Slobodan Milosevic, 1999 News

57, president of Yugoslavia, balked at repeated warnings from NATO to withdraw Yugoslav troops and weapons from Albanian-dominated Kosovo, which had been fighting for full independence from Serbia. NATO-led air strikes began in late March and continued through early June, until Milosevic finally relented and withdrew his troops. Reports of atrocities against Albanian civilians were widespread, and in May the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunal formally indicted Milosevic and four other Yugoslav officials for crimes against humanity. They were accused of deporting 740,000 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo in 1999 and murdering more than 340 identified victims.


1999 People in the News