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Death Toll in Kosovo Due to War A Balkan Witness compilation of reports on numbers of Kosovars killed due to Serbian attacks.

NEW Kosovo Unveils First Official Figures of Wartime Victims Prishtina Insight, July 29, 2026
Massacre of Kosovo Albanians at Krushe e Vogel Balkan Insight (BIRN), July 3, 2020
       HIVE, a new movie based on the incident, was released in 2021
20 years in anticipation of justice and recognition Humanitarian Law Center, March 24, 2019
ICTY: The Kosovo Case SENSE News Agency, 2017
DEPTH TWO: An Illusion-Destroying Documentary Thriller Balkanist Magazine, August 12, 2016
The Unidentified is a feature-length documentary that reveals who were the commanders responsible for some of the most brutal attacks of the Kosovo war. BIRN, 2015. See also a panel discussion about war-crimes prosecutions . (YouTube, 45 minutes)
Serbia's Kosovo Coverup: Who Hid the Bodies? Balkan Insight (BIRN), April 23, 2015
The Whistleblower: How a Holocaust survivor blew the whistle on genocide  By Robert Leonard Rope, November 2014 (PDF)
Destruction of Islamic Heritage in the Kosova War A new book, edited by Robert Elsie, May 2014 Foreword to the book by András Riedlmayer
Documentary Reveals New Information About Dubrava Crimes in 1999 By Milica Jovanovic, January 7, 2014
Tales of the unexpected: Moving the goalposts with Ivica-love By Eric Gordy, December 19, 2013
Mass grave found in Serbia; up to 400 Kosovo Albanian bodies Transitions On Line, December 16, 2013
Foundations of the Ottoman Period in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s By András Riedlmayer, May 2012 (PDF)
Searching for buried truth at RTS Balkan Insight, May 4, 2012
Serbian paramilitary testifies on Kosovo war crimes International Justice Tribune, January 18, 2012
Burning Secrets from the Balkans By Robert Leonard Rope and Albinot Maloku, April 13, 2011
Judgment in the case against Vlastimir Djordjević ICTY, February 23, 2011 (PDF)
Prosecution's final brief in the Vlastimir Djordjević case Part 1  Part 2 ICTY, July 19, 2010 (PDF)
Perilous Medicine: The Legacy of Oppression and Conflict on Health in Kosovo Physicians for Human Rights, June 2009 (PDF)
Witness Testifies on Army and Police Campaigns in Kosovo IWPR, June 26, 2009
Judgment of the Hague war-crimes tribunal in the case of Milutinovic, et al, for crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999:
     Volume 1    Volume 2    Volume 3    Volume 4    (all PDF) February 26, 2009
Trial of former Serbian police official begins IWPR, January 30, 2009
Unholy Terror: Bosnia, al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad By Marko Attila Hoare, Summer 2008 (PDF)
Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace: Destruction of Libraries during and after the Balkan Wars of the 1990s By András Riedlmayer, Summer 2007 (PDF)
Serbian mass grave "holds up to 500" Kosovo victims Reuters, June 4, 2007
Revisiting "Killings and Migration in Kosovo": responses to additional data and analysis By Patrick Ball, Meghan Lynch, and Amelia Hoover, January 28, 2007
Milosevic’s “Final Solution” for Kosovo Aleksandar Roknic, IWPR, December 15, 2006
The Bytyqi Case - Crime and Secret Radio B-92, 2006
Al-Qaida and the Balkans: Myths, realities and lessons By Marko Attila Hoare, April 28, 2005
More Mackatica Body Burning Revelations IWPR, April 20, 2005
State Security destroyed evidence of Kosovo war crimes Humanitarian Law Center, December 23, 2004
Acknowledged and Unacknowledged Kosovo Albanian Graves By Natasa Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, November 11, 2004
Collapse in Kosovo International Crisis Group, April 22, 2004
Kosovo Atrocity Cover-up IWPR, December 23, 2002
In the Name of the Victims By Natasha Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, November 18, 2002
Report on the size and ethnic composition of the population of Kosovo By Helge Brunborg, Oslo, Norway, August 14, 2002
New Mass Graves Found IWPR, June 14, 2002
The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo, 1998-1999 By András Riedlmayer, January 2002 [Update here, July 17, 2009.]
Killings and Refugee Flow in Kosovo March - June 1999 A Report to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, January 3, 2002 (PDF file)   Shorter version: "Statistics and Slobodan: Using Data Analysis and Statistics in the War Crimes Trial of Former President Milosevic," by Patrick Ball and Jana Asher, CHANCE magazine, 2002 (PDF file)
Why Milosevic Decided to Settle When He Did By Stephen T. Hosmer, RAND, 2001
Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo Human Rights Watch, October 2001
Serbs Break Silence on Atrocities By R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, July 1, 2001
Kosovo Atrocity Cover-up IWPR, May 11, 2001
The Filipovic Story By Anthony Borden, IWPR, March 30, 2001
Religion in Kosovo International Crisis Group, January 31, 2001
The Promise of Justice: Burning the Evidence National Public Radio, January 25, 2001
Traditional Houses in Western Kosovo: A Descriptive Survey of Kullas in the Municipalities of Istok and Klina By Sahar Rassam, 2001
Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo, 1998-1999: A Post-war Survey By Andrew Herscher and András Riedlmayer, 2001 (PDF)
Architectural Heritage in Kosovo: A Post-War Report By Andrew Herscher and András Riedlmayer, July-August 2000
Reality Demands - Documenting Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Kosovo 1999 International Crisis Group, May 2000 (PDF)
The Kosovo Report Independent International Commission on Kosovo, 2000
Serb Officers Relive Killings By Miroslav Filipovic, IWPR, April 4, 2000
Burned Books and Blasted Shrines: Cultural Heritage Under Fire in Kosovo By András Riedlmayer, Harvard University, April 2000
Kosovo Revisited By Richard Falk, The Nation, March 22, 2000
Massacre at Cuska By Michael Montgomery and Stephen Smith, American RadioWorks, February 2000
The Kosovo Crisis (Chapter 9, the Balkans) UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), January 1, 2000
Museums in Kosovo: A First Postwar Assessment By András Riedlmayer, Bosnia Report March-June 2000 (PDF)
Libraries and Archives in Kosovo: A Postwar Report By András Riedlmayer, Bosnia Report, Dec. 1999-Feb. 2000 (PDF)
Yes, there were mass killings By Noel Malcolm, December 4, 1999
KOSOVO / KOSOVA: As Seen, As Told - Volume I OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, Oct 1998-June 1999
KOSOVO / KOSOVA: As Seen, As Told - Volume II OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, June-Oct 1999
The Kosovo Numbers Game By Ian Williams, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, November 12, 1999
More Than 2,100 Bodies Exhumed from Kosovo Graves CNN, November 10, 1999
With Milosevic Unyielding on Kosovo, NATO Moved Toward Invasion By Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, November 7, 1999
A Village Destroyed: War Crimes in Kosovo Human Rights Watch, October 1999
Interviews with Serbian Militia Members By Michael Montgomery and Stephen Smith, American RadioWorks, September 1999
Kosovo: the untold story (Part 1) -- Peter Beaumont and Patrick Wintour, The Observer (London), July 18, 1999
Kosovo: the untold story (Part 2)
Letters from Stankovec (Kosovar Refugee Camp in Macedonia) By Donna Behrendt, July 1999
Letters from Post-war Kosovo By Peter Lippman, July 1999
Acid and Smelting Vats Evoke Fear of Grisly Burials by Serbs By Chris Hedges, The New York Times, July 7, 1999
A Kosovo Albanian Family in Macedonia By Peter Lippman, July 6, 1999
Balkan Crisis Reports (Change the final number in the URL to find any numbered issue.) Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Feb. 1999 to present.
New York Times Coverage of NATO Intervention March-June, 1999
Investigators Overwhelmed by Extent of War Crimes Uncovered NPR, June 30, 1999 (transcript of audio)
Serbs Shun Discussion of Atrocities Washington Post, June 24, 1999
Mass Graves Found All Over Kosovo Associated Press, June 22, 1999
Survey of Serbian War Crimes in Kosovo Physicians for Human Rights, June 15, 1999 (PDF)
The Ravaging of Kosovo By John Kifner, The New York Times, May 29, 1999
Kosovo Men Released NPR, May 24, 1999 (audio)
Editor In Exile By Elizabeth Rubin, The New Yorker, May 17, 1999
Refugees recount fresh atrocities BBC, May 13, 1999
Erasing History: Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo U.S. State Department, May 10, 1999
Refugees: Doctors being singled out Seattle Times, April 20, 1999
Killings and Scorched Earth in Southern Kosovo Human Rights Watch, April 20, 1999.
The Path to Crisis: How the United States and Its Allies Went to War By Barton Gellman, The Washington Post, April 18, 1999
Massacre of Over Sixty Villagers Near Bela Crkva Human Rights Watch, April 17, 1999.
Ethnic Hungarians Fear They're Next Seattle Times, April 17, 1999.
Refugees from Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, April 14, 1999
Action Alert From the Kosova Task Force USA, April 11, 1999
The Anatomy of a Purge Washington Post, April 11, 1999
Kosovo Albanian refugees tell how they saw events unfold over the past ten years (Transcript of audio) -- NPR, April 10, 1999
Buildup to Yugoslavia's campaign in Kosovo began as early as December Knight-Ridder News Service, April 9, 1999
Kosovo Refugees Describe "Nights of Fear" in Belanice Human Rights Watch, April 8, 1999
Belgrade Blues By Jasmina Tesanovic, April 6, 1999
Cleansing Pristina By Gjeraqina Tuhina, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, April 5, 1999
Systematic Depopulation in Kosovo's Capital Human Rights Watch, April 3, 1999
Violent Ethnic Cleansing in Dakovica Human Rights Watch, April 3, 1999
Intolerable Conditions for Kosovo Refugees on Albanian Border Human Rights Watch, April 2, 1999
Eyewitnesses Confirm Killings Around Velika Krusa, Kosovo Human Rights Watch, April 2, 1999
The Events in Gjavoka in early April 1999  Findings of the Hague Tribunal (February 2011)
Yugoslav Forces Systematically Expel Ethnic Albanians Human Rights Watch, March 30, 1999
Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, March 30, 1999
The Racak Case in the Belgrade Media By Helsinki Watch, February, 1999
Report on Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Kosovo in 1998 No Peace Without Justice, February 1999
Serb Police Kill 24 Albanians in Kosovo New York Times, January 30, 1999
Report on the violation of human rights and freedoms in Kosova in the course of 1998 Council for The Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (Prishtina), January 22, 1999
Report on the Racak Massacre Human Rights Watch, January, 1999
UN Inter-Agency Updates on Kosovo, from UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1998-March 1999
A Week of Terror in Drenica (Sept 1998) Human Rights Watch, January 1999
Torture and ill-treatment in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Amnesty International, November 11, 1998 Daily evidence contradicts government's rosy reports
Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo, Human Rights Watch, October 1998
Tragic events continue - the protection of Kosovo's displaced and refugees Amnesty International, September 30, 1998
Serbs force Albanian refugees back to a shattered land By Anthony Loyd, The Times of London, September 14, 1998
Kosovo's Long Hot Summer: Briefing on Military, Humanitarian and Political Developments in Kosovo International Crisis Group, September 2, 1998
Peace Hopes Dim In Serb-Battered Kosovo By Peter Lippman, Seattle Times, August 21, 1998
Kosovo Crisis - Refugees & Displaced Persons, July 22, 1998 (PDF)
UN World Food Programme reports from Kosovo, June-July 1998
Will There Be a War in Kosovo? By Tim Judah, New York Review of Books, May 14, 1998
First Person: Jailed In Repressed Kosovo By Peter Lippman, Seattle Times, April 9, 1998
See also Compilation of reports on the Racak Massacre

