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Erasing History: Ethnic Cleansing in Kosovo Report released by the U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, May 1999

CHRONOLOGY OF RECENT ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO

March 19: Withdrawal of the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM).

Extensive mobilization of Serbian security forces beyond earlier force deployments began several days prior to the March 19 withdrawal of the KVM monitors and most NGOs following the failure of the Paris talks and in anticipation of NATO airstrikes. By the time OSCE Chairman-in-Office Knut Vollebaek authorized departure of the monitors for Macedonia, additional Serbian forces and VJ reinforcements had deployed to Kosovo to secure major transport routes, and appeared to be poised for larger scale operations. The speed with which the campaign was conducted and the breadth of the operation appear to indicate that there was a plan to ethnically cleanse at least the KLA strongholds, if not the entire province, of its ethnic Albanian population.

The humanitarian situation, which had improved somewhat in February, significantly deteriorated by mid-March -- including the outflow of refugees and displaced persons -- due to the widespread activities of Serbian forces. For example, a MUP/VJ force of 200 entered a village west of Djakovica on March 18, and engaged in looting and shooting, which resulted in the death of one person. The MUP was also active in Orahovac and Kacanik, and paramilitary forces were active near Gnjilane. Serbian spokesmen claimed that they were responding to KLA provocations, although KVM observers did not observe such incidents. In another example, Serbian forces on March 20 attacked three key towns -- Srbica, Glogovac, and Luzane -- on the pretense that the KLA had attacked police stations there on March 19. There is no evidence currently available to support the Serbian government claim of the earlier KLA attacks.

On March 19, the UNHCR reported a total of 333,000 displaced Kosovars: 250,000 IDPs within Kosovo, 30,000 elsewhere in Serbia, 25,000 in Montenegro, as well as almost 10,000 refugees in Macedonia and 18,000 in Albania.

March 20

VJ and MUP forces launched a significant operation against KLA forces in northeastern and north-central Kosovo to secure key lines of communication and the Cicavica mountains area apparently as a prelude to initiating their broader offensive against the KLA. One sector of the attack, between Vucitrn and Pristina, had seen no recently reported KLA activity. The Podujevo-Pristina road was blocked by Serbian forces activity, which forced civilians to flee to the hills.

March 21

By this date, 25,000 Kosovars were newly displaced in the Drenica region where Serbian forces were reportedly looting and burning homes; civilian executions were reported by the KLA in Srbica.

March 23

By this time, most major cities were targeted by Serbian forces for ethnic cleansing: Pec, Prizren, Djakovica, Pristina, Urosevac, Podujevo, and Kacanik. The emptying of Kosovska Mitrovica had began.

March 24

Beginning on or shortly after the commencement of the NATO airstrikes, VJ forces reportedly joined police and paramilitary units in systematically expelling ethnic Albanians from both villages and larger towns. Population centers that had not been targeted before and had no KLA presence were being emptied. Thousands of dwellings reportedly were looted and torched. Serbian forces allegedly significantly accelerated their large-scale confiscation and destruction of documents. Reports of atrocities increased significantly.

March 25

Yugoslavia broke off diplomatic relations with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

March 26

The OSCE office in Tirana reported the burning of villages in Kosovo.

March 27

Ethnic Albanians, fleeing or expelled from Kosovo, began to pour into Albania and Macedonia, leading to a refugee crisis.

March 29

By this time there were reports that the majority of the 1.6 million ethnic Albanians in Kosovo may have been displaced from their homes. Whole towns and villages had been emptied. UNHCR reports estimated that Serbian forces had forcibly expelled upwards of 70,000 persons into Albania over the weekend. Refugees reported the forced separation of military-aged men from groups, summary executions in at least 20 towns and villages, and the widespread looting and burning of homes.

March 30

There were reports from an NGO that Albanian men may have been herded into the Sports Stadium Complex in Pristina for detention, while press and refugees reports indicated that as many as ethnic Albanians were taken by forced march from the town of Cirez to Srbica and were being detained in a factory.

March 31

Trains carried Kosovar refugees to the Macedonian border. The UNHCR reported that 125,000 refugees had fled since March 24.

