Kosovo Declares Independence

February 17, 2008-Today will remain a special day in the hearts of many citizens of Kosovo, since today the Kosovo parliament declared its independence from Serbia. Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, mostly consists of ethnic Albanians, but it also has a small minority of Serbs. During the 1990s, Kosovo was the setting for political and ethnic conflict. The Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army battled for control of the province. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened, and when the Serbs would not cease their attack on Albanian citizens, it began airstrikes in March 1999. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and the Serb army were brutal in their strikes against the ethnic Albanian citizens and there were reports of mass killings. Thousands were forced to flee their homes. By June, the NATO airstrikes forced President Milosevic to withdraw his troops and the United Nations was given temporary governing powers over Kosovo. Yet, today, to the dismay of the Serbian government, Kosovo has now become a separate and independent state.

Source: BBC News. 2008. Time Line Kosovo. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/3550401.stm. (accessed February 17, 2008).