Summaries of articles listed above

NEW Kosovo Unveils First Official Figures of Wartime Victims More than 13,000 people were killed, forcibly disappeared, or died as a result of the Kosovo war, according to a preliminary list published by Kosovo's Institute for Crimes Committed During the War, the country's first institutional record of wartime victims. Prishtina Insight, July 29, 2026

Massacre of Kosovo Albanians at Krushe e Vogel In March 1999, over 100 men were gunned down in a barn by Serb fighters. Now, a Serb police reservist has been convicted of war crimes. Balkan Insight (BIRN), July 3, 2020
HIVE, a new movie based on the incident, was released in 2021.

20 years in anticipation of justice and recognition A summary of 1999 crimes by Serbian forces in Kosovo that have gone un-prosecuted in Serbia. Humanitarian Law Center, March 24, 2019

ICTY: The Kosovo Case The most recent interactive narrative produced by SENSE – Transitional justice center (TCJ), entitled  ICTY: The Kosovo Case 1998-1999, explains how the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia investigated, reconstructed, and prosecuted the crimes committed in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. It consists of nine short films (10 to 15 minutes long) and a selection of evidence presented and admitted at the trials for Kosovo crimes. SENSE News Agency, 2017

DEPTH TWO: An Illusion-Destroying Documentary Thriller: A documentary thriller about a subject that’s been shrouded in silence for seventeen years, mass graves in the Belgrade suburbs and the accompanying investigation into atrocities committed in Kosovo in 1999. Director Ognjen Glavonić managed to bring the story to life using simple yet powerful filmic elements: as we hear statements from people involved in the crimes and their cover-ups, and the testimony of a female survivor, we see haunting imagery shot at the locations where various parts of the crimes were carried out. Balkanist Magazine, August 12, 2016

The Unidentified is a feature-length documentary that reveals who were the commanders responsible for some of the most brutal attacks of the Kosovo war. The result of a two-year-long investigation, the documentary names the officers who ordered attacks on villages in the area around the town of Pec during the 1999 war and those who were involved in the removal of victims’ bodies to mass graves at the Batajnica police centre near Belgrade in Serbia. BIRN, 2015
See also a panel discussion about war-crimes prosecutions . (YouTube, 45 minutes)

Serbia's Kosovo Coverup: Who Hid the Bodies? The Belgrade officials who took hundreds of murdered Albanians' corpses from Kosovo to Serbia and concealed them in mass graves have never been prosecuted in their home country. Balkan Insight (BIRN), April 23, 2015

The Whistleblower: How a Holocaust survivor blew the whistle on genocide  Dragan Vitomirović discovered the uncomfortable and dangerous truth about the sunken refrigerator truck that surfaced in the Danube in April 1999, full of Kosovo Albanian corpses. By Robert Leonard Rope, November 2014 (PDF)

Destruction of Islamic Heritage in the Kosova War A new book, edited by Robert Elsie. About forty percent of all the mosques in this country were purposefully damaged or destroyed. This is a tragic statistic and it is important for the world to see and understand what happened. The information and photos in this volume provide dramatic proof of the destruction wrought upon Islamic architecture and, indeed upon the Islamic community and Albanians in general by crazed Serbian paramilitaries, by the Serbian police, and by the Serbian military of the Milošević period. Foreword to the book by András Riedlmayer. May 2014

