Serb chronology

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA/SERBIA, c1989 1998
(Note. This chronology is a very rough affair taken from a variety of sources. Interpretations implied in the descriptions of disputed events are not to be taken as definitive or as reflecting my own opinions)

1986
Extracts from unfinished text of 'Memorandum' of Serb Academy of Sciences and the Arts published and denounced in press.

1987
April. Milosevic intervenes on behalf of Kosovo Serbs at Kosovo Polje.
Sept. Milosevic takes control of Serbian Communist Party

1988
October. Milosevic supporters force resignation of leadership in Voivodine and Montenegro.

1989
February. Programme of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) published.
March. Police and military intervention in Kosovo results in dissolution of the provincial assembly in Kosovo.
March. Ante Markovic becomes Prime Minister of SFRY.
June. Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) constituted. Franjo Tudjman elected as President.
Milosevic addresses rally of 500,000 Serbs in Kosovo.
Late 1989. Federal Prime Minister Ante Markovic presents programme for economic reform.
December. Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) formed.

1990
Early 1990. League of Communists of Yugoslavia falls apart at its fourteenth cengress.
February. Serbian Democratic Party formed to represent Serbs in Croatia.
March. Serbian Renewal Movement founded by Vuk Draskovic and Vojislav Seselj.
April/May. Elections in Croatia give HDZ majority.
May. Last Albanians in Kosovo provincial government resign.
Proposals to amend Croatian Constitution.
Serbian National Council formed at Srb on border between Croatia and Bosnia. Calls for referendum on Serb autonomy in Croatia.
July. Albanian members of Kosovo parliament vote for Republic, still to be part of Yugoslavia.
Referendum allows new Serbian constitution to enable holding of multiparty elections.
Serbian Democratic Party formed in Bosnia under Radovan Karadzic.
Socialist Party of Serbia formed on basis of old Communist alliance, with Slobodan Milosevic as President.
August. Referendum held among Croatian Serbs under Yugoslav army protection.
December. Elections. Socialists win majority. Milosevic elected as President.
New constitution of Republic of Croatia promulgated.
Serbs declare Statute of Serb Autonomous Distriuct of Krajina.

1991
February. Slovenian Assembly begins process of legal separation from Yugoslavia. Croatia follows suit.
VojislavSeselj forms Serbian Radical Party.
March. Croatian Serbs occupy Plitvice National Parks.
Talks between Tudjman and Milosevic over Bosnia-Hercegovina.
May. Serbian bloc prevents Croat Stipe Mesic from assuming Yugoslav presidency.
Referendum in Croatia votes for independence.
Clashes between Serbian militia and Croatian police in Borovo Selo, Croatia.
Volunteer Croat defence Forces (HOS) formed, often evoking Ustasha past.
June. Slovenian and Croat assemblies vote that only laws passed in their repective countries had any legal validity.
Yugolsav army moves against Slovenia.
July. First village burned. Celije in Croatia, by Serbs.
Summer. Series of skirmishes and attacks on villages etc in Serb areas of Croatia.
Milosevic makes agreement with minority Muslim 'Bosnjak organisation' that Bosnia should remain in Yugoslavia.
August. Yugoslav Army begins siege of Vukovar.
September. Peace conference begins under chairmanship of Lord Carrington. general embargo imposed on the importation of arms and military equipment.
Yugoslav Army bases blockaded in Croatia.
Referendum among Albanians in Kosovo supports full independence.
October. Kosovan Albanians declare independence.
Administration formed for Kosovo Albanians in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
HOS integrated into new Croatian Army.
November. Yugoslav National Army and Serb paramilitaries take Vukovar.
Montenegrin forces begin siege of Dubrovnik.
Elections held in Bosnia Hercegovina SDA (Mulsim, Fikret Abdic who hands presidency over to Alija Izetbegovic)); SDS (Serb, Radovan Karadzic)); HDZ (Croat, Mate Boban).
Croat community of Herceg Bosna founded.
End of 1991 Yugoslav PM, Ante Markovic resigns.

1992
January. European Union recognises Croatia and Slovenia.
SDS declare that if Croats and Muslims leave Yugoslavia the Serbs will declare a separate Serb Republic.
February. UN Security resolution 743 creates UNPROFOR to police Serb areas in Croatia as protected zones.
Karadzic, Boban and Izetbegovic come to agreement at meeting in Lisbon chaired by EC. Izetbegovic pulls out at last moment.
Referendum on independence of Bosnia Hercegivina. Boycotted by Serbs. Croats recommend support for independence as stepping stone to separate Croat Bosnian entity.
March. Incidents in Bosnia provoked by Serb paramilitaries including Seselj and Arkan.
April. European Union and US recognises Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia presented as new state.
Beginning of siege of Sarajevo.
May. Elections held, illegally but without interference from authorities, for Albanian parliament in Kosovo.
Kosovar administration moves from Ljubljana to Bad Godesberg.
UN Security Council imposes sanctions on FRY.
June. Dobrica Cosic elected as first President of FRY.
July. Milan Panic elected as Prime Minister of FRY.
Tudjman and Izetbegovic sign agreement on friendship between Croatia and Bosnia-H.
August. London Peace Conference. Conflict between Milosevic and Panic.
Conflict between pro-Bosnian and Croat separatist leadership in Bosnia results in victory for latter, under Mate Boban.
International scandal created by conditions at Serb POW camp at Omarska.
October. Serbian police sieze Federal Interior Ministry.
December. Elections at Federal and Republic level. Milosevic defeats challenge for presidency from Panic. Serbian Radical Party does well.
George Bush warns Serbs not to intervene militarily in Kosovo.

