Since the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo has been in diplomatic limbo, technically still a province of Serbia, but administered by the United Nations. Now, talks on its future are close to an outcome.

A two year ethnic Albanian insurgency against the Serbian security forces, begun in 1998 led to a series of gruesome reprisals against civilians which finally forced the NATO...
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Since the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo has been in diplomatic limbo, technically still a province of Serbia, but administered by the United Nations. Now, talks on its future are close to an outcome.

A two year ethnic Albanian insurgency against the Serbian security forces, begun in 1998 led to a series of gruesome reprisals against civilians which finally forced the NATO alliance into its first war. According to the UN, atrocities committed by Serbian security forces claimed the lives of approx 10,000, the vast majority of them ethnic Albanian civilians.

When Milosevic finally capitulated in June 1999, refugees returned en masse and the UN took control of the province. Almost immediately revenge attacks began against the Serb population and also against the Roma, who were seen by many as having collaborated with the Serb security forces.

The war in Kosovo, rather than leading to a lasting peace, instead emboldened ethnic Albanian nationalists to launch insurgencies in Southern Serbia in 2000 and Macedonia in 2001. Both conflicts at times threatened to spin out of control, but were reigned in by international diplomacy .

As for Kosovo, it continued under UN control, its status remaining unclear , leading to a lack of foreign investment, its population suffering daily power cuts and water shortages.

General dissatisfaction with the UN, and a growing sense of impatience with Kosovos lack of status meant that when it was claimed in March 2004 that 3 Albanian boys had drowned because they were being chased by local Serbs, widespread riots by the Albanian majority were quick to follow. Three days of violence led to at least 19 deaths (11 Albanians and 8 Serbs), 4000 Serbs and Roma forced from their homes and tens of churches destroyed or damaged. It also led to a realization by the international community that the time had come to finally try to resolve the issue of Kosovo.
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