What were the factors in the Kosovan conflict that eventually led to Kosovo’s declaration of independence as a sovereign state? This case study analyses the role of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the conflict, the emergence of Kosovo as a sovereign nation, and how the KLA and its members made the transition to peacetime roles. Unlike other resistance movements, whose actors have been reintegrated into an existing state structure following peace accords, the KLA transformed itself into a de facto state architecture under international protection.
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) experienced a relatively short existence in Kosovo’s history, only occupying a dominant position in the second half of the 1990s. Its emergence represented the climax of a long history of resistance movements, both peaceful and armed, stretching back to the beginning of the 20th century.
The unconstitutional annulment of Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989 followed by the de facto apartheid system introduced by the Serbs in the early 1990s led to Albanians setting up a parallel de facto government led by the People’s Movement of Kosovo (LDK) party. They espoused civil and nonviolent resistance through boycotting Belgrade.
The 1995 Daytona Peace Accords on Bosnia and Herzegovina sidelined Kosovo in the international agenda. Peaceful resistance seemed too weak to push back Serbian oppression. The KLA formed to liberate Kosovo from the Serbs through armed struggle. It achieved dominance through its straightforward aim, which garnered increasing popular support, financial support from the diaspora, and success in guerrilla warfare.
In representing the interests and concerns of one ethnic group oppressed by another, the KLA was similar to other resistance and liberation movements. However, the KLA narrative and the recent history of Kosovo also followed their own unique trajectory of development.
- The peaceful resistance and the armed struggle led a parallel existence until the end of the conflict. Neither acted as the political or armed wing of one another. Although their objective was essentially the same, the tension between them was never reconciled
- International actors, chiefly the USA and European Union countries, took an active military role following the debacle of the 1999 Rambouillet peace talks. NATO embarked on its first military intervention against a sovereign state, bombing Serbia for 78 days.
- The international community followed a pattern of heavy engagement after the war; the United Nations took over the administration of Kosovo and NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) provided security for its citizens.
- KLA combatants moved across into newly formed civilian police and emergency agencies under international oversight. The emergency agency was later transformed into a de facto Kosovan army rather than being dissolved. There was therefore no disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process.
- After almost a decade as an international protectorate, Kosovo declared itself independent in February 2008, factually and legally seceding from Serbia.
Kosovo has proven to be a testing ground for the application of some potentially conflicting norms in international relations and international law. These include the ongoing dilemma between the principles of human rights and self-determination versus those of sovereignty and non-interference in internal matters. It was in this context that the International Court of Justice gave its advisory opinion that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not contravene international law.