1993
March UNPROFOR Copmmander General Philippe Morillon in Srebrenica which is on the verge of falling to the Serbs
April. First massacre in Croat/Muslim war.
May. Bosnian Serb referendum rejects Vance Owen plan.
Vote of no confidence in Dobrica Cosic passed in federal parliament.
September. Muslim leader Fikret Abdic declares Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia in alliance with Serbs against Izetbegovic, whom he accuses of Islamic fundamentalism.
Serbian Radical Party moves vote of no confidence in Socialist government.
October. Milosevic dissolves Serb parliament and calls new elections.
December Serb elections. Radical Party loses strength but Socialists fail to win majority.

1994
January. Programme of financial and currency reform launched.
February. Serb Socialists form new government with support of New Democracy (formed out of League of Socialist Youth in 1990).
February. 61 people killed when shell lands on Markale market in Sarajevo. International reaction forces withdrawal of Serb heavy artillery from positions in and around Sarajevo.
Under pressure from US, Mate Boban resigns as Bosnian Croat leader. Muslims and Croats agree on Croat-Muslim federation in Bosnia and confederation between Bosnia and Croatia.
March. Zagreb, or 'Russian Embasssy' agreement establishes terms of peace between Croats and Krajina Serbs.
August. Fikret Abdic's autonomous Muslim province broken by Muslim fifth corps operating from Bihac.
Milosevic imposes blockade on Bosnian Serbs after they reject Contact Group peace plan.
September. Seselj arrested.

1995
April. Croat 'Operation Flash' takes Western Slavonia.
Seselj arrested again.
May Bosnian Serbs take 375 UN hostages.
June UN hostages released.
July. Bosnian Serb forces attack Srebrenica.
August. Croat forces capture Krajina.
37 people killed by bomb in Sarajevo.
NATO airstrikes against Bosnian Serb targets.
November. Peace negotiations in Dayton, Ohio. Sanctions on Serbia suspended.
December. Peace agreement signed in Paris.

1996
March. 'Zajedno' opposition coalition formed from Serbian Renewal Movement (Vuk Draskovic), Democratic Party (Zoran Djindjic) and Civil Alliance.
April. Kosovo Liberation Army starts campaign against Serb police and civil targets.
Croatia acccpted as fortieth member of Parliament of Council of Europe.
May. Dragoslav Avramovic removed as head of National Bank of Yugoslavia.
September. Agreement on normalisation of relations between Croatia and RFY.
October. Sanctions on Serbia formally lifted.
November. Zajedno defeated by Socialist coalition in Federal elections. Win many local authority elections. Riots after authorities try to ennul elections.

1997
February. Zajedno's gains in local authority elections recognised. Zoran Djjindjic becomes Mayor of Belgrade.
Spring. Albania collapses into anarchy after failure of 'pyramid schemes'.
July. Milosevic elected as President of FRY.
August. Biljana Plavsic in Bosnia forms Serbian National Alliance, based in Banja Luka, in opposition to Radovan Karadzic.
September. Elections in Serbia boycotted by three opposition parties, but not by Serbian Renewal Movement. Gains made by Radicals under Seselj.
Djindjic ousted as Mayor of Belgrade by alliance of Socialists, Radicals and Serbian Renewal Movement.
October. Milo Djukanovic elected as President of Montenegro against Milosevic's candidate, Momir Bulatovic.

1998
January. Eastern Slavonia, with Vukovar, reincorporated into Croatia.
February. Serbian Security forces begin offensive against KLA insurgents in Drenica region of Kosovo.
March. Presidential elections among Albanians in Kosovo.
Serb government agrees to enforce education agreement made with Albanians in 1996. Encounter violent opposition from Serb students.
June - July Serb forces take back positions lost to KLA in Kosovo.
July. First formal meetings between US envoy, Chris Hill, and KLA.
Swiss and Germans freeze Albanian 'Homeland Calling' accounts.
September Meeting of NATO Defence ministers announce preparations for war in Kosovo.
October. Serbs agree to scale down their presence in Kosovo to pre-war level.

1999
January. Racak incident condemned as atrocity by US observer William Walker.
February. First round of Rambouillet talks. Albanians fail to endorse proposed peace plan.
March. Conference reconvenes. Albanians agree to plan, Serbs refuse.
NATO begins attacks on Serbia. Massive waves of refugees out of Kosovo.
April. NATO bombs Belgrade TV station.
Vuk Draskovic condemns misleading Serb propaganda..May
May. NATO attack Serb electricity grid.
Milosevic indicted for crimes against humanity.
June. Milosevic capitulates.