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TIMELINE-Kosovo since 2008

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:31 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

July 29 - Ethnic Serbs from Kosovo's north said on Friday they had blockaded NATO troops who took control of border posts with Serbia this week to halt violence provoked by a customs dispute with Belgrade.

Kosovo's independence is recognised by 76 countries including the United States and most EU states but not by Russia, China, Serbia and Bosnia where ethnic Serbs oppose Kosovo's secession from Serbia.

Here is a timeline of the main events since Feb. 17, 2008, when Kosovo declared independence:

June 15, 2008 - Kosovo's first constitution as an independent state comes into force.

June 28 - Hardline Serbs convene their own assembly in the divided city of Mitrovica, in a challenge to the new state's ethnic Albanian majority and its Western backers.

Oct. 2 - Thousands of Kosovo Serbs protest in Mitrovica against the deployment of a European Union police and justice mission (EULEX). The EULEX mission deploys in Kosovo on Dec. 9.

Jan. 21, 2009 - Kosovo Security Force is launched. The 2,500 personnel and 800 reservist force undertakes missions such as crisis response, bomb disposal and civil protection.

May 8 - IMF offers membership to Kosovo.

June 29 - Kosovo gets World Bank membership.

May 30, 2010 - NATO peacekeepers and police separate thousands of ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Mitrovica in the worst ethnic unrest since independence.

July 22 - Serbia will never recognise the independence of its former Kosovo province, President Boris Tadic says shortly after the International Court of Justice rules that Kosovo's 2008 secession did not violate international laws.

Sept. 27 - Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu resigns after a court rules he could not be party leader and president at the same time.

Nov. 2 - Kosovo dissolves parliament and sets early elections for Dec. 12 after the grand coalition government is brought down in a confidence vote.

Dec. 12 - Kosovo holds its first election since independence which is won by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's PDK party.

Feb. 22, 2011 - Parliament elects Behgjet Pacolli, a Kosovo-Swiss businessman with a history of ties to Moscow, as president under a power-sharing deal with Thaci following December elections. Thaci is also re-elected as prime minister.

March 7 - Serbia and Kosovo launch direct negotiations, the first since 2008, to ease troubled relations and advance towards EU membership. The talks sidestep Kosovo's independence but discuss telecommunications, air traffic, a custom seal, and land and population registries.

March 30 - Behgjet Pacolli quits as president following a constitutional court ruling his election by parliament was illegal. Atifete Jahjaga is elected as new president on April 7.

June 1 - The IMF says it has ended a stand-by arrangement with Kosovo after it deviated from its agreed programme by increasing public sector wages by up to 50 percent.

July 20 - Kosovo bans all imports from Serbia and introduces a 10 percent tax for imports from Bosnia as both countries have continued to block exports from Kosovo since 2008.

July 25 - Pristina sends police to seize control of northern border crossings and enforce a ban on imports from Serbia in retaliation for Serbia's blocking of Kosovo's exports. Serbia repulses the units and one Kosovo Albanian policeman is killed.

July 27 - Serbs attack the Jarinje border post. Later Serb President Tadic urges Kosovo Serbs to refrain from violence.

July 28 - NATO says it has declared two crossings on Kosovo's border with Serbia a restricted military area and threatens the use of lethal force after an ethnic Serb mob burns down one post and fires on NATO troops.

July 29 - Ethnic Serbs from Kosovo's north say they have blockaded NATO troops. (Writing by Pristina newsroom and David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit )