Yugoslavia
At the turn of the decade Yugoslavia was a beach-haven bonanza about to happen, the next big thing, an irresistible magnet for a tide of European flesh longing to laze in the sun. Six years later the tourist market had turned its gaze elsewhere - lying face down on the ground no longer had happy associations for the Yugoslavs. Five years of civil war cost the country most of its coastline, many of its old towns and almost all of its pulling power, but the travellers began to trickle back. Then the next installment of the war began.

This time it was over the disputed territory of Kosovo (or Kosova, if you happen to be an ethnic Albanian living there). Despite a peace agreement and millions of words traded at negotiation tables from Paris to Belgrade to Pristina, Kosovo wouldn't go away. The politicians and diplomats finally ran out of words and NATO reached for its bomber jackets, claiming the Serbs had violated the ceasefire agreement. Milosevic couldn't be bombed into submission but was eventually ousted after a mass Belgrade demonstration when he refused to concede defeat in the September 2000 election. New president Kostunica is trying to rebuild the republic and is being watched carefully by the international community - meanwhile, UN peacekeepers still patrol Kosovo, which along with the regions of Montenegro and Vojvodina has not given up hopes for independence.

Full country name: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Area: 102,173 sq km
Population: 11.2 million
Capital city: Belgrade (population 1.5 million)
People: Serb 63%, Albanian 14%, Montenegran 6% , Hungarian, Croatian, Gypsy, Magyar
Language: Serbian (Latin & Cyrillic alphabets)
Religion: Serbian Orthodox, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism
Government: Republic
President: Svetozar Marovic
Prime Minister: Five rotating acting Prime Ministers

GDP: US$25.4 billion
GDP per head: US$2300
Annual growth:3.5%
Inflation: 48%
Major industries:Machine building, metallurgy, mining, consumer goods, electronics, petroleum products, chemicals, and pharmaceutical
Major trading partners:Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Russia
Member of EU: no