Documentary Reveals New Information About Dubrava Crimes in 1999 The May 1999 massacre of prisoners at Dubrava was blamed by Serbian authorities on NATO bombing, but recent evidence indicates that most of the murders were carried out by Serbian authorities. Video (in Serbian, English subtitles expected soon) with written English commentary by Milica Jovanovic, January 7, 2014

Tales of the unexpected: Moving the goalposts with Ivica-love On 28 March 1999, members of the “Scorpions,” a reserve police unit, paid an uninvited visit to the home of the Bogujevci family in Podujevo. By the time the visit ended a few minutes later, fourteen members of the Bogujevci family, the Lugaliju family and the Duriqi family were murdered by gunshots. The visit by the “Scorpions” was not part of a battle or a fight against terrorism. At the ages of two and four respectively, Albion Duriqi and Mimoza Duriqi had not had the chance to join any organizations, paramilitary or otherwise. Shehide Bogujevci and Hamdi Duriqi were past the age for active military service. Some of the five children who survived the massacre participated in collecting and giving evidence at the trial of Vlastimir Djordjević (convicted and awaiting appeal) at ICTY. By Eric Gordy, December 19, 2013

Mass grave found in Serbia; up to 400 Kosovo Albanian bodies In a secret mass grave in Rudnica, Serbia, up to 400 Albanians are said to have been buried during the 1999 Kosovo war. Now excavation has been begun at the site. Transitions On Line, December 16, 2013. Update here (in German), April 16, 2014

Foundations of the Ottoman Period in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s The fate of Ottoman-era monuments and institutions in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars. By András Riedlmayer, May 2012 (PDF)

Searching for buried truth at RTS Thirteen years after a NATO air-strike killed 16 RTS employees, Serbian officials are facing fresh criticism over their failure to address the suspicion that lives were deliberately put at risk. Campaigners want to examine whether the government of the time, led by Slobodan Milosevic, ignored warnings of an attack on the state broadcaster because it intended to use civilian casualties as propaganda against NATO. Balkan Insight, May 4, 2012

Serbian paramilitary testifies on Kosovo war crimes In a Belgrade court, a former member of the Jackals paramilitary group testified against his fellow members, who are charged with crimes against ethnic Albanians in the village of Cuska in western Kosovo, including the killing of at least 44 civilians, rape, looting and the burning of property on May 19, 1999. International Justice Tribune, January 18, 2012

Burning Secrets from the Balkans The bodies of hundreds, perhaps thousands of ethnic Albanians were systematically burned and disposed of in industrial furnaces by Serbian forces during the waning days of Slobodan Milošević’s reign of terror in Kosovo. By Robert Leonard Rope and Albinot Maloku, April 13, 2011

Judgment in the case against Vlastimir Djordjević The judgment recites Serbian crimes in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. ICTY, February 23, 2011 (PDF, 986 pages)

Prosecution's final brief in the Vlastimir Djordjević case Part 1  Part 2 This trial was about responsibility for a widespread and systematic campaign of terror and violence conducted by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia against Kosovo Albanians from 24 March 1999 to 20 June 1999 (Indictment period). Thousands were abused and killed and over 800,000 were forcibly expelled from the province as an intended consequence of the deliberate and coercive actions of these forces. The purpose of this campaign was to ensure continued Serbian rule over the province of Kosovo. Djordjević, the Accused, acting individually and collectively with others, orchestrated these events and the evidence discussed in the brief establishes that he is criminally liable for the crimes charged. ICTY, July 19, 2010 (PDF) [Redacted version, published December 20, 2011]

Perilous Medicine: The Legacy of Oppression and Conflict on Health in Kosovo As part of its escalation of violence against civilians in early 1998, Serb forces began arresting, imprisoning, torturing and prosecuting Kosovar Albanian health professionals who lived in the communities under attack. (See pages 22-34.) Physicians for Human Rights, June 2009 (PDF)

Witness Testifies on Army and Police Campaigns in Kosovo International monitor says “joint control post” coordinated Yugoslav army and Serb police actions. The Yugoslav army worked closely with Serbian police in the run-up to the ethnic cleansing of Albanians from Kosovo in 1999. IWPR, June 26, 2009
See transcript of testimony, June 22-24, 2009, linked

The Events in Gjavoka in early April 1999 On April 2, 1999, Serbian police massacred an entire neighborhood. This document provides the findings of the Hague Tribunal (February 2011) from the trial of the head of Serbian forces at the time.

Judgment of the Hague war-crimes tribunal in the case of Milutinovic, et al, for crimes committed in Kosovo in 1999:
     Volume 1    Volume 2    Volume 3    Volume 4    (all PDF) February 26, 2009
This judgment includes, among much more, description of the Serbian murder of 50 ethnic Albanian civilians in Suva Reka, in Kosovo. The incident happened one day after NATO began its bombing campaign against Serbia. Men, women, children and elderly members of the Berisha family were killed by Serbian police officers in Suva Reka. Police officers from Suva Reka executed several older members of the Berisha family, while they took the rest of the men, women and children into the nearby pizzeria 'Calabria' and threw in two hand grenades. After that they shot the victims, ages 1 to 100. The policemen, found guilty and convicted in 2009, killed anyone who showed any sign of life while they were removing the bodies from the pizza parlor. Only two women and a child survived the crime. The bodies of the Berisha family members were later found in a mass grave in Batajnica [near Belgrade]. See Volume 2, beginning at paragraph 492 (page 177 of the PDF).
The Serbian offensive in early 1999 was long in planning and already underway by January-February 1999. This judgment recites the facts on what was really happening in Kosovo in the weeks and months prior to the NATO air war and during the air war.

Trial of former Serbian police official begins The former head of the public security department of the Serbian ministry of internal affairs, MUP, is charged for his part in what prosecutors claim was a “systematic campaign” that resulted in hundreds of deaths and the expulsion of approximately 800,000 ethnic Albanians. This article provides a concise summary of Serbia's widespread concerted and coordinated attack on the Kosovo Albanian civilian population, aimed at forcing them out of Kosovo. IWPR, January 30, 2009

Unholy Terror: Bosnia, al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad A review of three books on the subject. By Marko Hoare, Summer 2008 (PDF)

Crimes of War, Crimes of Peace: Destruction of Libraries during and after the Balkan Wars of the 1990s The violence against human beings was accompanied by the systematic destruction of the cultural record—libraries, archives, and other cultural heritage. This article is an attempt to put the destruction of libraries during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo into a broader theoretical and legal context. It examines patterns and methods of destruction, the track record of legal and practical measures to protect endangered collections in time of armed conflict, the ongoing quest to bring those responsible for attacks on libraries to justice, the responses of the international community and of the library community to this cultural catastrophe during the war and in the post-war period, and the growing recognition of the nexus between cultural heritage and human rights. It also addresses the troubled aftermath of ethnic conflict and the perils of reconstruction in a post-war environment, in which libraries continue to be endangered by nationalist politics. By András Riedlmayer, in Library Trends, Vol. 56, No. 1, Summer 2007 (PDF)

Serbian mass grave "holds up to 500" Kosovo victims Serbia will open a mass grave on Tuesday believed to contain up to 500 Albanian victims of the Kosovo war, fresh evidence of Serb atrocities as the U.N. decides whether to grant the province independence. Authorities believe the bodies were originally buried elsewhere, then dug up, collected, and dumped at the quarry on June 3, 1999, a senior Serbian official told Reuters. -- Reuters, June 4, 2007

Revisiting "Killings and Migration in Kosovo": responses to additional data and analysis This report confirms and expands upon the results in the 2002 analysis by Ball et al. The report confirms that the data re inconsistent with the claim that the KLA or NATO could have been substantial causes of the killing and migration in Kosovo during March-June 1999. By Patrick Ball, Meghan Lynch, and Amelia Hoover, January 28, 2007 (PDF)

Milosevic’s “Final Solution” for Kosovo Ex-NATO military chief says Milosevic spoke in 1998 of a plan to repeat the slaughter of Albanians after the Second World War. The former Yugoslav leader then said that he would find a “final solution” for Kosovo in the spring of 1999. -- Aleksandar Roknic, IWPR, December 15, 2006
(See also testimony of General Wesley Clark, page 30353, December 15, 2003.)

