Kosovo: A New Republic Interactive Timeline

Kosovo: A New Republic

Key dates in Kosovo's decades-long - and often bloody - drive to gain independence from Serbia:
 1968

First pro-independence demonstrations by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, when it was part of Yugoslavia; many arrested.
 1974

Yugoslav constitution declares Kosovo an autonomous province within Serbia.

 STORY: Fast Facts: Serbia
 1981

Ethnic Albanians hold street demonstrations demanding Kosovo be declared a republic; dozens injured.
 1980

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic strips Kosovo of its autonomy.
 1991

As Yugoslavia implodes, separatists proclaim Kosovo a republic, which is recognized by neighboring Albania.
 1996

Pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army emerges, claims responsibility for bombings of police targets.
 March-April 1998

Dozens killed in Serb police action against suspected Albanian separatists. Serbs overwhelmingly reject international mediation on Kosovo in referendum. New international sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia.
 July-September 1998

KLA seizes control of 40 percent of Kosovo before being routed in Serb offensive. Serb forces attack villages; 22 ethnic Albanians found massacred in central Kosovo.
 October 1998

NATO allies authorize airstrikes against Serb military targets.
 Jan. 15, 1999

45 ethnic Albanians slain outside Racak. International officials demand war crimes investigation.
 March 1999

Belgrade authorities reject the internationally brokered peace deal, while ethnic Albanians sign it.
 March 24, 1999

NATO launches 78 days of airstrikes against Yugoslavia.
 March-June 1999

Serb forces push out 800,000 ethnic Albanians who flee Kosovo into Albania and Macedonia.
 June 10, 1999

Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic agrees to withdraw troops from Kosovo after agreeing to a proposal for NATO to move in and the province to be run by U.N. Airstrikes halted. Some 50,000 NATO-led peacekeepers begin deploying in Kosovo, refugees stream back while Serbs flee in the wake of revenge attacks.
 Oct. 6, 2000

Milosevic resigns after mass demonstrations protesting his refusal to accept electoral defeat.
 June 28, 2001

Milosevic, extradited to The Hague to face trial for war crimes, dies on March 11, 2006, before trial ends.

 Photos: Dictators and their Fates

 LINK: The Last Days Of Slobo
 February 2002

Kosovo elects parliament and government with Ibrahim Rugova as president.
 October 2003

First direct talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders since 1999 end without agreement.
 March 2004

Ethnic Albanian mobs attack Serbs in worst outbreak of violence since the war.

 Photos: Kosovo Riots

 LINK: The Kosovo War
 January 2006

Rugova dies of lung cancer in Pristina.
 February 2006

U.N.-mediated talks on Kosovo's future status begin.
 October 2006

In Serbian referendum, Kosovo is declared an integral part of Serbia.
 Jan. 26, 2007

U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveils recommended guidelines to Kosovo's eventual statehood.
 April 2007

Russia rejects Ahtisaari proposal in the U.N. Security Council.
 June 2007

President Bush says Kosovo needs to be independent "sooner rather than later."
 July 2007

Kosovo's prime minister says U.N.-sponsored process has failed and calls for declaration of independence by year's end.
 Feb. 17, 2008

Kosovo declares independence from Serbia; Serbia immediately denounces the declaration as illegal.

 STORY: Read more
 Feb. 19, 2008

Foreign Ministers Slovakia, Romania and Cyprus refuse to recognise Kosovo's independence.

The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, appoints the 18-member Constitutional Committee, and begins consultations with citizens on the Constitutional Draft, with results to be included in the final document.

 

Credits:

The Associated Press