992, but received little international recognition. In May 1992, Ibrahim Rugova was elected President in unofficial, non-externally recognized elections and created a shadow government.

The Dayton Accords brought an end to the war in Bosnia in 1995, but the status of Kosovo remained unresolved. The following year, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) emerged and began sporadic attacks against Serbian facilities in Kosovo. Serbia intensified its repression in the territory and in October 1997 the violence escalated on both sides. A report of the Secretary-General on the UN Preventive Deployment Force in the region first took note of the escalating conflict in Kosovo in November 1997. After KLA attacks on the police and retaliation by Serb security forces in March 1998, the Contact Group (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) met in London to discuss the deteriorating situation. The conflict escalated, and on 31 March 1998 the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 1160 (31 March 1998), condemning the violence and calling for a ceasefire and negotiations.