Western diplomats had hoped that the cease-fire and the harsh Balkan winter would give them an opportunity to press both the Serbs and the KLA into a peace deal. But by January the conflict was back on the boil, with the massacre of 45 civilians by Serb forces in the village of Racak signaling the failure of the October deal. In February, NATO demanded that both sides meet in France and sign on to a Western-authored peace deal, or face military pressure. Two weeks of talks at Rambouillet failed to produce results after both the Serbs and the KLA refused to accept the deal. When the talks reconvened in mid-March, the KLA accepted the peace deal, but the Serbs refused. Milosevic then escalated the crisis by launching another large-scale offensive in Kosovo. Stopping that offensive is the principal objective of NATO's current air strikes.

Claims on Kosovo: Why They're Fighting
Kosovo is a province of Serbia, the core of the former Yugoslavia. Because 90 percent of its population are of Albanian rather than Serb origins, the region enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in the old Yugoslavia. President Slobodan Milosevic revoked that autonomy in 1989 in keeping with his nationalist campaign for a "Greater Serbia." As the site of an historic defeat by the Ottoman empire in the 14th century, Kosovo has great emotional significance to Serbian nationalists.

The revoking of Kosovo's autonomy sparked the current conflict, as the territory's ethnic-Albanian majority sought to restore their cultural rights. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has radicalized the conflict by taking up arms and demanding full independence in the face of Serb determination to hold on to the province.

U.S. Involvement: Why Do We Care?
The Serbs' campaign to eliminate the KLA has driven hundreds of thousands of ethnic-Albanian from their homes, creating an unavoidable humanitarian catastrophe and a potential continent-wide refugee problem. The conflict threatens to draw in neighboring Albania and Macedonia, as well as more distant powers such as Russia (who have ethnic and religious ties to the Serbs) and Iran (out of concern for the Albanians, who are Muslim).

The U.S. and NATO: What Do They Want?
NATO opposes independence for Kosovo on the grounds that this would spur secessionist movements elsewhere and destabilize an already volatile region. At the same time, it believes that there can be no stability under the status quo. The U.S. and its NATO allies are trying to force both sides to accept a compromise -- restoring Kosovo's autonomy within the former Yugoslavia.

Obstacles to Peace: The Serbs
President Slobodan Milosevic has shown in the past that he only makes concessions when facing NATO military action. His political power was built on nationalist promises of a "Greater Serbia" and after failing in Bosnia and Croatia, losing Kosovo might be a death blow to his domestic political standing.

Obstacles to Peace: The KLA
A year ago they were still dismissed as an insignificant irritant by both the Serbs and moderate ethnic-Albanian leaders; now they're the dominant political voice in Kosovo and the war has forced the moderates to back their demand for full independence. Still, they're not a unified or well-organized group, and Western diplomats are not sure if they can be held to any deal. Besides, given what they've achieved in a year, they may not see any advantage in halting their campaign.

Problems of Peacekeeping
European allies want the U.S. to be part of a peacekeeping mission, but the Clinton administration will struggle to win congressional approval. U.S. military commanders are skeptical about putting personnel at risk in a situation where the warring factions have shown little enthusiasm for a Western-authored peace plan. And there's a fear that, like in Bosnia, once the troops go in they'll have no easy way out.

For more background, visit CNN.com's Roots of Conflict



PHOTO: Darko Bandic/AP