REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO Official name: Republika e Kosova (Republic of Kosovo) Location: South-Eastern Europe International organisations: None Borders: Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro Coastline: None Land area: 10,887 Km2 Population: 2,200,000 (estimate)

Ethnicity: Albanian 92%, Serb 4%, other 4%
Languages: Albanian and Serbian are the official languages. Turkish, Bosnian and Roma have the status of "official languages at the municipal level." Albanian is spoken by over 90% of the population.
Religion: Nearly all the Abianians are at least nominal Sunni Moslems. The Serbs are Orthodox Christians.
Form of government: Parliamentary democratic republic. Kosovo is divided into seven districts.
Capital: Pristina
Constitution: Kosovo is currently operating under a Draft Constitution which been in effect since 1991, under the UN administration. A new constitution is being drafted.
Head of state: The President, chosen by the legislature for a five-year term. The President's duties are largely ceremonial. President Fatmir Sejdiu took office on 10 February 2006.
Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is the leader of the largest party in the legislature and is accountable to it.
Legislature: Kosovo has a unicameral legislature, the The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo (Kuvendi i Kosovės, Skupština Kosova). The Assembly has 120 members, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation. Ten seats are reserved for the Serbian minority and ten for other minorities.
Electoral authority: Prior to independence elections were conducted by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.
Freedom House 2005 rating: None

Political history

Until 1912 Kosovo was a vilayet (region) of the Ottoman Empire. Before the Ottoman conquest the area was largely inhabited by Serbs and regarded as part of Serbia. The area has great historical significance for Serbs as it was the site of the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, which led to the Ottoman conquest of Serbia. During the 17th century, however, there was an influx of Albanians into the region, and although the demographic evidence is scanty and contested, it seems that there was an Albanian majority in the area from that time. After the Balkan wars of 1912 Kosovo was ceded to Serbia, which tried to "re-Serbianise" the area, without reversing the demographic facts. During World War II the area was occupied by Italy and then by Germany. In 1945 Kosovo became an Autonomous Region of the Republic of Serbia within the Federal Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, which meant in effect that the position of the Albanians as the majority community in Kosovo was officially recognised. When Yugoslavia disintegrated in the 1980s, the Serbian nationalists who seized control in Belgrade tried to re-assert Serbian control over Kosovo. In 1989 Kosovo's autonomous status was revoked, and Slobodan Milolevic's Serbian regime increasingly resorted to repression to enforce Serbian rule. This naturally led to Albanian resistance, and in 1996 open warfare broke out, leading to the Serbian attempt to expel the entire Albanian population (some 2 million people) by force. This led to NATO intervention, including the bombing of Belgrade, and in 1999 Serbia withdrew and allowed a NATO force to occupy Kosovo, which was then placed under UN administration. The moderate Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova became president of an elected interim government, but following his death in 2006 more militant nationalists took over. Following their victory in the 2007 elections, Kosovo declared its independence on 17 February 2008.