armed fighters, has radicalized the conflict by taking up arms and demanding full independence in the face of Serb determination to hold on to the province.The Serbs, under Milosevic’s rule, are determined to eliminate the KLA and drive hundreds of thousands of ethnic-Albanians from their homes. The Serb’s actions will eventually create an unavoidable humanitarian catastrophe and a potential continent-wide refugee problem. The United States and NATO allies fear that the ethnic fighting in Kosovo may lead to a much larger war. The fighting could spill over into the countries of Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The U.S. and its NATO allies are trying to force both sides to accept a compromise restoring Kosovo’s autonomy with the former Yugoslavia. After Slobodan Milosevic failing in Bosnia and Croatia, losing Kosovo might be a deathblow to his domestic political standing.In March of 1999, NATO begins a bombing campaign. Yugoslav forces launch offensive attacks against KLA rebels. In January, 45 ethnic Albanians are found slain outside Racak, Kosovo. January 18, NATO declares new air strike threat in wake of the Serb massacre. The 30th of January, Serbs and Kosovars are warned to reach a peace agreement or face military air strikes. They exceed the deadline of three weeks. “Accept peace deal on the table or suffer a NATO attack”. Kosovars who have identification cards and other documents issued before March 20th can obtain new residency cards. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians are left out of this. Serb forces destroyed most identity papers or the papers were left behind because they were forced to flee their homes. “It’s away to complicate the return of ethnic Albanians to their previous homes.” “It could complicate citizenship and identification. It could contaminate and pollute any kind of existing property records or ele...