The Bytyqi Case - Crime and Secret The bodies of three Albanian-American young men were found in 2001, on top of a mass grave in eastern Serbia. The  graves contained the bodies of 67 men and seven women from Kosovo. The brothers were killed in July 1990on Serbian police training grounds, just as they were being released from jail. Radio B-92, 2006

Al-Qaida and the Balkans: Myths, realities and lessons Review of Evan Kohlmann's  2004 book Al-Qaida’s Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network. Despite its unfortunate opening paragraph, this article presents useful information on the minor role of Islamist fighters in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars. -- Marko Attila Hoare, April 28, 2005

More Mackatica Body Burning Revelations Eyewitness accounts contain dramatic new evidence of how police working for Slobodan Milosevic burned truckloads of ethnic Albanian corpses in a factory in southern Serbia during the 1999 NATO conflict. -- IWPR, April 20, 2005

State Security destroyed evidence of Kosovo war crimes The cover-up of the war crimes committed in Kosovo in 1998 and during the NATO bombardments was, above all, a police activity carried out by the most trustworthy men of the late of the head of Ministry of Interior Affairs of Serbia, of the former President of the Government of Serbia, of the one time head of the Public Security, and the former head of the State Security. -- Nataša Kandić, Humanitarian Law Center, December 23, 2004

Acknowledged and Unacknowledged Kosovo Albanian Graves There are at least 17 mass graves in Serbia containing the bodies of Kosovo Albanians - more than the eight acknowledged sites. -- Natasa Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, November 11, 2004

Collapse in Kosovo On 17 March 2004, the unstable foundations of four and a half years of gradual progress in Kosovo buckled and gave way. Within hours the province was immersed in anti-Serb and anti-UN rioting and had regressed to levels of violence not seen since 1999. By 18 March the violence mutated into the ethnic cleansing of entire minority villages and neighborhoods. The mobs of Albanian youths, extremists and criminals exposed the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR) as very weak. Kosovo's provisional institutions of self-government (PISG), media and civil society afforded the rioters license for mayhem. The international community urgently needs new policies -- on final status and socio-economic development alike -- or Kosovo instability may infect the entire region. International Crisis Group, April 22, 2004

Kosovo Atrocity Cover-up Secretive exhumations of Kosovo Albanian victims and the reluctance of the authorities to take action against the culprits. The net result of 18 months’ of exhumations is the remains of some 770 people, including those of nine children and of several dozen women. The number will probably increase, because it is believed that the last grave in Batajnica may yield anything from 50 to several hundred bodies. The great unknown is still who killed these people. Was it the police, the army, paramilitary formations, or local Serbs? -- IWPR, December 23, 2002

In the Name of the Victims A new report on a Serbian massacre of Kosovo Albanian women and children on March 28, 1999. --Natasha Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, November 18, 2002

Report on the size and ethnic composition of the population of Kosovo Produced for the ICTY case against Milosevic. By Helge Brunborg, Oslo, Norway, August 14, 2002 (PDF)

New Mass Graves Found  More evidence of Serbian mass killings of Albanian civilians could soon emerge, but the perpetrators of these crimes may never be prosecuted. -- IWPR, June 14, 2002

Killings and Refugee Flow in Kosovo March - June 1999 A Report to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. This study presents the results of analyses of the statistical patterns of refugee flow and killings in Kosovo during the period March-June 1999. The report concludes that evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that Yugoslav forces conducted a systematic campaign of killings and expulsions during the NATO intervention. -- By Patrick Ball, et al, January 3, 2002. Published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Bar Association. (PDF file)
Shorter version: "Statistics and Slobodan: Using Data Analysis and Statistics in the War Crimes Trial of Former President Milosevic," by Patrick Ball and Jana Asher, CHANCE magazine, 2002 (PDF file)
See also Dr. Ball's testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia:
    March 13, 2002 (Word document, begins at page 2140)
    March 14, 2002 (Word document, begins at page 2218)
    May 2, 2003 (Word document, begins at page 19947)
    February 20, 2007 (Begins at page 10216)

The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo, 1998-1999 A post-war survey. Expert report by András Riedlmayer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY, The Hague), January 2002
[Update here, July 17, 2009. Defendant complains that the report was based on "common sense."]

Why Milosevic Decided to Settle When He Did A study by a U.S. Air Force contractor. The content of this lengthy document is well summarized in its table of contents. By Stephen T. Hosmer, RAND, 2001

Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo This report’s main aim is to document the war crimes committed by Serbian and Yugoslav government forces in Kosovo between March 24 and June 12, 1999 - the period of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Through well-researched case studies, as well as scientifically rigorous statistical analysis, the goal is to provide a credible account of the terrible events that have taken place in the hope that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. At the same time, the report acknowledges that Serbian and Yugoslav government forces did not have a monopoly on abusive behavior. The report therefore provides documentation of international humanitarian law violations committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as well as by NATO. The authors hope that this report breaks new ground by providing both a broad and detailed account of war crimes in Kosovo, along with the political background and context of the conflict. By including first-hand accounts and testimony, the report also gives voice to the innocent victims of war. -- Human Rights Watch, October 2001

Serbs Break Silence on Atrocities Slain ethnic Albanians from Kosovo were pulled from the trucks and tossed into the pits, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. When the flames died, the tractor driver switched his engine on and eased a layer of dirt over the blackened sludge. Those who conceived of the operation expected that these secret horrors would never surface, a reasonable view under the authoritarian government that ran Yugoslavia until last October. What they did not count on was the enduring anger and shame of those who were ordered to drive the trucks, hoist the bodies and operate the tractors. Finally, two years later, after the downfall of President Slobodan Milosevic and the advent of a government in Belgrade that is willing to listen, these Serbs caught up in wartime horror are beginning to talk. The nightmarish memories they are recounting for authorities form the backdrop for Milosevic's sudden extradition Thursday to a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague and may end up buttressing the charges against him. -- By R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, July 1, 2001

Compilation of reports on the Racak Massacre

Kosovo Atrocity Cover-up There's more and more evidence of a concerted Serbian campaign to destroy the remains of Kosovo Albanians butchered by Milosevic's forces. Serbia is being haunted by horrifying tales of atrocities committed in the Kosovo conflict two years ago. The stories tell of wholesale burning of Albanian bodies to destroy evidence of widespread massacres. -- IWPR, May 11, 2001

The Filipovic Story Documents on Yugoslav war crimes in Kosovo were leaked to the reporter by Yugoslav army sources, in an effort to stop Slobodan Milosevic from provoking a new conflict in Montenegro. The top-secret document presented a disturbing picture of army officers still deeply troubled by crimes committed by their comrades in Kosovo. It did not bode well for a military operation against Montenegro. The report explicitly raised the question of whether such troops could be relied on in any new civil conflict. -- Anthony Borden, IWPR, March 30, 2001 (Republished September 6, 2005)

Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo, 1998-1999: A Post-war Survey Expert report for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, for the case against Milošević. 2001. By Andrew Herscher and András Riedlmayer (PDF)

Religion in Kosovo (Executive Summary. Full report here.) After the end of the war, Bishop Artemije, the leading Orthodox religious figure in Kosovo, and Father Sava Janjic, the deputy abbot of the Visoki Decani Monastery, assumed the leadership of those Serbs who were willing to work with the international community in Kosovo. Sava advocated recognition of Serbian atrocities against Albanians in Kosovo. In an interview in the Belgrade magazine NIN in July 1999, he declared: "Together with the regime from Belgrade, [local Serb authorities] systematically carried out violence against Kosovo Albanians, as well as against the Serbs, who were also mistreated and robbed at the very end... [Milosevic's supporters] participated in forced expulsions of the [Albanian] population which otherwise would not have fled the province. In most cases they did not flee because of the bombardment, but because of systematic deportations, looting and other sorts of violence. We have been finding daily bloody tracks of that violence, and the unfortunate Serb people in Kosovo must now account for it." Sava went further in condemning the Milosevic regime: "Simply, there is no future for the Serb people, nor the whole region of South Eastern Europe as long as such dictatorship survives in Belgrade." -- International Crisis Group, January 31, 2001

The Promise of Justice: Burning the Evidence Serbian security forces incinerated the remains of hundreds of ethnic Albanians in an industrial furnace during the 1999 war in Kosovo. The secret operation was part of a highly organized effort by Serbia's leadership to conceal evidence of possible war crimes from international investigators. So far, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has exhumed around 4,000 bodies and inspected hundreds of gravesites. An additional 3,500 people are officially registered as missing in Kosovo, including hundreds of Serbs and Gypsies. -- National Public Radio, January 25, 2001 (Includes text plus audio.) For a later story, see Kosovo Atrocity Cover-up (IWPR, May 11, 2001).

Traditional Houses in Western Kosovo: A Descriptive Survey of Kullas in the Municipalities of Istok and Klina The article describes the wartime damage to traditional houses in Kosovo. -- Sahar Rassam, 2001

Architectural Heritage in Kosovo: A Post-War Report A third of Islamic houses of worship in Kosovo were damaged or destroyed, while only ten percent of the region's historic houses (kullas) had survived the war. Other heritage sites, such as madrasas, takiyyas, baths, and libraries were also found damaged. The evidence collected by the surveyors discredits the view that this damage was caused by NATO bombing. -- Andrew Herscher and András Riedlmayer, July-August 2000

Reality Demands - Documenting Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Kosovo 1999  This report is the product of seven months of field research conducted in Kosovo in 1999. Over 4700 statements from victims and witnesses were accumulated. -- International Crisis Group, May 2000 (PDF)

The Kosovo Report The origins of the crisis have to be understood in terms of a new wave of nationalism that led to the rise of Milosevic and the official adoption of an extreme Serbian nationalist agenda. The revocation of Kosovo's autonomy in 1989 was followed by a Belgrade policy aimed at changing the ethnic composition of Kosovo and creating an apartheid-like society. This extensive report examines many aspects of the history of the Kosovo conflict. -- Independent International Commission on Kosovo, 2000

Serb Officers Relive Killings A Yugoslav Army intelligence report gives a unique insight into the enormity of war crimes in the Kosovo enclave last spring. War-weary Serb officers have spoken for the first time of sickening atrocities committed by the Yugoslav Army in Kosovo during the NATO bombing campaign. -- Miroslav Filipovic, IWPR, April 4, 2000

Burned Books and Blasted Shrines: Cultural Heritage Under Fire in Kosovo We like to believe that we can be keepers of the records of civilization and we do our best to preserve them from fires and floods and other natural calamities. But what can one do to keep books and human beings safe from the barbarians? By András Riedlmayer, Harvard University, April 2000

Museums in Kosovo: A First Postwar Assessment The one museum that was destroyed in the recent war was the Memorial Museum of the League of Prizren, burned down by Serbian police using shoulder-launched incendiary projectiles on 28 March 1999. By András Riedlmayer, Bosnia Report, March-June 2000 (PDF)

Kosovo Revisited The curse of Serbian oppression has been definitively lifted from the majority-Albanian population. The NATO campaign achieved the removal of Yugoslav military forces from Kosovo and, even more significant, the departure of the dreaded Serbian paramilitary units and police. This should be acknowledged by critics of the US/NATO war strategy, among whom the author includes himself. By Richard Falk, The Nation, March 22, 2000

Massacre at Cuska On May 14, 1999, Serb death squads attacked the ethnic Albanian village of Cuska, leaving 41 unarmed civilians dead. Text and audio, including interviews with Serb former militia members who spoke about killing and robbing Albanian civilians. By Michael Montgomery and Stephen Smith, American RadioWorks, February 2000
Audio of radio broadcast here.

The Kosovo Crisis The long-simmering crisis took on a new dimension in February 1998. The Serbian security forces intensified operations against Kosovo Albanians suspected of involvement with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). As security deteriorated, some 20,000 people fled over the mountains to Albania in May-June 1998. Others made their way to Montenegro, as well as to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and other parts of Western Europe. Over the following months, the clashes escalated, and by September there were an estimated 175,000 internally displaced people in Kosovo. When the air strikes began, there were already an estimated 260,000 internally displaced people within Kosovo. In addition, outside Kosovo, there were some 70,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees and displaced people in the region and over 100,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Western Europe and further afield. By the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), January 1, 2000

Libraries and Archives in Kosovo: A Postwar Report In October 1999, the author and two architects spent three weeks in Kosova conducting a postwar survey of the state of cultural and religious heritage (architectural monuments, libraries, historical archives and museums). Their Kosova Cultural Heritage Survey was undertaken, in part, to assess wartime damage and to identify projects and institutions in need of assistance. By András Riedlmayer, Bosnia Report, Dec. 1999-Feb. 2000 (PDF)

Yes, there were mass killings 10,000 to 12,000 Kosovo Albanians were killed by Serbian forces from March to June 1999. The writer refutes those who have claimed that the numbers were much lower. By Noel Malcolm, December 4, 1999

KOSOVO / KOSOVA: As Seen, As Told - Volume I With numerous interviews of victims and witnesses, this report presents a comprehensive analysis of the human rights findings of the OSCE-KVM. It gives an overview of the nature of the human rights and humanitarian laws violations in Kosovo. It looks at the specific impact of those violations on different groups in Kosovo society. Covers the period of October 1998 to June 1999.  -- OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, July 1999 (In English and Serbian)

KOSOVO / KOSOVA: As Seen, As Told - Volume II OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, December 1999

The Kosovo Numbers Game -- How many people were killed in Kosovo? Opponents of the NATO bombing campaign claim estimates were wildly exaggerated through cynical propaganda. But the totals for confirmed dead are mounting. "Holocaust revisionism" - denial of the genocide of the Jews during World War II - is illegal in some countries. But the downward revision of the numbers murdered in Kosovo is proving very fashionable - even in the New York Times. -- Ian Williams, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, November 12, 1999 (Republished November 16, 2005)

More Than 2,100 Bodies Exhumed from Kosovo Graves War crimes investigators have exhumed the bodies of 2,108 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a fraction of the thousands estimated killed during a brutal crackdown on the province by Yugoslav and Serb security forces, a U.N. prosecutor said Wednesday. -- CNN, November 10, 1999

