The March Pogrom in Kosovo 2004 - Systematic ethnic cleansing

The March Pogrom of 2004 was a wave of organized ethnic violence in Kosovo and Metohija, despite the presence of 17,500 NATO soldiers (KFOR) and the UN civil administration (UNMIK).

Context - Kosovo after 1999

After the NATO bombing of 1999:

• June 1999 - KFOR (NATO) took control of Kosovo
• UN Resolution 1244 - Kosovo under UN administration (UNMIK)
• Presence: 17,500 KFOR soldiers + 4,500 UN police
• But: Continued pressure on the Serbian community - killings, kidnappings, intimidation
• 1999-2004: More than 1,000 Serbs killed or missing
• Aim: Ethnic cleansing - to drive all Serbs out of Kosovo

The trigger of events - 16 March 2004

Tuesday, 16 March 2004:

Three Albanian boys (8, 10, 11 years old) drowned in the Ibar River near Mitrovica.

• "The children were killed by Serbs"
• "Serbs drove them into the river"
• "The Serbs are to blame"

• The children went to the river on their own
• No one was chasing them
• An accident - drowning
• NOTHING to do with Serbs

Organization - this was NOT spontaneous

Evidence of organization:

• Simultaneous attacks in 30+ localities AT THE SAME TIME
• Buses brought attackers from different towns
• Lists of Serbian houses - they knew exactly where Serbs lived
• Lists of churches - they knew the exact locations, priorities
• Equipped - Molotov cocktails, baseball bats, stones
• Mobile phones - coordinated attacks
• The Albanian media - called for violence

Chronology of the violence - 17-19 March 2004

Wednesday, 17 March - The first day

Mitrovica (10:00):

• The funeral of the three boys - a false Albanian speech accuses the Serbs
• A crowd of 5,000 Albanians moves toward the Serbian side of the city
• KFOR sets up barricades - temporarily halts them

• Demonstrations by Albanian students - quickly turn violent
• Attack on UN vehicles, cars set on fire
• Attack on the Serbian quarter (Ulpiana)

• Simultaneous attack on Serbian settlements around the town
• The Serbian Church of Saint Nicholas (14th century) set on fire

• A crowd of 2,000 Albanians attacked the Devič Monastery
• The nuns evacuated at the last moment
• The monastery completely burned down

Thursday, 18 March - The worst day

Simultaneous attacks in 30+ localities: Kosovo Polje:

• Serbian settlement completely burned (150 houses)
• 3 Serbs killed (elderly who could not flee)
• KFOR arrived 2 hours AFTER the attack

• Serbian quarter set on fire
• The Church of Saint Basil (16th century) - razed to the foundations

• Attack on the Serbian part of the city
• The cathedral of Our Lady of Ljeviš (Bogorodica Ljeviška) (UNESCO, 14th century) set on fire
• Serbs flee in a UN convoy
• 6 churches burned in Prizren in a single day

• A crowd of 3,000 Albanians attacked the Patriarchate (the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church)
• KFOR and UN police WATCHED - they did not intervene
• Part of the complex set on fire
• A total conflagration was later prevented

• Surrounded by 5,000 Albanians
• KFOR evacuated women and children by helicopter
• The men stayed to defend the village

Friday, 19 March - The third day

The violence subsides - but the damage was done:

• An additional 10+ churches set on fire
• Several more Serbian settlements burned
• Final evacuation of Serbs from many settlements
• KFOR finally establishes control (LATE)

Victims - 19 dead

Serbian victims (11 dead):

• Bogić Božanović (82 years) - burned alive in his house, Kosovo Polje
• Slobodan Perić (75 years) - beaten to death, Lipljan
• Rada Živković (71 years) - house set on fire, Lipovo
• Vojislav Ćirić (68 years) - shot while trying to defend his house, Obilić
• Dragica Nikolić (65 years) - heart attack during flight, Gnjilane
• Zoran Vujović (19 years) - drowned fleeing across a river, Mitrovica
• Dragan Vasiljević (25 years) - shot, Čaglavica
• Miodrag Živković (32 years) - beaten, Uroševac
• Nebojša Mladenović (27 years) - a KFOR soldier (of Serbian nationality), killed defending a UN facility
• Dejan Jovanović (14 years) - a boy, drowned while fleeing, Vitina
• Jovica Ivić (16 years) - a boy, shot, Kosovska Kamenica

Albanian victims (8 dead):

IMPORTANT: Killed in clashes with KFOR (not by Serbs):

• 7 Albanian demonstrators shot by KFOR during the unrest
• 1 drowned while fleeing from KFOR

Wounded - 954 people

• Serbs: 218 wounded (beatings, gunfire, burns)
• KFOR soldiers: 65 wounded (stones, Molotov cocktails)
• UN police: 58 wounded
• Albanians: 613 wounded (mostly in clashes with KFOR)

