Kosovo Slides Into War

The Significance of the Racak Massacre January 1999

William Walker, A US diplomat and head of the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) was taken to the village

45 Kosovar Albanians were killed in Racak, a small village in central Kosovo

the village had been the centre of actions by the KLA

a week before, 4 Serb police officers were killed nearby

this led to Serb police launching an offensive on KLA fighters in the village

they herded a number of civilians to the outskirts and shot them.

Serbs have contested this version of events as they were pursuing KLA fighters who has swapped to civilian clothing

Walker accused Serbians of perpetrating a massacre in front of journalists

His statements about Racak events incited international opinion in favor of Kosovar Albanians

US adopted a more forceful policy against serbs

led to the NATO bombing campaign and withdrawal and defeat f Serbian forces in Kosovo

Walker called for an independent enquiry by the international community to investigate what happened at racak

Two days later, Serbs shelled Racak and took the corpses to Pristina and performed autopsies

two weeks later, Finnish pathologists conducted a second post mortem

Subsequent investigations have failed to clearly establish what took place

The Slide Into War 1996-98

Creation of KLA and initial actions

effects of the collapse of albania

The Killing of Adem Jashari

Founded in the early 1990s, disorganized collection of disaffected Kosovar Albanians.

After the Dayton accrods, the KLA began actively engaging in coordinated attacks targeting Serbian individuals

this included attacks on Serbian police stations and public places where Serbians gathered

attacks against Serb targets and politicians escalated over the years

in 1996, three Serbs were killed in a café in Pristina