Kosovo in 1998 was a country of great turmoil and violence. The population was largely comprised of ethnic Albanians, with Serbs making up the second largest group. This ethnic divide had been a source of tension for decades and in 1998 it reached a boiling point, as Albanians and Serbs clashed violently over the question of Kosovo’s independence. NATO forces were sent to the region in an attempt to contain the unrest, but they were unable to stop the fighting. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and many more were killed or injured. In addition to this violence, the economy suffered greatly due to international sanctions that had been imposed on Serbia in response to its actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This created immense poverty and suffering in Kosovo, which further exacerbated tensions between ethnic groups as people sought out protection from those they perceived as their enemies. In order to restore peace and stability to Kosovo, international negotiations began that eventually led to an agreement granting Kosovo autonomy within Serbia. Despite this progress, however, there are still underlying tensions between ethnic groups that remain unresolved even today. See dentistrymyth for Kosovo in the year of 2015.

Kosovo is a Balkan state, proclaimed independent on February 17, 2008, previously autonomous region of Serbia. It borders to the West with Montenegro and Albania, to the South with Macedonia and for the rest with other Serbian territories.

It is a mountainous area with rather harsh shapes (except near the Albanian border, where the vast plain of Metohija opens) and with a continental climate, corresponding to the high basins of the Drin Bianco and some tributaries of the Morava.

Yearbook 1998

Kosovo. During the summer, the tense situation in Kosovo exploded and violent fighting was fought between Serbian security forces and Kosovo’s liberation army, UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosovës).

Following tough international pressure, Kosovo’s unofficial president Ibrahim Rugova signed an agreement with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević in the fall. The agreement includes that the thousands of people who have escaped the fighting should be able to return to their homes. However, there was no indication that Rugova had given up its demand for full independence for Kosovo and later accession to Albania.

According to Countryaah, the capital of Kosovo is Pristina. From the mid-1970s until 1989, Kosovo had extensive self-government, but dissatisfaction grew among the Albanians, which required the province to become a full sub-republic in what was then Yugoslavia. Increasingly violent demonstrations and mining strikes met with increased violence from the federal authorities, the conflict escalated and reached a critical point in 1989 when Kosovo was made a symbol of the Serbian nationalist wave that carried Slobodan Milošević to power. The same year, Kosovo’s autonomy was restricted and the following year the authorities dissolved the provincial parliament and according to a new Serbian constitution, the province was deprived of its autonomy. Authorities launched a campaign to make Kosovo more Serbian. E.g. a provision was introduced that tuition in schools should be in Serbian. Mines were closed, companies were seized and more and more Serbian security forces and police began sending to Kosovo. The Albanians responded by establishing an underground state in the state. Kosovo’s parliament, gathered in secret, adopted a constitution in 1990 under which Kosovo is an independent republic. In 1992, the Albanians in a secret election elected a parliament with 130 members and appointed the party leader of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance, Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës (LDK), Ibrahim Rugova, as president.

• Abbreviationfinder: What does RKS stand for in geography? Here, this 3 letter acronym refers to the country of Kosovo.

Rugova received international recognition as the Albanian leader and the Albanian disappointment was great when Kosovo was not included in the Dayton Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995. The frustration among the Albanians in Kosovo has increased ever since.

Economic conditions

Even before the war events of the late twentieth century, the region was a backward area, with considerable problems to be solved: despite the cultivation of corn, tobacco and vegetable plants, sheep farming, the not scarce resources of the subsoil (lead, zinc) and the existence of a discrete industrial sector (mineral processing and chemical industry: superphosphate factories in Mitrovica), Kosovo has always represented one of the most depressed areas of Yugoslavia and of the entire Balkan Peninsula. Furthermore, Belgrade’s repressive policy towards ethnic Albanian Kosovars and the economic sanctions imposed by the international community on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia they made the situation even more dramatic. With the end of the war and the beginning of the peace process, many prospects opened up for Kosovo, above all thanks to the support and support of the international community, committed to supporting the resumption of economic activities with financial aid: in this regard, the first interventions were aimed above all at agricultural and craft activities, while those relating to the large Kosovar industries, in which a large part of the workforce previously worked, remain in the process of being defined.