Twenty-seven years ago, on 6 February 1999, the Rambouillet Conference began. The meeting took place near Paris, France, and aimed to resolve the Kosovo crisis.

The Contact Group initiated the conference, which lasted until 23 February. U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill, Russian diplomat Boris Maiorsky, and EU representative Wolfgang Petritsch acted as mediators.

The Kosovo delegation accepted the draft agreement proposed by the Contact Group in principle. The Serbian delegation also accepted it in principle but insisted that NATO troops should not pass through Serbia. They also demanded that international forces in Kosovo operate under the United Nations.

The second round of talks, which began on 15 March in Paris, ended without success. On 18 March, both delegations signed separate agreements. Kosovo signed the agreement offered by international mediators. Serbia signed a draft political agreement on Kosovo’s self-governance.

A final attempt on 22 March 1999 by U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke failed. He could not convince the then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević to accept the agreement for Kosovo and allow international forces.

On 24 March 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Serbian military and paramilitary forces. The bombing campaign ended on 6 June 1999 with the Kumanovo Agreement. It required Yugoslav troops to withdraw from Kosovo and allowed the deployment of international peacekeeping forces.

The UN Security Council later approved Resolution 1244. It established international presence in Kosovo, including UNMIK as a civilian mission and KFOR as a military mission.

On 17 February 2008, Kosovo declared independence.