Final answer:
On April 12, 1999, Kosovo was experiencing severe turmoil during a civil war that was part of NATO's intervention to halt Serbian aggression and ethnic cleansing. Although April 12 does not mark a specific event, it is within the period of NATO's Operation Allied Force which began in March 1999. The conflict ended in June with a peace agreement leading to the withdrawal of Serbian forces.
Step-by-step explanation:
On April 12, 1999, the region of Kosovo was in the midst of a devastating civil war between ethnic Albanians, mostly Muslims, and Serbs. This war was part of a series of conflicts that arose from the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. NATO's Operation Allied Force was already underway in March 1999 to stop the violence and the ethnic cleansing being carried out by Serbian forces under President Slobodan Miloševik. While April 12 is not a specific turning point in the conflict, it falls within the period of significant NATO intervention aimed at ending the atrocities and bringing peace to the region. The conflict ultimately led to Miloševik agreeing to a peace agreement in June 1999.
Throughout the conflict, Miloševik's forces attempted to suppress the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and carry out his nationalistic goal of creating a Greater Serbia. The conflict resulted in mass atrocities, including systematic ethnic cleansing against the predominantly Albanian Muslim population. By June of that year, after an extended bombing campaign by NATO forces, Miloševik capitulated and the terms of the peace agreement included the withdrawal of Serbian forces and the return of refugees, under the condition that Kosovo would be governed by UN and NATO entities. This marked the end of the violence and began a new chapter of international oversight in Kosovo.