With Milosevic Unyielding on Kosovo, NATO Moved Toward Invasion The U.S. came closer to a ground war against Serbia in June than is commonly understood. -- Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, November 7, 1999

A Village Destroyed: War Crimes in Kosovo In the early morning of May 14, 1999, in the midst of NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia, Serbian security forces descended on the small village of Cuška--Qyshk in Albanian--near the western Kosovo city of Pec (Pejë). Fearing reprisals, many men fled into the nearby hills while the rest of the population was forcibly assembled in the village center. An estimated twelve men were killed during the roundup in various parts of the village. At approximately 8:30 a.m., the security forces in green military uniforms with painted faces and masks separated the gathered women, children, and elderly from the remaining men who had not managed to flee. The more than 200 villagers were threatened and systematically robbed of their money, jewelry, and other valuables. Their identification papers were destroyed. Twenty-nine men between the ages of nineteen and sixty-four were divided into three groups and taken into three separate houses, where they were forced to stand in a line. In each house, uniformed men sprayed them repeatedly with automatic weapons. In one of the houses, a gunman finished off several of the fallen men with pistol shots. Each house was set on fire and left to burn. The events in Cuška are far from unique: hundreds, if not thousands, of ethnic Albanians were killed by Serbian special forces and paramilitaries throughout Kosovo between March and June - many of them in a similar manner. -- Human Rights Watch, October 1999

Interviews with Serbian Militia Members Interviews with Serb fighters who were active in Pec and surounding villages up to June 1999. They discuss the war crimes they committed, and how those activities were directed from Belgrade. -- Michael Montgomery and Stephen Smith, American RadioWorks, September 1999

Kosovo: the untold story (Part 1) The Observer's definitive account of the Kosovo war. The Racak massacre was a revenge attack planned by Yugoslav forces under General Sreten Lukic, head of the Ministry of Interior forces in Kosovo. -- Peter Beaumont and Patrick Wintour, The Observer (London), July 18, 1999
Kosovo: the untold story (Part 2)

Letters from Stankovec A volunteer nurse writes from a camp for displaced Kosovo Albanians on the Macedonian border. -- Donna Behrendt, July, 1999

Letters from Post-war Kosovo Three journal entries from a July visit to Kosovo. -- Peter Lippman, July, 1999

Acid and Smelting Vats Evoke Fear of Grisly Burials by Serbs Some NATO officials and local residents say the mile-deep shafts, the steaming smelting vats and the tanks of hydrochloric acid at the Trepca mine here were used as a vast disposal site for the bodies of ethnic Albanians killed by Serbian forces. By Chris Hedges, The New York Times, July 7, 1999

Letter from Skopje: a Kosovo Albanian Family in Macedonia At Dardan's house in Pec there were some 75 Albanians, displaced from nearby villages and other parts of the town. The army came there and shot into the ceiling, and gave them five minutes to leave. They all ran away, running out the doors, through the windows, "through the walls." Dardan scoffed at the idea that Albanians left Kosovo because of the NATO bombardment. He said, "People were overjoyed when it started. They were calling us here from Kosovo. Here in Macedonia, Albanians were celebrating in the streets." Dardan told me that Pec and Gjakova, further south, were the worst hit. The old market center of Gjakova is completely burned. Pec is even more destroyed, but more people were killed in Gjakova. The Serbs wanted to make an Albanian-free corridor in this western area along the border with Albania. Very few Serbs had lived in Gjakova - it was 97% Albanian. -- Peter Lippman, July 6, 1999

Investigators Overwhelmed by Extent of War Crimes Uncovered International investigators are overwhelmed by the extent of war crimes they are uncovering throughout Kosovo. In village after village, bodies of Kosovar Albanians protrude from hastily dug graves. Many bodies have been dumped in wells. Although Serb forces have retreated, the devastation they left makes it extremely difficult for the traumatized survivors to pick up their lives. The War Crimes tribunal in the Hague, its resources stretched thin, will probably be able to investigate only a small fraction of the crimes committed. (Transcript of audio) -- NPR, June 30, 1999.

Balkan Crisis Reports IWPR's network of correspondents provides inside analysis of the events and issues driving the crisis in Kosovo and the region. Searchable archive of reports back to February 1, 1999. (Change the final number in the URL to find any numbered issue.)

New York Times Coverage of NATO Intervention March-June, 1999. Index with links to published articles.

Serbs Shun Discussion of Atrocities Over the last two weeks, as foreign reporters have finally gained access to the killing fields of Kosovo, television viewers and newspaper readers all over the world have been given horrifying accounts of the violence committed by Yugoslav and Serbian forces on the ethnic Albanian population. But here in Serbia, there has been little public discussion of atrocities and no substantive reporting on the subject by the heavily censored news media. -- Washington Post, June 24, 1999

Mass Graves Found All Over Kosovo Ask someone for directions to a field holding the corpses of 142 people who were executed and he says, after that I'll show you a grave holding six members of a single family. Mass graves are everywhere in Kosovo: more than outsiders can track down in their first days back in the province; enough to keep war crimes prosecutors busy for years, if they choose. Apparently fearing just such prosecution, Serb soldiers, paramilitary, police, and civilians cremated many of their ethnic Albanian victims, or returned to exhume corpses for burning or reburial in single graves, survivors say. But while the 2 1/2-month war was time enough for killing untold thousands, it wasn't enough time for cleaning up afterward. The signs of slaughter abound. -- Associated Press, June 22, 1999

Survey of Serbian War Crimes in Kosovo Until Serb forces departed, to be an ethnic Albanian in Kosovo was to be vulnerable to theft, destruction of property, separation from family members, sexual violations, killing, beating, torture, and/or deportation for no reason other than one's ethnic identity. Such was the lot of many of those whom PHR interviewed. Such accounts of suffering, individually and collectively, are a powerful testimony to the cruelty, thoroughness, and extraordinary breadth of Milosevic's war against unarmed and helpless Kosovar Albanian men, women, and children. -- Physicians for Human Rights, June 15, 1999 (PDF file)

The Ravaging of Kosovo Analysis shows that the Serbian operation was meticulously organized, and aimed from the outset at expelling huge numbers of people. By John Kifner, The New York Times, May 29, 1999 (Four-part story)

Kosovo Men Released Among busloads of deportees from Kosovo arriving in Albania over the weekend were 1,200 men who had been separated from their families and held for three weeks in a Serb prison, where they say they were beaten and given little to eat. NPR, May 24, 1999 (Audio, requires SMIL player, such as Real Player. Use caution when installing Real, to avoid unwanted add-ons and configuration changes to your computer.)

Editor In Exile Can a radical newspaper become the blueprint for an independent Kosovo? The newspaper had been founded in April of 1997, and its irreverent and activist coverage of the province's political life had at one time or another irritated all the major players in Kosovo. By Elizabeth Rubin, The New Yorker, May 17, 1999.

Refugees recount fresh atrocities Refugees fleeing from Kosovo have brought with them graphic accounts of more atrocities allegedly committed by Serb troops. BBC May 13, 1999 (includes video)

Erasing History: Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo Summary of a comprehensive overview of Serbia's campaign to rob the people of Kosova of their homeland, their identity, their dignity and even their existence. The report contains charts and maps that show where human rights abuses occurred, the locations of internally displaced persons and refugee camps, and gives a detailed account of how Serbia's campaign of ethnic cleansing took place. We have generally tried to avoid posting information coming directly from the U.S. government. However, in the case of this document, the information is important and presented well, and it would be hard to come by something this comprehensive from other organizations that simply don't have the resources to gather it. -- U.S. State Department, May 10, 1999.