April 2

The governments of Albania and Macedonia reported that they were overwhelmed by refugees. Some 25,000 ethnic Albanians reportedly were forcibly transported by trains from Pristina to Macedonia

April 4

Western leaders proposed an airlift to take another 100,000 Kosovars to NATO countries. Macedonia agreed to let NATO set up camps for another 100,000.

April 5

At least 560,000 Kosovar Albanians -- over one-quarter of the province's pre-conflict population -- had left Kosovo since the Serb crackdown that began in March of last year. Over half are in neighboring countries. NATO released imagery of 500 people surrounded by Serb forces in the town of Glodane.

April 6

Refugees reported the existence of mass graves in Drenica, Malisevo, and Pagarusa. Approximately 150 bodies reportedly were discovered in Drenica and 34 in Malisevo. Serbian forces reportedly locked the members of an entire family into a house in a village in Drenica and burned them alive.

About 150 Kosovo refugees were flown to Turkey, the first flight of the proposed airlift.

April 9

An estimated 700,000 ethnic Albanians were reportedly displaced within Kosovo at this point. Refugee reports claimed that over 3,200 ethnic Albanians died as a result of executions by Serbian forces.

The UNHCR recommended that refugees should stay close to Kosovo; most NATO airlift plans were put on hold.

April 12

The Yugoslav parliament voted to join a union with Russia and Belarus

April 13

Publicly-released NATO imagery corroborates refugee reports of mass burials at Pusto Selo.

April 16

The refugee exodus returned to the crisis level of 20,000 new arrivals per day. Governments, international organizations, and NGOS were challenged to expand the camps to meet the need.

April 17

The UNHCR reported that it might have to revive plans for a mass airlift of refugees to distant countries. NATO released imagery of a mass grave at Izbica.

April 18

NATO reported that 850,000 uprooted ethnic Albanians were being herded or attacked by Serbian forces in Kosovo

The government of Yugoslavia broke diplomatic relations with Albania.

April 21

Press reports indicated that some 3,300 ethnic Albanians fled into Albania from Montenegro, probably in reaction to the killing of a group of Kosovar IDPs and a Montenegrin near Rozaj by VJ reservists on April 19.

April 22

According to the UNHCR, the Bosnian government was preparing to handle up to 100,000 more refugees from Kosovo in the event of a worst-case scenario. At this time, Bosnia hosted around 32,000 refugees from Serbia-Montenegro. Such a new influx would severely strain Bosnia's resources.

April 23

The UNHCR estimated that some 1.2 to 1.5 million Kosovar Albanians were displaced from their homes since the conflict escalated in March of last year. Some 400 towns and villages were reportedly damaged or destroyed by Serbian forces since mid-March 1999.

April 27

According to refugee reports, Serbian forces killed 200 military-aged ethnic Albanian men along a road near Djakovica. About a hundred Kosovar Albanians were observed fleeing from Serb forces in Dobros.

April 30

The UNHCR reported over 3,000 refugees entering Albania and over 5,000 entering Macedonia from Kosovo. The UNHCR also reported that 6,000 to 8,000 refugees arrived from the southern Serbian town of Presevo, indicating that ethnic Albanian refugees are beginning to leave parts of Serbia outside of Kosovo. Refugees claimed that they left the Presevo area because they were either being conscripted or forced into military barracks by paramilitaries. Refugees also claimed that Serbian forces were storing military equipment in villages. The U.S. Government released imagery of refugees fleeing Dobros.

May 5

The UNHCR reported over 7,000 refugees entering Albania and 8,400 entering Macedonia from Kosovo. Many of the refugees entering Albania told stories of widespread abduction of hundreds of young men and the killings of some of those abducted. The UNHCR estimated that the number of Kosovars who have fled to neighboring areas reached a total of almost 700,000, including 404,000 in Albania, 211,000 in Macedonia, and 62,000 in Montenegro. The refugees entering Albania from the Djakovica region reported stories consistent with earlier reports. Based on these accounts the UNHCR reported that the Djakovica region "undoubtedly has been one of the most violent and cruel in the whole of Kosovo, turning it at times into a virtual killing field."

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