Key dates in Kosovo's decades-long - and often bloody - drive to gain independence from Serbia:
1968 - First pro-independence demonstrations by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, when it was part of Yugoslavia; many arrested.
1991 - As Yugoslavia implodes, separatists proclaim Kosovo a republic, which is recognized by neighboring Albania.
1996 - Pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army emerges, claims responsibility for bombings of police targets.
March-April 1998 - Dozens killed in Serb police action against suspected Albanian separatists. Serbs overwhelmingly reject international mediation on Kosovo in referendum. New international sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia.
October 1998 - NATO allies authorize airstrikes against Serb military targets.
March 1999 - Belgrade authorities reject the internationally brokered peace deal, while ethnic Albanians sign it.
March 24, 1999 - NATO launches 78 days of airstrikes against Yugoslavia.
June 10, 1999 - Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic agrees to withdraw troops from Kosovo after agreeing to a proposal for NATO to move in and the province to be run by the United Nations. Airstrikes halted.
June 28, 2001 - Milosevic extradited to The Hague to face trial for war crimes, dies before trial ends.
February 2002 - Kosovo elects parliament and government with Ibrahim Rugova as president.
March 2004 - Ethnic Albanian mobs attack Serbs in worst outbreak of violence since the war.
January 2006 - Rugova dies of lung cancer in Pristina.
October 2006 - In Serbian referendum, Kosovo is declared an integral part of Serbia.
Jan. 26, 2007 - UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveils recommended guidelines to Kosovo's eventual statehood.
April 2007 - Russia rejects Ahtisaari proposal in the UN Security Council.
June 2007 - President Bush says Kosovo needs to be independent "sooner rather than later."
July 2007 - Kosovo's prime minister says UN-sponsored process has failed and calls for declaration of independence by year's end.
Feb. 17, 2008 - Kosovo declares independence from Serbia; Serbia immediately denounces the declaration as illegal.
