The general population shifts amongst the Roma in Kosovo from Summer 1999 to Summer 2001 are as follows:

• Of the 267 villages surveyed by Polansky that had Romani populations prior to March 1999, 70% (187) lost over half of their prewar population; and of those, 52% (98) lost all of their Romani population.
• There were a few villages that actually had an increase in the Romani population due to families relocating within Kosovo in the aftermath of the war; the 3 villages with the highest increases were all located in Istok and identified with the Egyptian subgroup (see below for further interpretation of the data by ethnic subgroups).

The massive ethnic cleansing and internal displacement of Roma in Kosovo depicted above translates to a decrease of 75% of the prewar Romani population, primarily in the summer months of 1999 when the triumphant ethnic Albanian population (re)possessed Kosovo under the protection of KFOR "peacekeeping" forces. These vast numbers of frightened and desperate Roma were driven from Kosovo in spite of the fact that there were over 300 international NGOs providing humanitarian aid and assistance on the ground in Kosovo during this period. Of the tens of thousands of Roma who fled Kosovo, some joined relatives in overcrowded homes or makeshift Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Serbia, others arrived in ill-equipped refugee camps in Macedonia and Montenegro, while many others took dangerous, overcrowded fishing boats from Montenegro to Italy, or, traumatized by months of bombing in Belgrade, attempted to cross by car or train from Hungary or Italy to Austria and Germany. Everywhere they went, they were met with a lack of compassion for their plight, refused recognition as refugees and asylum seekers, and whenever possible sent back to Kosovo.

It is therefore amazing to note that even with so little help and lack of acceptance as refugees abroad, less than 4% of the Kosovo Romani population who were externally displaced returned to Kosovo in the two year interim period from Summer 1999 to Summer 2001. Why? Sadly, we must conclude that life in Kosovo for the Roma in the aftermath of the NATO intervention has and continues to be so precarious and so miserable, that in spite of their extremely strong desire to go home, most Roma choose instead to face the harshness and uncertainties of temporary and often illegal or clandestine residency elsewhere.

Having viewed the overall impact of the postwar situation on the Romani population of Kosovo, we turn to the map of the region and the corresponding chart in Figure 2 (page 17) depicting the extent of ethnic cleansing as indicated by numbers of Romani homes destroyed in the aftermath of the war, in twelve key municipalities. Figure 3 (page 20) shows the transformation which has taken place in the six municipalities that had the highest prewar Romani populations, as measured in numbers of Romani occupied houses prior to the NATO intervention in Spring 1999, and those destroyed or no longer occupied by Roma in Summer 2001.

What accounts for these losses in each municipality and/or region shown below? To answer this question, we must briefly review aspects of the recent geo-political history of the region of Kosovo in Yugoslavia and how the Roma fit into the picture over the past several decades.

The Tito period (1945-1981) was the most stable time for Roma in Yugoslavia, socially and economically, though discrimination against them remained systematic. Tito's death in 1981 heralded the onset of major economic and political turmoil in Yugoslavia. The decline and ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s further exacerbated the economic tumult, giving rise to a number of diverse right wing nationalist movements throughout Yugoslavia who mobilized to demand secession from the Serbian-dominated federal government. The gains the Roma had achieved in the Tito years sank overnight. With unemployment skyrocketing, the discrimination against Roma trying to find work got much worse. A wave of racist violence grew to engulf Romani communities all over Yugoslavia as Serb, Croat and other nationalist movements proceeded to carve up the remains of Yugoslavia, ethnically cleansing "the other" in their respective domains.