 This had facilitated its ability to govern itself almost completely independently of the Kosovo institutions in a "de facto" state of partition; the authorities in turn chose to observe Belgrade's direct rule which is the legal authority over Kosovo as a whole.However, despite the region being contiguous with Central Serbia, its location within Kosovo and the subsequent conditions of the Kumanovo Treaty in 1999 mean that UNMIK officials have freedom of movement in North Kosovo whereby they assume supervisory status whilst no institution (e.g.police) is in place to enforce Serbian central directives which apply to the rest of Serbia.