- Date of the event
- Place
- Prishtina
- Evidence status
- Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.
US Special Representative Robert Gelbard publicly called the UÇK a terrorist group, first at a press conference in Prishtina on 22 February 1998 and again in Belgrade on 23 February.
State Department transcripts show that Gelbard attributed “the great majority” of the violence to the police while at the same time calling the UÇK a terrorist group by its actions [1] [2].
According to HRW, Gelbard later retracted the allegation and the group was never placed on the US list of terrorist organisations; at the time some analysts read the statements as a “green light” for a counter-insurgency campaign. The attack on Likoshan and Qirez came five days later [3].
Historical context
1998
The attacks in Drenica in February and March 1998 turned a limited insurgency into open war. By October, hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced and international diplomacy was directly engaged.
Read the chapter “1998: from Drenica to open war”Sources
- [1]U.S. Department of State. Press Conference: Robert S. Gelbard, Special Representative, Pristina, 22 February 1998. 1998-02-22. https://1997-2001.state.gov/policy_remarks/1998/980222_gelbard_pristina.html. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [2]U.S. Department of State. Press Conference: Robert S. Gelbard, Special Representative, Belgrade, 23 February 1998. 1998-02-23. https://1997-2001.state.gov/policy_remarks/1998/980223_gelbard_belgrade.html. Accessed 2026-09-16.
- [3]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.