Some Facts
The estimated 2.2 million inhabitants of Kosovo (the latest census stems from 1981) are spread over a (land-locked) surface area of nearly 11.000 km2. Approximately one quarter of its inhabitants live in and around the capital, Prishtina. Other cities are Mitrovica in the north, Peja in the West and Prizren in the south of the country. Around 90 per cent of Kosovo’s population is Albanian, 5 per cent is from Serbian descent and several other small minorities constitute the last five per cent (Bosniaks, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians).
Part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was officially established in 1929 and constituted the republics of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia, Kosovo gained the status of autonomous province. In 1991, the FRY started to disintegrate, with Slovenia and Croatia being the first republics to declare their independence. Other republics followed and the region lapsed into violent conflict.
The 1998-1999 Kosovo war, in which the region strived for independence from Serbia, resulted in thousands (some estimate tens of thousands) of casualties, and led to hundreds of thousands of (some estimate in excess of a million) refugees. The conflict was only ended by a NATO-intervention in March 1999. As a consequence, Kosovo was put under international auspices and was governed by a UN-administration under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, that assigned responsibilities for the rule of law to a combination of NATO's "international security presence" KFOR, and a UN international civil presence UNMIK. Resolution 1244 initially kept Kosovo officially part of the Republic of Serbia.
Several internationally lead negotiations between Serbian representatives (a delegation headed by Slobodan Milosevic) and representatives from Kosovo’s side (under leadership of Ibrahim Rugova) proved fruitless. In October 2005, former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari was named Special Representative of the UNSG. In 2007 he presents his Plan to the parties involved, suggesting granting Kosovo internationally supervised independence. The recommendation is discarded by Serbia, and the majority of the UN Security Council.
On 17 February 2008, Kosovo declared its independence. Until now, 65 countries have recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state, among others 22 countries of the European Union as well as the United States. Other countries, including Serbia, Russia and China, remain firmly opposed to Kosovo’s independence.
Up until now, the international community in Kosovo has remained large. Although Kosovo’s government is now headed by president Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, a small number of UN representatives are still present, reflecting the fact that not all countries have recognised legitimacy of the government of Kosovo.
KFOR, the NATO military force under UN-administration responsible for maintaining law and order, is stationed throughout the territory, but decreasing in number as their tasks are being taken over by the Kosovo Security Force. The EU-mission EULEX is assisting in customs, judicial and law and order areas, and the International Civilian Office, headed by Dutchman Pieter Feith, is responsible for supervising implementation of the Ahtisaari plan, on which Kosovo’s constitution is based.