Kosovo and U.S. Policy

Publication Date: January 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

From February 1998 to March 1999, fighting between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Yugoslav troops killed over 2,500 ethnic Albanian civilians and the displacement of over 400,000 people. After Yugoslavia rejected a Western-sponsored peace plan for Kosovo put forward during peace talks at Rambouillet, France in February-March 1999, NATO began air strikes against Yugoslavia on March 24. The Serbs launched an intensified ethnic cleansing campaign that resulted in thousands of additional deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more. After 78 days of NATO bombing, Yugoslavia agreed on June 3 to withdraw its Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, Kosovo is governed by a U.N. civil administration until elections are held for an autonomous local government. After the autonomous government is in place, Kosovo's long-term status will be considered. Almost all ethnic Albanians want independence for Kosovo; Serbs say it should remain within Yugoslavia.

A NATO-led peacekeeping force (dubbed KFOR), is charged with providing a secure environment for the implementation of UNSC Res. 1244. After KFOR deployed to Kosovo, most ethnic Serbs left the province. KFOR has been faced with continuing violence against ethnic Serbs by ethnic Albanians, as well as a ethnic Albanian guerrilla insurgency operating from Kosovo against the Presevo valley in southern Serbia, a region with a large ethnic Albanian population. Kosovo held its first free and fair municipal elections on October 28, 2000. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), led by moderate Ibrahim Rugova handily defeated its leading competitor, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, led by ex-Kosovo Liberation Army commander Hashim Thaci. Almost all ethnic Serbs in Kosovo boycot ted the vote. The United Nations is likely to schedule elections for a Kosovo-wide government for the first half of 2001.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Kosovo, the Administration condemned Serbian human rights abuses in Kosovo and called for autonomy for Kosovo, while opposing independence. The Administration pushed for air strikes against Yugoslavia in March 1999. It rejected the use of ground troops to eject Yugoslav forces from Kosovo, but favored the deployment of U.S. peacekeepers in Kosovo if a peace agreement were reached. U.S. officials have emphasized that Europe should provide most of the resources for peacekeeping and reconstruction effort.

In 1999, the 106th Congress debated approval of Operation Allied Force. Congress neither explicitly approved nor blocked the air strikes, but appropriated funds for the air campaign and the U.S. peacekeeping deployment in Kosovo. In 2000, several Members unsuccessfully attempted to condition the U.S. military deployment in Kosovo on congressional approval and on the implementation of aid pledges made by European countries. In 1999 and 2000, Congress provided funding for reconstruction in Kosovo, but limited aid to 15% of the total amount pledged by all countries.