In 1989, Belgrade abolished self-rule in Serbia's two autonomous provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo.[1] Kosovo, a province inhabited predominantly by ethnic Albanians, was of great historical and cultural significance to Serbs.[2] Prior to the mid-19th century they had formed a majority in the province, but by 1990 represented only about 10 percent of the population.[3] Alarmed by their dwindling numbers, the province's Serbs began to fear they were being "squeezed out" by the Albanians, with whom ethnic tensions had been brewing since the early 1980s.[4] As soon as Kosovo's autonomy was abolished, a minority government run by Serbs and Montenegrins was appointed by Serbian President Slobodan Milošević to oversee the province, enforced by thousands of heavily armed paramilitaries from Serbia-proper. Albanian culture was systematically repressed and hundreds of thousands of Albanians working in state-owned companies lost their jobs.[1]