Dictionary of Genocide - D Ank Unlimited

KOSOVO FORCE
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fired upon by KOPASSUS troops, with substantial loss of life.) KOLAKOPS commands
have not been established in all areas where Indonesia has experienced civil or separatist
strife (e.g., in Papua), but their presence in specific conflicts has indicated a special determination
on the part of the military to deal with such conflicts with a vigor not usual in
regular commands of the TNI.
Kosovo Force (KFOR). The international force especially formed and headed up by
NATO to enforce a diplomatic settlement/agreement in Kosovo between warring Kosovar
Albanians and Serbs in the late 1990s.
Kosovo Intervention, and Allegations of a Serb-perpetrated Genocide. In the aftermath
of Serbia’s failed wars to retain Slovenia and Croatia, and the drawn-out and bloody
conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 (resulting in a quarter of a million
deaths), it was hoped by many that Serbia’s nationalist regime, led by Slobodan Milosevic
(1941–2006), would rejoin the world of peaceable nations. In March 1998, however, violence
once more erupted, this time in Serbia itself—or, more specifically, in its southern
province of Kosovo. The long-term ethnic and religious animosity between minority
Serbs and majority Kosovar Albanians in the province led to the establishment of a selfdefense
organization, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), that engaged in terrorist activities
in order to attract international attention to their cause and at the same time
intimidate Serbs in the province to leave Kosovo. Serbian responses took a military form,
with widespread killings of Kosovar civilians taking place—particularly, though not
exclusively, in areas well-known as KLA strongholds such as the Drenica Valley. Increasingly,
the United States and its European allies saw a need to intervene before this stateinitiated
killing got totally out of hand: the result was the decision by NATO, after many
serious attempts at negotiation, to commence military action against Serbia in March
1999. The hope was that this would coerce Milosevic into halting the attacks against the
Kosovars, but the opposite took place: rather than succumbing, Milosevic took the
chance afforded by NATO’s intervention to attempt to “ethnically cleanse” Kosovo of
Albanians. During Serbia’s war with NATO, 1.3 million Kosovars were forcibly driven
from their homes, and eight hundred thousand were physically expelled from Kosovo.
Thousands were killed, raped, and maimed in the process. It is from these actions that
accusations of genocide have their roots.
Kosovo Intervention, Serb Claims of Genocide. Accusations of genocide committed
by NATO during its military intervention into Kosovo for the purpose of stopping the
ethnic cleansing being perpetrated against the province’s Kosovar Albanian population by
the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic (1941–2006), during the spring of 1999. Such
accusations emerged both during and after the conflict. This was one of a number of
tactics employed by the Serbian government of Slobodan Milosevic (1941–2006) to
discredit NATO’s war effort and turn world opinion against NATO. During the conflict,
Serbian authorities in Belgrade and abroad claimed that NATO had carried out war
crimes against civilians, in particular through the use of cluster bombs against civilian targets
and attacks on facilities with dual civilian and military usages—for instance, the
state-run Serb television headquarters in Belgrade. In another example, there was evidence
of use being made of depleted uranium weapons by NATO aircraft, though this was
not considered to be a war crime under existing international laws of war. The NATO
campaign did cause serious damage to the environment, and questions were certainly
raised in international arenas regarding NATO’s selection of bombing targets, particularly