Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 17, 2008, and the entry into force of a new Kosovo constitution on June 15, have ushered in a "new reality" in the Balkans, but one still with many uncertainties. The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo and the Kosovo government view independence as the fulfillment of a long-held goal. The United States, France, and the United Kingdom were among the first countries to recognize Kosovo, and have since been joined by a total of over forty countries worldwide. These and other countries have pledged to support Kosovo through new international missions and financial assistance; an international donors' conference is scheduled for July 11. On the other hand, Serbia and Russia vehemently oppose Kosovo's secession, and have warned of dangerous and far-reaching consequences. The Kosovo Serb minority as well as leaders in Serbia insist that "Kosovo is Serbia" and have pledged never to recognize Kosovo's independence. On the ground, post-independence tensions have been greatest in the northern part of Kosovo, where many ethnic Serbs are concentrated. Kosovo's Serbs have largely boycotted participation in Kosovo's institutions. Serbian protesters have frequently confronted U.N. and NATO forces on the Kosovo-Serb border and in the northern half of the town of Mitrovica. The worst clash to date took place on March 17 in the aftermath of a Serb attempt to occupy a government building in northern Mitrovica; UNMIK and NATO arrests of the occupiers prompted clashes with rioters which resulted in the death of a U.N. police officer and several dozen wounded. While no major recurrence of violence has taken place, the situation in the north remains tense. On May 11, Serbia organized and held national and municipal elections in Serb-majority municipalities throughout Kosovo. U.N. officials called the municipal vote illegal and an unacceptable extension of Serbian-controlled parallel institutions in Kosovo. Kosovo's moved to declare independence after a lengthy process to achieve a negotiated settlement on Kosovo's status failed to reach agreement amongst the parties or international consensus within the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations remains neutral with respect to Kosovo's status. Nevertheless, Kosovo's leaders have pledged to implement the provisions of the Ahtisaari plan, presented by the U.N. envoy in March 2007, which outline terms for Kosovo's supervised independence with extensive rights for the Kosovo Serb minority and other minority communities. The European Union agreed to take on new civilian missions on the ground in Kosovo, while NATO pledged to maintain security through its Kosovo Force (KFOR). Not all of the EU's 27 member states support Kosovo's independence, although a majority are expected eventually to recognize the new state and all agreed to launch the new EU-led missions. As a consequence, UNSC Resolution 1244 remains in force, with the various international missions in co-existence for the time being. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a "reconfigured" U.N. presence, with the EU taking on enhanced responsibilities. U.S. and European officials have emphasized their wish for friendly relations with Serbia, while appealing for restraint in Belgrade's actions in response to Kosovo, particularly with respect to apparent Serbian efforts to harden a partition in Kosovo or engage its security personnel directly in Kosovo affairs. Most observers recognize that, for the time being, the new situation presents a serious strain in relations with Serbia, especially in the aftermath of February riots in Belgrade, in which violent demonstrators set fire to the U.S. embassy and other European embassies nearby. At the same time, the European Union has moved to advance Serbia's track toward EU accession, in an effort to bolster support for pro-European political forces in Serbia. In 1998 and 1999, the United States and its NATO allies attempted to put an end to escalating violence between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Yugoslav forces in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Kosovo region. They were outraged by Serb security forces' atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians, and feared that the conflict could drag in other countries and destabilize the region. These efforts culminated in a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbia from March to June 1999. Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw his forces from the province in June 1999, clearing the way for the deployment of U.S. and other NATO peacekeepers. While NATO's action ended Milosevic's depredations in Kosovo, it left U.S. and other Western policymakers with many difficult issues, including creating the conditions for the resumption of a normal life in Kosovo, setting up autonomous governing structures, and beginning reconstruction of the war-torn province. The thorny issue of Kosovo's final status also loomed as critical unfinished business, with important ramifications for stability in the entire western Balkan region. After several years, U.S. policymakers began to emphasize the need to resolve unfinished business in the Balkans, especially with respect to a viable political settlement for Kosovo. In 2006 and 2007, U.S. officials made repeated statements against maintaining an unstable status quo and in favor of resolving Kosovo's status in order to achieve long-standing U.S. goals for a Europe whole, free, and at peace. Since 2007, President Bush and other top U.S. officials have publicly expressed U.S. support for Kosovo's independence (see " U.S. Policy " section, below). Over the years, U.S. engagement in Kosovo has at times been controversial. Proponents of U.S. engagement say that instability in Kosovo could have a negative impact on the stability of the Balkans and therefore of Europe as a whole, which they view as a vital interest of the United States. They believe instability in the region could produce an environment favorable to organized crime and terrorism and undermine U.S. goals of Euro-Atlantic integration and cooperation. They say the ongoing involvement of the United States is critical to ensuring this stability, because of its resources and unrivaled political credibility in the region. Increasingly, many observers on both sides of the Atlantic emphasize that Europe has a larger stake than the United States in stability in southeastern Europe, and that European nations should lead international efforts in Kosovo. Some critics of U.S. engagement in the Balkans say that the situation in Kosovo does not have as large an impact on vital U.S. interests as other issues, particularly the war on terrorism in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States and the war in Iraq, as well as a host of other foreign policy and national security challenges. Reflecting international focus on the global anti-terrorism campaign and other priorities, there has appeared a strong interest in "finishing the job," including an eventual "exit strategy" for the international civil and military administration of Kosovo. However, a residual international civilian and military role, with an ongoing NATO and U.S. presence—including an ongoing commitment of U.S. resources—is likely to stay on for some time after independence to assist with and supervise Kosovo's transition. Although the war in Kosovo had deep historical roots, its immediate causes can be found in the decision of Milosevic regime in Serbia to eliminate the autonomy of its Kosovo province in 1989. The regime committed widespread human rights abuses in the following decade, at first meeting only non-violent resistance from the province's ethnic Albanian majority. However, in 1998 ethnic Albanian guerrillas calling themselves the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began attacks on Serbian police and Yugoslav army troops. The Milosevic regime responded with increasingly violent and indiscriminate repression. From February 1998 until March 1999, conflict between the KLA and Serb forces (as well as armed Serb attacks on ethnic Albanian civilians) drove more than 400,000 people from their homes and killed more than 2,500 people. The United States and other Western countries used sanctions and other forms of pressure to try to persuade Milosevic to cease repression and restore autonomy to Kosovo, without success. The increasing deterioration of the situation on the ground led the international Contact Group (United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) to agree on January 29, 1999 on a draft peace plan for Kosovo. They invited the two sides to Rambouillet, near Paris, to start peace talks based on the plan on February 6. As an inducement to the parties to comply, on January 30 the North Atlantic Council agreed to authorize NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana to launch NATO air strikes against targets in Serbia, after consulting with NATO members, if the Serb side rejected the peace plan. NATO said it was also studying efforts to curb the flow of arms to the rebels. The draft peace plan called for three-year interim settlement that would provide greater autonomy for Kosovo within Yugoslavia, and the deployment of a NATO-led international military force to help implement the agreement. On March 18, 1999, the ethnic Albanian delegation to the peace talks signed the plan, but the Yugoslav delegation rejected it. NATO began air strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999. Yugoslav forces moved rapidly to expel most of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians from their homes, many of which were looted and burned. A December 1999 State Department report estimated the total number of refugees and displaced persons at over 1.5 million, over 90% of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population. The report said that Yugoslav forces killed about 10,000 ethnic Albanians, and abused, tortured and raped others. After 78 days of increasingly intense air strikes that inflicted damage on Yugoslavia's infrastructure and its armed forces, President Milosevic agreed on June 3 to a peace plan based on NATO demands and a proposal from the Group of Eight countries (the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia, and Japan).