Kosovo banknote - Yugoslavia - 50 dinare - year 1999 - provisional issue - UNC

Description

Kosovo (Albanian: Kosova or Kosovë; Serbian: Косово) is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo (Albanian: Republika e Kosovës; Serbian: Република Косово / Serbian: Republika Kosovo).
Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula. With its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and southern Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other major urban areas include Prizren, Peć and Ferizaj. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west and the uncontested territory of Serbia to the north and east. While Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovo's elected government, it continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Kosovo's history dates back to the Paleolithic age, represented by the Vinča and Starčevo cultures. During the Classical period, it was inhabited by the Illyrian-Dardanian and Celtic people. In 168 BC, the area was annexed by the Romans. In the Middle Ages, the country was conquered by the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires. The Battle of Kosovo of 1389 is considered to be one of the defining moments in Serbian medieval history. The country was the core of the Serbian medieval state, which has also been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century, when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate.
Kosovo was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century. In the late 19th century, Kosovo became the centre of the Albanian national awakening. Following their defeat in the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans ceded Kosovo to Serbia and Montenegro. Both countries joined Yugoslavia after World War I, and following a period of Yugoslav unitarianism in the Kingdom, the post-World War II Yugoslav constitution established the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within the Yugoslav constituent Republic of Serbia. Tensions between Kosovo's Albanian and Serb communities simmered through the 20th century and occasionally erupted into major violence, culminating in the Kosovo War of 1998 and 1999, which resulted in withdrawal of Serbian armed forces and establishment of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 112 UN member states. Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013, it has accepted the legitimacy of its institutions. Kosovo has a lower-middle-income economy and has experienced solid economic growth over the last decade by international financial institutions, and has experienced growth every year since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.
During the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990’s Kosovo unsuccessfully attempted to gain independence, and in 1998-1999 the situation escalated into the so-called Kosovo War – a bitter conflict fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, (by this time, consisting of the Republics of Montenegro and Serbia) which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian rebel group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) with air support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), (from 24th March 1999), and ground support from the Albanian army.
In 1999 an emergency release ‘overprinted’ banknotes of Kosovo was conceived as a temporary means of payment, which would replace the former Yugoslav dinar. This replacement of Yugoslav did not happen but, instead, these notes were used as ”obvious” legal tender in the financing and as payment of illegal procurement of weapons for the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves).
There were 8 banknotes in this set of provisional issues, which were overprinted on Macedonian banknotes.
10 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
25 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
50 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
100 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
500 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
1,000 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
5,000 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
10,000 dinares provisional issue (overprinted: UCK – Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves / Kosovo Liberation Army)
The war ended with the Kumanovo Treaty, with Yugoslav forces agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international presence. The Kosovo Liberation Army disbanded soon after this,
some of its members went on to fight for the UÇPMB in the Preševo Valley
some joined the National Liberation Army (NLA) and Albanian National Army (ANA) in the armed ethnic conflict in Macedonia
the remainder went on to form the Kosovo Police
Before the establishment of UNMIK, Kosovo (as part of Serbia) was bound to Yugoslav monetary policy, and the Yugoslav Dinar. However, war-time inflation and tensions with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had severely discredited the Yugoslav Dinar. As a result, many preferred to use and hoard foreign currencies instead of relying on the Dinar. The most frequently used foreign currency was the German Mark, although the US Dollar and Swiss Franc were also widely used.