Kosovo was an ethnic Albanian majority region within Serbia, one of six republics of the Former Yugoslav Republic (FRY). After the end of the Cold War, four republics separated from the FRY, leaving only Serbia and Montenegro, with Kosovo seeking independence from Serbia, which was denied. The first CSCE “mission of long duration” was sent to three minority regions in Serbia, including Kosovo, where an increasingly militant movement for independence developed, with an armed force—the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). As violence escalated, the OSCE created the Kosovo Verification Mission to monitor events and to protect minority populations. Negotiations at Rambouillet in France in 1998 led to an agreement on Kosovo’s separation, monitored by the UN Mission in Kosovo; within this mission, the OSCE was assigned primary responsibility for implementing the political dimension of the cease-fire agreement, including issues regarding elections, education, and human rights. Although the OSCE mission was subsequently reduced in size, it remained in Kosovo long afterwards, especially to promote democratization, to protect Serbian sites, and to monitor potential conflict between the ethnic Albanian majority and the northern regions of Kosovo with a Serb-majority population.