Cover of the Day 27 June: Danish KFOR meter mark

[Michael Dobbs]

Kosovo was an autonomous region within Serbia and although referred to as Kosovo the ethnic Albanian population preferred to use their spelling of Kosova.  The Albanians had been a cause of friction with the Serbs for many years and eventually this tension between the Albanian ethnic majority and Serb minority boiled over into violence, not helped with other conflicts taking place with the breakup of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  By the end of 1995 some 340,000 Kosovar Albanians had sought political asylum outside of Yugoslavia.  In turn by the spring of 1997 almost the entire Croat population of Kosovo had emigrated to Croatia.  The UN had called upon both sides to end the conflict and seek a political settlement. However, the Serbs refused to listen and ignored the pleas and warnings of the international community.  Instead they carried on their persecution of the Albanian community.

Despite all the pressures and threats by NATO, the promises made by the Serbs were not fulfilled.  Aggression and repression against the Kosovar Albanians continued and intensified.  The civil war in the Serbian province of Kosovo led to a UN sanctioned and NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) entering the country from neighbouring Macedonia on 12 June 1999, some 48,000 strong.  The Danish battalion formed part of the French-led North Sector with HQ at Mitrovica, later known as Multinational Brigade North (MNB(N)).

The cover below (albeit a highly philatelic item!) shows meter franking machine G7179 inscribed DANBN / KFOR which was brought into use from 25 October 1999 for Danish soldiers involved in KFOR and used the address Feltpost 555. 

Mike  :)