Refugees: Doctors being singled out Masked Yugoslav troops found Dr. Vesel Elezi when they roamed through the Kosovo city of Urosevac on April 4 and ordered residents to leave. He pleaded for his life, saying, "I'm a doctor." One of the soldiers replied, "You are exactly the person I am looking for," and Elezi was shot. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions governing the conduct of war, health-care professionals are supposed to be exempt from deliberate hindrance or attack. But in Kosovo, refugees say Yugoslav troops are targeting not only ethnic Albanian doctors but also their facilities, leaving virtually the entire remaining population without access to medical treatment. -- Seattle Times, April 20, 1999.

Killings and Scorched Earth in Southern Kosovo Over the past ten days, Human Rights Watch researchers in Macedonia independently interviewed more than twenty refugees from villages in the area between Urosevac (Ferizaj in Albanian) and the Macedonian border. The refugees, many of whom were on the move inside Kosovo for more than two weeks, described military style operations against their home villages, including heavy shelling and the use of tanks, followed by the wholesale burning of villages and crops and the deliberate slaughter of livestock. Refugees from several villages also provided consistent accounts of the killing of civilians by Serbian police and paramilitary units, as well as reports that some of the corpses had been mutilated. -- Human Rights Watch, April 20, 1999.

The Path to Crisis How the United States and its allies went to war. By Barton Gellman, The Washington Post, April 18, 1999

Massacre of Over Sixty Villagers Near Bela Crkva Five witnesses, interviewed separately, have described in detail how Serbian security forces executed more than sixty ethnic Albanian men in the village of Bela Crkva (Bellacerka, in Albanian) just hours after NATO bombing began in Yugoslavia on March 24. -- Human Rights Watch, April 17, 1999.

Ethnic Hungarians Fear They're Next On the walls of homes and public buildings in the Yugoslav province of Vojvodina, the slogans are ominous: "Hungarians: Your God is dead and doesn't care for you anymore." -- Seattle Times, April 17, 1999.

Refugees from Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo Information and and analysis concerning the refugee crisis that has been created by genocide, mass expulsions and atrocities against Kosovo Albanians; the pattern of ethnic cleansing taking place; and the steps that can be taken to bring about an immediate halt to the large scale Serbian-state sponsored violence, killing and massive forceful displacement of Albanians in Kosovo. --  International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, April 14, 1999

Action Alert 50 cities and towns in Kosova have been leveled to the ground, forcing the citizens to flee into the mountains to escape the murdering Serb army. They are attempting to survive without any food or shelter in frigid climate, absolutely uncertain of their fate. -- From the Kosova Task Force USA, April 11, 1999.

The Anatomy of a Purge An account of how Kosovars were systematically attacked and destroyed by the Serb army during the last two weeks. -- Washington Post, April 11, 1999.

Kosovo Albanian refugees tell how they saw events unfold over the past ten years Albanian teachers were fired. The public schools and universities were run by Serbs in Serbian. Albanians set up their own classes in private homes. They had to pay taxes to Serbia for facilities they say they were locked out of. (Transcript of audio) -- NPR, April 10, 1999

Buildup to Yugoslavia's campaign in Kosovo began as early as December More than three months before NATO launched airstrikes against Serbian targets, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was readying a fresh offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. As early as December, Serb special police and paramilitary units began to infiltrate Serbia's southern province. Ignoring an October deal for peace, Milosevic massed interior-ministry police and Yugoslav army troops in Kosovo and along its northern border in numbers far beyond those allowed by the cease-fire plan. By mid-March, Serb forces had wired tunnels and bridges on the main southern highway with dynamite, and Serbian civilians had armed themselves to the teeth. -- Knight-Ridder News Service, April 9, 1999

Kosovo Refugees Describe "Nights of Fear" in Belanice Refugees fleeing into northern Albania described an atmosphere of utter terror in the Kosovo village of Belanice, which was used by Yugoslav forces as a gathering point for ethnic Albanians living in the Malishevo district. Dozens of witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that they were robbed, threatened with death, suffered physical deprivation, and that refugees were occasionally murdered. On April 1, their ordeal in Belanice came to an abrupt end, when they were forcibly expelled from the village toward the Albanian border. -- Human Rights Watch, April 8, 1999.

Belgrade Blues I hope we all survive this war, the bombs: the Serbs, the Albanians, the bad and the good guys, those who took up the arms, those who deserted, refugees going around the Kosovo woods and Belgrade's refugees going around the streets with their children in arms, looking for non-existing shelters, when the alarm for bombing sets off. ... I think of the Albanians in Kosovo, of my friends and their fears, I think they must be worse off then us: fear springs up at that thought, it means that it is not the end yet. -- By Jasmina Tesanovic, April 6, 1999.

Cleansing Pristina After ten days in the Kosovo capital, watching the expulsions and the packed trains, our correspondent is forced to leave. After filing reports for a week with her name withheld, she now relates her own expulsion and journey over the Macedonian border. -- Gjeraqina Tuhina, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), April 5, 1999.

Systematic Depopulation in Kosovo's Capital  Serbian authorities have been systematically depopulating the Kosovo capital Pristina of its ethnic Albanian population, according to refugees interviewed yesterday by Human Rights Watch. Serbian authorities are using passenger trains to transport thousands of Pristina residents to the Macedonian border. Human Rights Watch, April 3, 1999

Violent Ethnic Cleansing in Dakovica Yugoslav forces have been gradually destroying homes and neighborhoods in Dakovica since March 24. The pace of destruction picked up dramatically yesterday, with large-scale destruction of homes. Today, thousands of refugees flowed into Krume from Dakovica, saying that the town had been largely emptied overnight. Human Rights Watch, April 3, 1999

Intolerable Conditions for Kosovo Refugees on Albanian Border Human Rights Watch researchers at the Qafe Morina crossing point, near Kukes, report that there are almost no emergency supplies and few international humanitarian aid workers in the area to assist thousands of exhausted refugees crossing the border every hour. Human Rights Watch, April 2, 1999

Eyewitnesses Confirm Killings Around Velika Krusa, Kosovo Serbian security forces killed at least fifteen Kosovar Albanians on the main road between Pec and Prizren over the past weekend. Human Rights Watch, April 2, 1999

Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo A report on genocide and atrocities against Kosovo Albanians, and the pattern of ethnic cleansing taking place. International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, March 30, 1999

Yugoslav Government Forces Systematically Expel Ethnic Albanians From Kosovo Refugees reported to Human Rights Watch researchers today that Serbian special police and Yugoslav military units are systematically expelling ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, including the cities of Pec and Prizren, in a well-orchestrated and centrally organized campaign to rid the region of the majority of its population. The stories of refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch staff in Albania and Macedonia revealed a consistent pattern in the conduct of the expulsions and their timing, underscoring the fact that the Yugoslav government evidently made a decision over the weekend to "cleanse" the region of ethnic Albanians. -- Human Rights Watch, March 30, 1999.

Report on Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Kosovo in 1998 This report demonstrates the existence of a campaign organized from within the state structure of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia involving the widespread commission of violations of international humanitarian law in Kosovo. See especially sections III-C and IV (pages 25-49), which catalog Yugoslav military attacks on the Albanian civilian population of Kosovo in 1998.  -- No Peace Without Justice, February 1999 (Word document)

Serb Police Kill 24 Albanians in Kosovo The Serbian police killed 24 ethnic Albanians in a raid on a suspected rebel hideout in Rogovo today, adding new urgency to an international demand that the antagonists settle the Kosovo crisis by mid-February or face NATO action. Later in the day, Yugoslav Army tanks began firing on rebel Kosovo Liberation Army positions near Ljupce, a snow-covered village of a half-dozen homes nine miles north of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. -- New York Times, January 30, 1999

Report on the violation of human rights and freedoms in Kosova in the course of 1998  The Council's 1998 annual report details the killing, massacre and physical liquidations of 1934 Albanians; kidnapping, arrests, ill-treatments, persecutions and displacement of 500,000 Albanians; and destruction and burning of 41.538 houses and flats. These events occurred in the year prior to NATO's intervention. -- Council for The Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (Prishtina), January 22, 1999

Report on the Racak Massacre In heavily documented reports, Human Rights Watch categorically rejected Yugoslav government claims that the victims of the January 15 attack on Racak were either Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers killed in combat, or civilians caught in crossfire. After a detailed investigation, the organization accused Serbian special police forces and the Yugoslav army of indiscriminately attacking civilians, torturing detainees, and committing summary executions. The evidence suggests that government forces had direct orders to kill village inhabitants over the age of fifteen. The killing of forty-five ethnic Albanian civilians provoked an apparent shift in western policy toward Kosovo. Yugoslav government sources, echoed by some Left writers and media sources worldwide, have claimed that reports of the Racak massacre were faked. -- Human Rights Watch, January, 1999.  
See also The Racak Case in the Belgrade Media, a report from Helsinki Watch, February, 1999.
See also War Crimes Indictment of Milosevic and others, Count 24 (a).
See also Compilation of reports on the Racak Massacre

UN Inter-Agency Updates on Kosovo, from UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

1998:

1999:

Situation Report 44 July 21 Situation Report 45 July 22 Situation Report 46 July 24 Situation Report 47 July 27 Situation Report 48 July 29 Situation Report 49 July 31 Situation Report 50 August 5 Situation Report 51 August 7 Situation Report 52 August 11 Situation Report 53 August 17 Situation Report 54 August 19 Situation Report 55 August 21 Situation Report 56 August 24 Situation Report 57 August 26 Situation Report 58 August 28 Situation Report 59 September 1 Situation Report 60 September 4 Situation Report 61 September 8 Situation Report 62 September 11 Situation Report 63 September 19 Situation Report 64 September 23 Situation Report 65 September 30 Situation Report 66 October 7 Situation Report 67 October 14 Situation Report 68 October 21 Situation Report 69 October 28 Situation Report 70 November 4 Situation Report 71 November 17 Situation Report 72 November 26 Situation Report 73 December 4 Situation Report 74 December 12 Situation Report 75 December 24

Situation Report 76 January 11 Situation Report 77 January 25 Situation Report 78 February 3 Situation Report 79 February 10 Situation Report 80 February 18 Situation Report 81 February 22 Situation Report 82 March 4

A Week of Terror in Drenica (Sept 1998) This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by Serbian and Yugoslav government forces in Kosovo's Drenica region during the last week of September 1998. As Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic wrapped up a summer-long offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), special forces of the Serbian police (MUP) and Yugoslav Army (VJ) committed summary executions, indiscriminately attacked civilians, and systematically destroyed civilian property, all of which are violations of the rules of war and can be prosecuted by the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). These atrocities took place in the face of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1199, passed on September 23, 1998, which demanded an immediate cessation of all actions by the Yugoslav and Serbian security forces against civilians. By Human Rights Watch, January 1999

Torture and ill-treatment in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Daily evidence contradicts government's rosy reports. Amnesty International, November 11, 1998

Humanitarian Law Violations in Kosovo This report documents serious breaches of international humanitarian law, the rules of war, committed in Kosovo from February to early September 1998. The vast majority of these abuses were committed by Serbian government forces. Under the command of Yugoslav President Milosevic, government troops have committed extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, systematically destroyed civilian property, and attacked humanitarian aid workers, all of which are violations of the rules of war. The Albanian insurgency (KLA) has also violated the rules of war by such actions as the taking of civilian hostages and by summary executions. Although on a lesser scale than the government abuses, these too are violations of international standards and should be condemned. By Human Rights Watch, October 1998

Tragic events continue - the protection of Kosovo's displaced and refugees Gross human rights abuses perpetrated in Kosovo province of Serbia have forcibly displaced ever multiplying numbers of people, predominantly ethnic Albanians, who form the majority in Kosovo. Civilians have been the principal victims of the violence and have frequently been deliberately targeted. Amnesty International, September 30, 1998

Serbs force Albanian refugees back to a shattered land More than 50,000 ethnic Albanians abandoned their homes in Kosovo last week after a huge Serb offensive laid waste a swath of territory in the west of the province. This latest internal exodus brings the number of those displaced to more than 400,000, nearly a quarter of Kosovo's population. By Anthony Loyd, The Times of London, September 14, 1998

Kosovo's Long Hot Summer: Briefing on Military, Humanitarian and Political Developments in Kosovo This report, the latest in a series of ICG political studies in the southern Balkans, examines the evolution of the KLA, its genesis, military fortunes, political impact, and prospects. It considers the current humanitarian crisis. It also analyzes the internal dynamics of ethnic Albanian politics in and concerning Kosovo and their impact on the options that the international community may contemplate to promote a political solution to the conflict. International Crisis Group, September 2, 1998

Peace Hopes Dim In Serb-Battered Kosovo The government of Serbia has killed hundreds of Albanians in Kosovo this year, displaced at least 200,000, and at last report destroyed around 300 villages. After a sudden and brutal massacre in Drenica in late February, Serbian police expanded their attacks throughout Kosovo, especially along the western border with Albania. By Peter Lippman, Seattle Times, August 21, 1998

Kosovo Crisis - Refugees & Displaced Persons Since late February 1998, increasingly widespread fighting between Serbian police and security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army has caused a widespread humanitarian crisis through Kosovo and the surrounding regions or countries. The conflict threatens to explode into an all out war with adverse consequences for the entire Balkan region. UNHCR estimates that as many as 79,000 people are currently displaced by the conflict in neighboring Albania, Montenegro, and the more peaceful areas within Kosovo. By Action by Churches Together International, July 22, 1998 (PDF)

UN World Food Programme reports:
WFP Emergency Report No. 23 of 1998: Yugoslavia June 5, 1998
WFP Emergency Report No. 26 of 1998: Yugoslavia and Region: Kosovo crisis June 26, 1998
WFP Emergency Report No. 27 of 1998: Yugoslavia and Region: Kosovo crisis July 3, 1998

Will There Be a War in Kosovo? In 1991 ethnic Albanians declared their own Republika e Kosoves an independent state. Ever since, they have built up their own parallel schools and clinics; but the province remains under tight Serbian control. The abuses of Serbian police, whether in arresting or in beating up Albanians, are probably the worst in Europe today. One question arises, as the Serbs continue to dismiss Albanian demands for statehood: Is war inevitable? The answer is: perhaps, but not necessarily. Kosovo is not Croatia or Bosnia. It is a looking-glass world all of its own. (Includes historical background on the relationship between Kosovo Albanians and Yugoslavs.) By Tim Judah, New York Review of Books, May 14, 1998

First Person: Jailed In Repressed Kosovo I traveled to Pristina, capital of the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo, last month as an affiliate of the California-based organization Peaceworkers. We met with Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, and observed massive demonstrations by Albanians who were protesting the recent massacre in the nearby Drenica region. Our visit culminated in our unexpected arrest. We were detained and summarily sentenced to 10 days in jail for failure to register our presence in Pristina with the local police. An American diplomat trying to get us released likened this infraction to "tearing the tag off a mattress." By Peter Lippman, Seattle Times, April 9, 1998

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