SUMMARY
In the context of the Government of Yugoslavia’s armed conflict with the UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare ë Kosovës, Kosovo Liberation Army) in Kosovo the government made use of one-sided violence (see the Government of Yugoslavia - UCK conflict).
The government’s campaign to regain full control of the area of Kosovo began in 1998 and lasted until 1999, when NATO’s intervention on the side of the UCK led to the signing of a peace settlement. The Yugoslav campaign against Kosovo in part focused on wiping out the Kosovo Albanian rebels, but also contained the traits of systematic human rights abuses mirroring the acts of many of the warring parties in the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It has been shown by several scholars and analysts that the Government of Yugoslavia’s campaign against the UCK did not only target rebel fighters, but also the civilian population. Some analysts attribute these attacks on civilians to a Yugoslav strategy of driving out the Kosovo Albanian population so as to regain control of the territory, wipe out popular support for the rebels and to change Kosovo’s demographic balance. The targeting of ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo points to the one-sided violence and the related abuses being part of what is commonly phrased as “ethnic cleansing”, i.e. deliberate efforts to remove a specific ethnic group from a specific territory by force.
Large-scale abuses began in early 1998, although this first phase of the Yugoslav campaign in Kosovo bore the hallmarks of an indiscriminate counterinsurgency campaign that also targeted civilians. The campaign intensified in the first months of 1999, especially so after the start of NATO’s campaign of aerial bombardment in late March. It was throughout this year that the characteristics of “ethnic cleansing” became more visible. The year 1999 saw a large-scale offensive against UCK rebels, as well as concerted efforts to force the expulsion of the ethnic Albanian population from Kosovo. One-sided violence on a grand scale came to a halt with the peace agreements signed in June of 1999.
In attacks, perpetrated by a range of forces loyal to the Government of Yugoslavia, civilians were summarily executed, tortured and expelled from homes. Further, Yugoslav forces engaged in looting, burning, the killing of livestock, and sexual abuse. As a result, hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their homes as entire villages were burnt to the ground. Weapons used ranged from long-range artillery, through tanks, to rifles and guns.
Attacks on civilians in Kosovo were perpetrated by a wide range of Yugoslav troops, ranging from the Yugoslav national army to Serbian paramilitary forces. Forces of the Milosevic-controlled Interior Ministry also played a prominent role in these actions, although it appears as if though the most violent abuses were carried out by the paramilitary formations. In terms of geography, large areas of Kosovo, in southern Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia), were struck by incidents of one-sided violence. The loci of the violence were however the southwest border areas (bordering Albania) and the western and central parts of the region. Areas with a history of support to the UCK were especially affected.
The Government of Yugoslavia first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1998, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 27 May when Yugoslav soldiers massacred approximately 30 Albanian civilians in the Kosovo town of Decan.
