The crisis of peaceful resistance and the KLA's first public appearance

After Dayton

The Dayton Agreement ended the war in Bosnia but did not address Kosovo. In the months that followed, several European states recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without making recognition conditional on a settlement for Kosovo. For many Albanians this was a sign that peaceful resistance, for all its discipline, was not producing political results.[1][2]

Criticism of the LDK leadership's perceived passivity grew across the Albanian political spectrum. Student groups, some smaller parties and diaspora networks called for more active resistance — from open protest to preparation for armed struggle.[1][3]

The education agreement and the student protest

On 1 September 1996, through the mediation of the Community of Sant'Egidio, Slobodan Milošević and Ibrahim Rugova signed an agreement to return Albanian pupils and students to school and university buildings. It was not implemented in the months that followed, and the lack of results deepened disillusionment.[1]

On 1 October 1997 the Independent Union of Students of the University of Prishtina organized a peaceful protest in Prishtina demanding a return to university premises. Serbian police broke it up by force. The protest showed that a new generation was ready to take to the streets — still within the bounds of non-violent action.[1]

The first networks of armed resistance

The idea of armed struggle did not appear overnight. Since the 1980s, some underground networks in Kosovo and the diaspora, particularly around the LPK, had debated whether it was necessary. In the mid-1990s small groups attacked Serbian police and state targets; from 1996 the name Kosovo Liberation Army appeared in communiqués claiming responsibility for some of these attacks.[3][1]

The founding story of the KLA is contested. Different accounts give the founding role to LPK networks in the diaspora, to local groups in Drenica and Dukagjin, or to individual activists and former military officers. The founding dates cited vary, and much of the testimony consists of participants' later recollections. The KLA page sets these accounts side by side rather than quietly choosing one.[3]

The collapse of state order in Albania in the spring of 1997, when arms depots were looted, made weapons easier to move through the border regions. Researchers regard this as an important factor, but not the only cause of the KLA's growth.[1][3]

Drenica and the Jashari family

In Drenica — a region with a tradition of resistance and a weak state presence — Adem Jashari and his family in Prekaz became a focal point of armed organization. Serbian police attempted several times during the 1990s to arrest Adem Jashari; the authorities branded him a terrorist and convicted him in absentia.[1][3]

By the end of 1997, Serbian police forces were meeting armed resistance in several Drenica villages, and whole areas were gradually slipping out of their effective control. These clashes foreshadowed the escalation of 1998.[1]

Llaushë, 28 November 1997

On 28 November 1997, in Llaushë near Skenderaj, at the funeral of the teacher Halit Geci, who had been killed during a clash with Serbian police forces, three uniformed and masked men presented themselves to the mourners as members of the KLA. According to reports at the time and later accounts, they described the KLA as the force fighting for Kosovo's liberation.[1][3]

The appearance at Llaushë, on Albanian Flag Day, is regarded as the KLA's first public appearance. For some it was a sign of hope; for others a worry that war would bring reprisals against civilians. The Serbian authorities treated the KLA as a terrorist organization, while international perceptions would shift gradually during 1998 — a process explained in the analysis of labels.[1]