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which have occurred on a widespread basis, cannot be
regarded as the mere consequence of the excesses of
"rogue elements" within the security and
military personnel present in Kosovo and charged with
neutralising the threat of terrorism. The following
summary of events from March and April through to October
instead reveals the stark reality of a sequence of
attacks and operations conforming to a large degree to a
pattern, which could only have been directed by a central
policy and source. Before entering into a more detailed discussion of the course of the Serbian/FRY campaign from April to October 1998, it is useful to briefly outline the more recent political and historical developments within the FRY and Kosovo, which must be understood in order to place the current conflict in context. It should be emphasised, however, that such an analysis is in no ways an attempt to explain the causes of the conflict, nor to assess the validity of the Kosovars’ claim to increased autonomy or independence. The present report is concerned solely with the methods utilised by the Serbian/FRY authorities to pursue their policies and no conclusions should be drawn beyond those that concern the existence of violations of international humanitarian law. It should also be noted that, for reasons of practicality, place names cited throughout the report are generally given in the Serbian version, although a few may appear in the Albanian. 18 A. Background Under the 1974 Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) Kosovo had the status of an autonomous province within the Republic of Serbia, one of the six republics making up Yugoslavia. Despite the fact that Kosovo lacked the formal status of a republic, the 1974 Constitution granted it a large measure of autonomy and, along with Vojvodina, it was a constituent member of the federation, having its own Assembly and seat on the Federal Parliament and Presidency. Despite these measures, the Kosovar population sustained an aspiration to achieve recognition as a republic, with equal rights and privileges to the others. In the census of 1981, 77.4% of its population (1,226,735) were registered as ethnic Albanian and 13.2% (209,498) as Serbs. While more up to date figures have not yet been compiled, most estimates indicate that, due to the much higher birth rate among the Albanian population and recent migrations, around 90% of the population now are considered ethnic Albanian.19 Throughout the 1980s the Kosovar population became increasingly vocal, through protests and demonstrations, in its demands for better living conditions as well as republican status. Many people were arrested and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment during this period and prominent Kosovar members of the Communist party were removed. At the same time, towards the end of the 1980s, the Kosovo Serb population, feeling increasingly threatened by these events and being subjected to a concerted propaganda campaign from Belgrade itself, demanded the imposition of measures to prevent what they considered to be attacks upon Serbs within Kosovo. This escalation in tension resulted in a petition
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