Such an arrangement was obviously meant to allow the small Serbian minority to successfully oppose (alone or with the support of another ethnic group) any decision taken by the overwhelming Albanian majority. The implementation of that scheme would have established a "Potemkine-village" federalism and a de facto apartheid regime. In an effort to meet the Serb demands, the Rambouillet Western negotiators suggested that all ethnic groups in Kosovo could be given a proportional representation (commensurate with their demographic weigh) in the local institutions―but with no right of veto. Significantly enough, the Serbian party refused the proposal. In any event, it must be noted that the use of military force took place not only after one year of intensive diplomatic negotiations and mediation efforts but actually after 10 years of ruthless colonial-type policy to which the Albanians responded (at least until 1998) by non-violent means.
The illegality of NATO's military intervention under the provisions of the UN Charter
The military strategy implemented by NATO disregarded the basic prescriptions of international humanitarian law
It has also been alleged that the exclusive reliance on air strikes accelerated (if not generated) the major humanitarian disaster that NATO precisely aimed to prevent. Admittedly, by limiting its intervention to air strikes NATO privileged the lives of its pilots at the expense of the civilian populations concerned―whether Serbs or Albanians. However its shortcomings and ambiguities, NATO's intervention ultimately produced positive results such as the reversal of the policy of large-scale ethnic cleansing, the establishment of a de facto international protectorate in Kosovo and (as a ripple effect) the toppling of the Milosevic regime.
Post-conflict rehabilitation
Although vehemently opposed to NATO's military intervention, Russia had no choice than to recommend Yugoslavia to come to terms. Accordingly, and in order to mitigate Belgrade's capitulation, the UN was reintroduced in the game and endowed, for the first time, with a prominent role. Hence Security Council Resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999 establishing a civilian United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) and authorizing "appropriate international institutions" (meaning NATO) to deploy a military presence in Kosovo aimed at replacing the Belgrade troops and disarming the KLA. Holding full legislative, executive and judicial powers, UNMIK was charged with promoting the establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo. Four international organizations are actually working together in the framework of UNMIK to which each of them provide a "pillar": the UN as such (civil administration), the HCR (humanitarian assistance), the OSCE (democratization and institution-building) and the European Union (economic reconstruction).
