Yugoslav President Tito made Kosovo an autonomous province of Serbia in 1974. After Tito died, the Yugoslav Federation began to fall apart and in 1989 Slobodan Milosevic changed the constitution, revoking autonomy for Kosovo after Albanians proclaimed illegal independence.

Ethnic Albanians rallied around Dr. Ibrahim Rugova who led a campaign of non-violent resistance to Milosevic’s policies. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s relations between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians deteriorated dramatically. The situation became even more violent when KLA - ethnic Albanians in the province started attacking and killing Serbian police, who reportedly killed 20 ethnic Albanians who shot at police in the Drenica basin in Kosovo on late February 1998. Ongoing tensions led to more violence that spring when armed clashes erupted throughout the region. It is estimated that the Serbian police killed more than 200 KLA in Kosovo between February and June 1998. Drenica and Pristina are the sites of the worst violence between Serbian police and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK).

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia make up the Contact Group on Kosovo and have tried to bring the situation in Kosovo to a peaceful resolution. This Contact Group made four demands of the Serbian government in 1998: cease hostilities on both sides, unconditionally withdraw Serbian police and Yugoslavian Army units from Kosovo and allow unlimited access of international monitors in the region. Milosevic agreed to all of the conditions with the exception of troop withdrawal. According to Milosevic this would lead to Kosovo’s independence, which Serbia finds unacceptable.

In March 1998, the United Nations Security Council voted to adopt resolution 1160, condemning the excessive use of force by Serbian police on KLA in Kosovo. The UN Security Council also enacted Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which paved the way for an arms embargo against Yugoslavia. Under Chapter VII the UN called the violence in Kosovo a threat to international peace and security.

By the fall of 1998, the Serbian police were still fighting KLA who have regained the lost positions in Kosovo even though they agreed not to retain these positions. NATO issued an Activation Warning in late September 1998, meaning that NATO was contemplating military action. Shortly thereafter an Activation Request was issued, calling for NATO members to allocate troops for a NATO action. The Activation Order came as NATO extraction forces arrived in the area to evacuate civilian personnel from embassies.

In January 1999, the situation began to come to a head with the alleged massacre of KLA in Racak. Diplomatic efforts to reach a solution were intensified, and a meeting was held in Rambouillet, France in a last ditch effort to bring peace to the region. The Albanian delegation agreed to the terms set forth by NATO enforced military agreement in Rambouillet that would give ethnic Albanians independence after three years. However, Milosevic refused to budge on the issue, while NATO warned Serbia that it would conduct air strikes against Serb targets in Kosovo if Serbia did not comply. That threat has now been carried out.