Kosovo -- timeline of events

15/12/2006

(AP, BBC, CNN, Electronic Telegraph, US Department of State)

1989

Kosovo's autonomy revoked under amendments to the Serbian constitution, bringing the province under Belgrade's direct control.

Slobodan Milosevic elected president of Serbia.

1990

Thousands of Kosovo Albanians take part in riots. Belgrade strengthens Yugoslav Army and Serbian police presence in the province. Martial law is imposed.

July -- Kosovo Albanian leaders declare independence. Serbia dissolves the province's assembly.

By September more than 100,000 Kosovo Albanian employees at state-run companies and institutions have been sacked. Kosovo Albanian cultural institutions are suppressed and education in the Albanian language is suspended, to be restored in 1994.

1991

Albania recognises the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo.

1992

April -- following the secession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, form the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Kosovo Albanians conduct a self-organised plebiscite not recognised by Belgrade or any foreign government. Writer Ibrahim Rugova, a proponent of "passive resistance," is elected president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo and a provincial assembly is set up.

1995

July -- Serbian court sentences 68 Kosovo Albanians, charged with setting up a parallel police force, to up to eight years in prison.

August -- A move by the Serbian authorities to settle several hundred Croatian Serb refugees in Kosovo sparks protests among ethnic Albanians.

1996

A separatist rebel group, calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), emerges for the first time, claiming responsibility for a series of bombings and attacks against Serbian police and state officials.

1997

The KLA stages a number of attacks on Serbian leaders, police and Kosovo Albanians who collaborate with the Serbs. Ethnic Serbs are driven out of many mixed villages.

October -- Kosovo Albanian student demonstrations crushed by Serbian police, prompting new KLA attacks.

1998

February-March -- Serbia begins major crackdown in Kosovo. Dozens of people are killed and hundreds of thousands of civilians, mostly Kosovo Albanians, are forced to flee their homes.

April -- 95% of Serbs vote in a referendum against international mediation in Kosovo.

May -- Milosevic and Rugova hold talks for first time, but following a Serb offensive in Decani that leaves several dozen Kosovo Albanians dead, the Albanian side refuses to attend further meetings.

September -- Twenty-two Kosovo Albanians found massacred in central Kosovo following Serb attacks in the region. The UN Security Council adopts a resolution, calling for a ceasefire in Kosovo and warning the Belgrade authorities that they could face "additional measures" if they fail to comply.

October -- Facing a NATO threat for airstrikes against Serbian military targets and under a deal brokered by US envoy Richard Holbrooke, Milosevic agrees to pull out some troops and to allow 2,000 OSCE monitors into Kosovo.

December -- Thirty-six KLA fighters are killed by Serbian forces in the worst clash since the ceasefire. Six Serbs killed in a cafe, prompting widespread Serb protests. Fresh fighting in the north leaves at least 15 dead.

1999

January -- The bodies of 45 ethnic Albanians are discovered in the village of Racak.

February-March -- Internationally-brokered peace talks with representatives of the warring parties held in Rambouillet, France. The talks are suspended on March 19th after the Serbian representatives reject the proposed deal, signed by the Kosovo Albanian side.

March 20th -- International peace monitors evacuate, citing security and possibility of NATO airstrikes.

March 24th -- NATO launches air strikes against Yugoslavia.

June 10th -- NATO Secretary General Javier Solana calls off airstrikes. UN Security Council passes Resolution 1244, welcoming Yugoslavia's acceptance of a political deal, including an immediate end to violence and a rapid withdrawal of its military, police and paramilitary forces. Placing Kosovo under UN administration, the resolution also authorises the establishment of UNMIK and the deployment of a NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR).

2001

November -- Kosovo holds its first democratic general elections, won by Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

2002

February -- Rugova elected president of Kosovo, while Bajram Rexhepi becomes prime minister.

2003

October 14th -- Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders meet in Vienna for their first face-to-face talks since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict.

December -- UN outlines a set of standards Kosovo must meet for talks on determining its final status to be launched in 2005.

2004

March -- Three days of ethnic clashes -- the worst since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict -- leave 19 people dead and hundreds of others wounded. Hundreds of homes and dozens of religious monuments are damaged or destroyed during the unrest across the province.

October -- President Rugova is re-elected after the LDK wins general elections, boycotted by Kosovo Serbs. Former KLA commander and leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj heads the government as prime minister.

2005

March -- Haradinaj resigns as Kosovo prime minister to face war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Bajram Kosumi replaces him in the post.

2006

January 21st -- President Rugova dies of lung cancer at his Pristina home to be succeeded the following month by Fatmir Sejdiu.

February 20th -- Direct UN-sponsored talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials on the province's future status open in Vienna. The negotiations are led by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

March -- Facing criticism from his own party, Kosumi resigns as prime minister and is replaced by former KLA commander Agim Ceku.

October -- Serbian voters approve in a referendum a new constitution, describing Kosovo as an inalienable part of the country's territory.

2007

February 2nd -- The UN's special envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, presents a draft proposal for Kosovo's future status. It seeks to protect Kosovo's minorities while giving the province the right to join international organizations and adopt national symbols.

March 26th -- Ahtisaari reports to the UN Security Council. He says Belgrade and Pristina cannot reach an agreement and that internationally supervised independence is the only answer for Kosovo.

April 3rd -- The UN Security Council begins discussing the Ahtisaari plan, which is accepted by Albanian leaders but rejected by Belgrade.

July 20th -- A draft Security Council resolution based on the Ahtisaari plan is shelved due to opposition from Russia.

August 10th -- A "troika" of mediators representing the EU, the United States and Russia launches a new round of talks on Kosovo's status.

November 29th -- The troika-led talks end without an agreement.

2008

January 16th -- The UN Security Council meets to discuss Kosovo, but remains split over the issue.

January 28th -- EU foreign ministers discuss a planned mission to Kosovo.

February 17th -- Kosovo's parliament votes to declare independence from Serbia. Kosovo is subsequently recognized as an independent state by the United States, several EU member states, and other countries around the globe.