Description

1999 (Apr 6) Plain envelope to Pristina, Serbia – Kosovo from Jean Sibley, Nottingham bearing Machin 1st Class & 5p with alongside No Euro / Keep Our Pound sticker all tied Leicester Mail Centre datestamp & with Royal Mail /Dublin letter explaining that Service is Supended to Serbia, Montenegro & Kosovo together with larger Royal Mail envelope for Return to Sender …..3 items …….
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Kosovo problems can be traced back to 1987 & the rise of Slobodan Milosovec during the turmoil within Yugoslavia after the death of Tito, in 1980, who had held the whole region together after WW2. See : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kosovo/etc/cron.html Riots began in 1989 after Milosovec engineered alterations to the Serbian constitution that greatly affected the Kosovarians & by 1994 ethnic cleansing was being enacted that causes NATO airstrikes from 24 April against Bosnian Serbs & 1996 sees the rise of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who on 23 Feb 1998 get labelled Terrorists by the USA thus giving Milosevic (in his mind anyway) a green light resulting in greater aggression but by 7 May 1998 the USA backtrack & stated “We will not allow the Serbs to do in Kosovo what they can no longer do in Bosnia” resulting in economic sanctions & an arms embargo with many talks taking place, while Serbian attacks & KLA retaliation’s continue throughout the year while multi national peacekeeping forces are drafted in. Finally on 20 Jun 1999 Serbs complete a withdrawal from Kosovo & on 20 Sep 1999 KFOR confirms that KLA has also completed demilitarisation.