Serbia and Montenegro: Kosovo

Kosovo and Metohija used to be as an autonomous province an integral part of the Republic of Serbia. In 1989 Serbia revoked unilaterally the autonomy of the province. In the second half of the 1990s, the tensions between Kosovo Albanians and Serb military forces led to fighting. The international community and NATO began a military intervention in March 1999 to stop the violence and the humanitarian crisis. After three months of NATO air strikes against Serbian police and military positions the United Nations Security Council issued, in June 1999, Resolution 1244 which established an interim international administration in Kosovo (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo — UNMIK). The main objective of this provisional administration is to work towards creating the conditions necessary to build provisional democratic institutions of governance to ensure a peaceful and normal life for all the inhabitants of Kosovo. The head of UNMIK is the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo (SRSG). Bernard Kouchner (France) served as the first head of UNMIK, from July 1999 to January 2001. He was followed by Hans Haekkerup (Denmark) who served from February 2001 to December 2001. Michael Steiner (Germany) served from January 2002 to July 2003. Since July 2003 the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo has been Harri Holkeri (Finland). The first municipal elections under the administration of UNMIK, for the establishment of the local institutions of municipal governments, were held in September 2000. The second municipal elections were held in October 2002. The general elections for the establishment of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) were held in November 2001.