Material damage - complete ethnic cleansing

Houses and homes:

• 730 houses completely burned
• 950 houses damaged
• 29 Serbian settlements completely destroyed (they no longer exist)
• 4,100 people displaced (had to leave their homes forever)

Churches and monasteries - 35 holy sites destroyed:

UNESCO monuments destroyed:

• Our Lady of Ljeviš (Bogorodica Ljeviška), Prizren (14th century) - burned, heavily damaged

• Devič Monastery (13th century) - burned to the foundations
• Monastery of the Holy Archangel, Prizren (14th century) - razed

• Church of Saint Nicholas, Gnjilane (14th century)
• Church of Saint Basil, Obilić (16th century)
• Church of Saint Sava, Priština
• Church of Our Lady, Djakovica
• ... and another 31 churches

KFOR and UNMIK - failure of protection

Presence of international forces:

• KFOR: 17,500 NATO soldiers
• UNMIK police: 4,500 officers
• UN administrators: 3,000 people

Criticism from the international community:

Human Rights Watch - report "Failure to Protect" (July 2004): "UNMIK and KFOR KNEW that violence was being prepared. They had intelligence sources. They had sufficient forces. But they did NOT protect the Serbian population. That is a systemic failure."

Amnesty International: "The international forces passively watched as houses and churches burned. In some cases, KFOR soldiers stood 50 meters from a burning church and did NOT intervene."

Council of Europe: "This is the worst failure of the international community since its arrival in Kosovo in 1999. We promised to protect all citizens - but we did not."

Why did they not intervene?

Theories:

• Intelligence failure - they did not expect such a scale of violence (but there were signs)
• Poor coordination - KFOR and UNMIK did not agree on who would intervene
• Fear of conflict with the Albanians - they feared that intervention would provoke a greater conflict
• Political reasons - Western powers wanted stability, they did not want to unsettle the Albanian majority
• Some claim: It was allowed so that the "job could be finished" - the ethnic cleansing of Serbs

Media manipulation

The Albanian media:

• Koha Ditore (the main Albanian newspaper) - spread the false story about the killing of the boys
• RTK (Radio Television of Kosovo) - called for retaliation
• Text messages - lies spread via SMS

Western media - minimization:

• BBC - headline: "Ethnic violence in Kosovo" (without mentioning that Serbs were the victims)
• CNN - focus on "international forces control the situation" (minimizing the damage)
• New York Times - article after 3 days (belated coverage)

Consequences

Demographic:

• 4,100 Serbs displaced - had to leave their homes
• Many Serbian enclaves completely vanished
• The Serbian population fell from ~120,000 (1999) to ~100,000 (2004)
• The aim of ethnic cleansing - partially achieved

Cultural:

• 35 churches and monasteries destroyed
• UNESCO holy sites damaged
• Erasure of Serbian cultural heritage - the aim was to destroy the evidence of Serbian history

Political:

• The UN and NATO lost credibility in Kosovo
• It was shown that the international forces cannot/will not protect Serbs
• The call for Kosovo's independence was strengthened - Albanians saw that they could commit violence without consequences
• Serbia lost trust in the UN

Justice - or the lack of justice

Arrests:

• 300 people arrested during the unrest
• 100 charged with violence
• 65 convicted - mostly light sentences (a month or two in prison)
• NOT A SINGLE organizer was punished - who organized it remained unknown

The best-known cases:

• Ilir Tolaj - sentenced to 6 months for arson
• Bekim Mazreku - sentenced to 8 months for the destruction of a church
• Most others - sentences of 1-3 months or suspended

International reaction

UN Security Council:

Resolution 1546 (April 2004):

• Condemns the violence
• Calls for accountability
• Demands the protection of minorities
• But - without specific actions

European Union:

• Condemnation of the violence
• Additional financial aid for reconstruction
• But - they continued to support Albanian institutions

Serbia:

• Requested an urgent session of the UN Security Council
• Sought the withdrawal of recognition of Kosovo's independence (later 2008)
• Sued Kosovo before the International Court of Justice

Russia:

• Sharp criticism of NATO and the UN
• Support for Serbia
• Blocked additional UN resolutions that would legitimize Kosovo's independence

Conclusion - ethnic cleansing under UN supervision

The March Pogrom of 2004 was:

• Organized ethnic violence - not spontaneous
• A systemic failure of the UN and NATO - 25,000 forces did not protect 100,000 Serbs
• Destruction of cultural heritage - 35 churches, including UNESCO monuments
• Ethnic cleansing - 4,100 Serbs displaced
• Impunity - the organizers were never punished
• Media manipulation - a false story as the trigger

"The March Pogrom of 2004 revealed the true face of Kosovo's reality: Serbs are not safe even under the protection of 17,500 NATO soldiers. Ethnic cleansing continues, only more slowly." - Human Rights Watch, 2004.

Eternal glory to the victims. Eternal remembrance. 🕊️