On this day in 1999, an agreement was signed which brought an end to NATO bombing

Photo: Tanjug/AP

The military-technical agreement from Kumanovo, signed on June 9, 1999, brought an end to the NATO bombing of the the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) and the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and Metohija.

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The provisions of the agreement were included in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, which was adopted a day later.

The military-technical agreement between the International Security Forces ("KFOR") and the governments of the SRJ and Serbia was signed at the military airport near Kumanovo, after NATO bombed the country for 78 days, and after five days of negotiations. It was signed by General of the Yugoslav Army Svetozar Marjanovic, General of the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia Obrad Stevanovic and British General Michael Jackson.

The document provided for the deployment of international forces in Kosovo and Metohija, under the auspices of the United Nations, which are "authorized to take all necessary actions in order to establish and maintain a safe environment for all citizens."

The agreement from Kumanovo established a ground and air safety zones, which stretched five and 25 kilometers deep into the territory of central Serbia.

The return of the SRJ Army to the Ground Safety Zone was made possible in 2001, while the air safety zone was abolished in 2015.

(Telegraf.rs)