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End of May 2023. Riots in Kosovo, injured soldiers, incendiary devices. In recent days, the conflict between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians has flared up again. The violence is also directed against the NATO-led peacekeeping force on the ground.

But why is NATO in the area at all and where does the conflict originate?

After the end of World War II, Kosovo was incorporated into Yugoslavia as a region of Serbia with autonomous rights. Among other things, at the insistence of this man: Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito.

While Serbia sees autonomy as a weakening of the state and claims the area for itself, parts of the majority of the population, which consists mainly of so-called Kosovo Albanians, are striving for independence from Serbia as an independent nation.

It is this conflict that revolves around to this day.

The dispute smouldered for decades, coming to a head in the eighties against the backdrop of an economic crisis. In 1990 there was a scandal: Slobodan Milošević, then Serbian president, forcibly took control of Kosovo, introduced a forced administration and thus de facto abolished autonomy.

Yugoslavia is already on its way to disintegration – the whole region is becoming politically unstable. Meanwhile, separatists form a "shadow state" within Kosovo. Its militant arm: the KLA, the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army. In 1998 there was a serious armed conflict: the Kosovo war began.

Spring 1998: Serbian snipers and policemen take cover. Fighting has been going on in Kosovo for weeks. The Yugoslav army and Serbian forces of law and order are advancing against the KLA. The conflict is becoming more and more bloody. Thousands of people are dying, more than half a million are fleeing.

After numerous reports of war crimes committed by Serbs against civilians, NATO intervened in the conflict in March 1999 – with air support for the Kosovars.

Germany is also participating in the mission, under a red-green government.

Gerhard Schröder, then Chancellor of Germany:
"Dear fellow citizens, this evening NATO began air strikes against military targets in Yugoslavia. In this way, the alliance wants to prevent further serious and systematic violations of human rights and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo."

Excerpt from the SPIEGEL TV report: "An hour and a half earlier,
the first four German Tornadoes took off from Piacenza, Italy, heading for Yugoslavia. The first wave of NATO bombs is directed against military installations such as anti-aircraft defenses, positions, ammunition, factories and air bases in Serbia, but also in Montenegro and Kosovo's capital Pristina."

The NATO intervention works: Less than three months later, the war ends. Yugoslavia, which consists only of Serbia and Montenegro, withdraws from Kosovo.

More than 13,500 people are dying or missing, and the region is in ruins. Kosovo becomes a protectorate, since then officially belongs to Serbia, but is administered by the UN. To this day, NATO KFOR troops are on the ground.

But the status of Kosovo has not yet been conclusively clarified, peace is unstable, and violence flares up again and again, as here in 2004.

In 2008, the Kosovars had had enough, Prime Minister Thaçi announced:

Hashim Thaçi, Prime Minister of Kosovo:
"So many men and women have made great sacrifices for a better future for Kosovo. We, the leaders of our nation, who were democratically elected, hereby declare Kosovo independent and democratic."

The Kosovo Albanians are celebrating. 117 countries now recognize independence – Russia, China and Serbia, among others, do not. Which brings us back to the here and now. The outcome of the current escalation is mayoral elections in northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs live for the most part. They demand autonomy and refuse to cooperate with the new Kosovo Albanian mayors.

In response to the events, Serbian President Vučić put the military on high alert. And NATO is sending 700 additional troops to the region.