Church bells rang out in unison across Serbia and Kosovo in protest today as Kosovo's declaration of independence was upheld by the International Court of Justice in the Hague ending two and half years of legal limbo for the former Serbian province.
Tensions rose with helicopters from the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo circling above the divided city of Mitrovica and blocking the bridge that separates Kosovo's majority Albanians from its minority Serbs.
In 1998 a guerrilla movement, the Kosovo Liberation Army, took up arms to fight the Serbs. A ceasefire was negotiated at the time by American diplomat Richard Holbrooke who is now special envoy for President Obama in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1999 NATO forces led by the U.S. launched a 78-day bombing campaign which saw the expulsion of Serbian forces from all of Kosovo and Serbian rule from all but Serb areas. From then until February 2008 Kosovo came under UN administration with the help of NATO forces.
