In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

Kosovo: Remembering massacre victims and the missing

For destroyed communities, trauma persists 10 years after Kosovo declared independence.

An ex mass grave in of Meja village near Gjakova
A cemetery close to the ex-mass grave of Meja village near Gjakova. The 1999 massacre was the mass execution of 372 Kosovo Albanian civilians committed by Serbian police and Yugoslav Army forces as an act of retaliation for the killing of six Serbian policemen by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
By Erik Messori
Published On 17 Feb 2018

Gjakova, Kosovo – On February 17, 2008, through a unilateral declaration, the Republic of Kosovo proclaimed its independence from Serbia.

As of 2017, 110 UN member states recognise Kosovo as a country.

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Its independence was the result of a bloody conflict – a war of ethnic cleansing by paramilitary forces inspired by Serb hardliners.

More than 2,000 people are still missing in mass graves.

The 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo claimed the lives of around 13,000 victims, mostly ethnic Albanians.

A team of doctors and forensic pathologists work daily, exhuming corpses and analysing the remains and their DNA.

The United Nations Office on Missing Persons and the Legal Police is responsible for this process, and retrieves information on mass graves not yet identified in the Balkans.

The United Nations mission has taken over the civil administration of the province, carrying out joint activities with the International Committee of the Red Cross and other local NGOs.

Some survivors describe the days of terror that even today, after almost 20 years, still plague their memories.

A surviving woman, taking refuge in the mountains, describes the day she returned to her village in the province of Drenica, when even the rain could not cover the smell of decaying bodies.

The main ethnic groups in Kosovo lead separate lives.

The wounds of a fierce war means national identity is fragile.

The following series illustrates the consequences of ethnic cleansing.

A Kosovar woman prays at the grave of her son was killed during the war. The son''s body was found in a mass grave not far from Krusa e Madhe
A Kosovar woman prays at the grave of her son who was killed during the war. Her son's body was found in a mass grave. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
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Members of a Kosovar family cry at the memory of their loved ones killed or missing, their names are written on the plates of the Wall of Memory of Gjacova
Members of a Kosovar family cry at the memory of their loved ones killed or missing, their names are written on the plates of the Wall of Memory of Gjacova. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
Kosovar woman kisses a plate on the Wall of the Memory. Her husband and her sons were killed during the war, Gjacova.
A Kosovar woman kisses a plate on the Wall of the Memory. Her husband and her sons were killed during the war. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
In the small village of Krusha e Madhe, near Prizren, an old man in his house where the Serbs kidnapped his sons. More then 90 men got killed in one day at Krusha e Madhe . To this day he has not hear
In the small village of Krusha e Madhe, near Prizren, an old man in his house where the Serbs kidnapped his sons. More then 90 men were killed in a day at Krusha e Madhe. To this day he has not heard of their fate. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
A photograph of two girls missing near the city of Mitrovica during the war.
A photograph of two girls who went missing near the city of Mitrovica during the war. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
The women of this family shows photographs of their husbands and sons kidnapped and killed by Serbs. Some of them have been identified of the mass grave near Kursha e Vogel, near Prizren.
Women shows photographs of their husbands and sons kidnapped and killed by Serbs. Some of them have been identified of the mass grave near Kursha e Vogel. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
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The Jashari’s family home in Prekaz, in the Drenica region of Kosova, has become an important place for Kosovar independence.  Fifty-two Jashari family members were killed, some of them burned beyond
The Jashari's family home in Prekaz, in the Drenica region of Kosova, has become an important place for Kosovar independence. Fifty-two Jashari family members were killed, some of them burned beyond recognition. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
The remains of an identified person in the morgue of Pristina hospital waiting to be delivered to the surviving family members.
The remains of an identified person in the morgue of Pristina hospital waiting to be delivered to the surviving family members. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
Outside Pristina hosptial, the UN has set up a tent where the bodies are put back in coffins and then delivered to families.
Outside Pristina hosptial, the UN has set up a tent where the bodies are put back in coffins and then delivered to families. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
A woman Kosovo cries for her son who was killed by the Serbs during the war. Village of Krusha e Madhe.
A woman cries for her son who was killed by the Serbs during the war in village of Krusha e Madhe. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]
A woman in front of her home destroyed by Serbs during the war. Her husband was killed and her son is still missing after it was captured Serbs in Village Morina in Drenica region.
A woman in front of her home destroyed by Serbs during the war. Her husband was killed and her son is still missing after he was captured by Serbs in Village Morina in Drenica region. [Erik Messori/CAPTA/Al Jazeera]