Germany's foreign minister has called on Serbia and Kosovo to resume talks on normalizing bilateral relations. The EU has made this a condition for the two countries to join the bloc.
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Serbia and Kosovo must crank up efforts to negotiate successfully on a normalization process, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Friday after meeting with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.
"It is the right time to continue the normalization process and to achieve results," Mass told a press conference.
"It is important not to hold this dialogue just for dialogue's sake; there must be results. Germany stands ready to help," he said.
In response, Vucic said that his country was ready to "work hard" to reach a "compromise solution," saying both Serbs and Albanians needed peace for a secure future.
"We do not recognize Kosovo, but we are ready to discuss the future of the entire region in a serious and responsible way," he said, adding, "The essence of progress is in peace."
In Kosovo, finally being able to say goodbye
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Why are there problems between Serbia and Kosovo?
Kosovo is a former province of Serbia that Belgrade lost control of in 1999, in one of the last chapters of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, when ethnic Albanian separatists successfully fought Serb forces once aided by a NATO bombing campaign.
Kosovo went on to unilaterally declare independence in 2008. The move, though recognized by most EU countries and the US, has not been accepted by Serbia or its allies Russia and China.
The EU, which has told both countries they must normalize relations to become bloc members, has been mediating talks on the issue. They have been stalled since September, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NATO intervention against Serbia — a look back
The 1999 NATO bombardment of Serbia ended that country's violence against Kosovo Albanians. Still, more than 20 years later, the war, which was conducted without UN backing, remains controversial.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Traces of war on the Kosovo field
The Kosovo conflict intensified at the end of the 1990s. Ten thousand people were displaced. When all efforts to bring peace to the region failed, NATO started air strikes on Serbian military bases and strategic targets in Serbia on March 24, 1999. After 11 weeks, Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic finally backed down.
Image: Eric Feferberg/AFP/GettyImages
Non-violent resistance fails
Protests against Belgrade's attempts to undermine the rights of the Albanian majority in Kosovo began in the mid-1980s. The 1990s saw a massive increase in Serbian repression. Ibrahim Rugova (l.), who took the reins of Kosovo's political movement in 1989, called for non-violent resistance and sought to convince Slobodan Milosevic (r.) to change course — to no avail.
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Armed guerrilla war
An armed resistance formed in Kosovo, in which the self-proclaimed Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) began a brutal guerrilla war. The UCK undertook violent attacks on Serbia as well as against Albanians it considered to be collaborators. Serbia retaliated by torching houses and looting businesses. Hundreds of thousands of people fled.
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Systematic expulsion
The war grew increasingly brutal and Serbian forces stepped up attacks on civilians in an attempt to destroy the UCK and its supporters. Scores of people fled into the forests. Thousands of Kosovo Albanians were loaded onto trains and trucks to be transported to the border, where they were thrown out without passports or other personal documents that could prove they were from Kosovo.
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Last attempt to negotiate
In February 1999, the USA, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Germany convened a meeting of warring parties in Rambouillet, France, in an attempt to establish autonomy for Kosovo. Kosovan representatives accepted the proposal, yet Serbia was unwilling to compromise. The negotiations collapsed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Humanitarian intervention'
On March 24, 1999, NATO began bombing military and strategic targets in Serbia and Kosovo in an attempt to end violence against the Albanians. Germany also participated in the bombing. "Operation Allied Force" became the first war in NATO's 50-year history — one conducted without the backing of the UN Security Council. Russia harshly criticized the intervention.
Image: U.S. Navy/Getty Images
Crippled infrastructure
Beyond military targets, NATO also bombed supply lines, train tracks and bridges. Over the course of 79 days and nights, allied forces flew more than 37,000 sorties. Some 20,000 missiles and bombs rained down on Serbia. Many civilians were killed: "collateral damage," in the words of NATO.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Toxic cloud over Pancevo
Industrial sites were also targeted. In Pancevo, near Belgrade, NATO bombs hit a chemical and fertilizer factory. Massive amounts of toxic substances were released into rivers, the ground and the skies — resulting in grave health risks for the nearby civilian population. Moreover, Serbia accused NATO of deploying uranium-enriched munitions as well as cluster and fragment bombs.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Targeting the propaganda machine
State television offices in Belgrade were attacked in an attempt to deprive Slobodan Milosevic of his most important propaganda tool. Although the Serbian government was warned of an impending attack in time, Belgrade withheld that information. Sixteen people were killed when the site was bombed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Misguided bombs
NATO bombs in Kosovo inadvertently hit a group of Albanian refugees, killing an estimated 80 people. NATO also claimed that the accidental bombardment of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was another case of "collateral damage." Four people were killed in the misguided attack, leading to a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington.
Image: Joel Robine/AFP/GettyImages
The ghastly toll of war
In early June, Belgrade signaled that Slobodan Milosevic might be prepared to surrender, prompting NATO to end its campaign on June 19. The final toll of the war: thousands of dead and 860,000 refugees. Serbia's economy and large swaths of its infrastructure were destroyed. Kosovo was put under UN administration.