Twenty-five years ago when the Kosovo war ended, nearly 800,000 Kosavar Albanians were left displaced. Some went to Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and a small number arrived in New Zealand as refugees.

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In March 1999 a brutal war in Kosovo exploded into an international crisis as NATO commenced an air campaign against Yugoslavia.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led by Slobodan Milošević and the Kosovo Liberation Army had been in full-out warfare for more than a year.

After the failure of peace talks, the NATO offensive was the international community's response to a new wave of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces against Kosovar Albanians.

More than 850,000 Kosovars started to flee or were forced out of their homes, seeking safety in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro, and some eventually in Aotearoa.

In this episode of Here Now, we look back at 25 years of life for Albanian refugees to New Zealand, featuring Osman and Julieta Lleshi and Ermal Fusha.

The Lleshis married in Kosovo, and look back fondly at their 50-year-long relationship's beginnings in what was then Yugoslavia.

A happy life took a different turn from 1989 when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Slobodan Milošević began to break up. The separation of the Balkan Peninsula into the nations we know today was anything but peaceful.

Many ethnic Albanians in Kosovo had long been engaged in nonviolent resistance against Yugoslavia. But that resistance took up arms after Milošević began revoking their rights to autonomy.

In June 1999 the NATO aerial intervention ended and Serbian and Yugoslav forces pulled out of Kosovo. By then, more than 800,000 Albanians had been displaced.

In 1999, 400 people from the region of the Balkans were received as refugees by New Zealand under a special arrangement, above the then-yearly quota of 750.

Listen to the full story on Here Now with the community commemorating that journey 25 years ago.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details