Word: kosovo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Months of deepening tension between its bitterly divided national republics and ethnic groups have brought Yugoslavia dangerously close to civil war. In the autonomous province of Kosovo, striking ethnic Albanian lead and zinc miners protesting a strident campaign by Serbians to tighten their grip touched off a wave of demonstrations. Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians joined the strike, forcing the resignations of provincial Communist Party boss Rahman Morina and other officials considered to be puppets of Serbia...
...Belgrade half a million resentful Serbs chanting "Kosovo is Serbian!" demanded a drastic expansion of their control over the province and stiff retaliatory measures against the ethnic Albanian majority. The spiraling unrest drove Raif Dizdarevic , leader of Yugoslavia's collective presidency, to dispatch paramilitary units and tanks into Kosovo while banning all public gatherings. The unrest also exacerbated the rift between Serbia and the republic of Slovenia...
Milosevic has been campaigning for a drastic expansion of Serbia's power within Yugoslavia, including a tightened grip over the province of Kosovo, which is now only technically under Serbian control. Yugoslavia's Serbs regard Kosovo as their historic homeland, even though they now constitute little more than 10% of the province's population. At last week's meeting, Milosevic was opposed by the leaders of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, all of whom feared that his ambitious campaign would upset the fragile balance of power among Yugoslavia's six republics and two autonomous provinces...
After its setback last week, the Serbian party leadership canceled a mass rally in support of Milosevic that had been scheduled to take place in Belgrade at the conclusion of the Central Committee session. In Kosovo, however, thousands of Serbs gathered to boo, whistle and turn their backs on two Central Committee members who tried to address them. "You have betrayed Kosovo!" some cried. "You have sold your souls...
...republics in preparation for a meeting of the 165-member Yugoslav Central Committee this week, there was talk that up to one-third of the members might be ousted in a pro-Milosevic shake-up and a purge of incompetents. The Serbian party, meanwhile, hammered away at the Kosovo issue. A Serbian party resolution, backed by Milosevic, demanded the ouster of three top Kosovo party officials, two of them ethnic Albanians. Warned Milosevic: "The people gather in the streets because their institutions fail to settle the matter...