yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 2
an opportunity for its professional and political rehabilitation. That
opportunity, however, was not taken. As described in the next chapter,
the Army once again tasted defeat, having to withdraw to Serbia
with its war aims unfulfilled.
Unlike in the earlier wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina,
in the case of the conflict in Kosovo the army chain of command
ran right up to Milošević, president of the fry and chairman of
the Supreme Defense Council. Although army units were first used
in Kosovo in early 1988 in what would escalate into an all-out war,
Milošević and his colleagues never declared a state of emergency, thus
calling into question the legality of the army’s role and of the use of
armed violence in Kosovo. In addition to the Army of Yugoslavia,
Serbian Ministry of Interior and Territorial Defense units were used
in the conflict in Kosovo. Their objectives and conduct were described
in the indictment that the icty handed out to Milošević:
The operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with
the objective of removing a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian
population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control
over the province. To facilitate these expulsions and displacements,
the forces of the fry and Serbia have intentionally created an atmosphere
of fear and oppression through the use of force, threats of force,
and acts of violence. Throughout Kosovo, the forces of the fry and
Serbia have looted and pillaged the personal and commercial property
belonging to Kosovo Albanians forced from their homes. 306
The federal assembly declared a state of war on March 24, 1999, in
the face of threats of a nato military intervention. At that moment,
Milošević as fry president became the Army’s supreme commander.
The three-month war in Kosovo was waged at several levels, with
Anti-Aircraft Defense units detailed to deal with the nato air strikes
and the Army fighting the uck (Kosovo Liberation Army) and the
306 http://www .icty .org/x/cases/milutinovic/ind/en/mil-2ai011029e .pdf