• COVID-19: 747 new cases, five deaths (media)
• Fist Covid vaccines set for Kosovo from India (Koha)
• Syla: Albania has secured 500 vaccines for healthcare staff in Kosovo (media)
• Kosnett urges opposition to put needs of people above political partisanship (media)
• Haziri: LDK should have a vote for Vjosa Osmani president (RTV21/Telegrafi)
• Haradinaj: AAK will not vote for Osmani nor will it make necessary quorum (Telegrafi)
• Vucic’s post of Serbian flag on Kosovo map backdrop sparks reactions (media)
• Russia says Kosovo has no right to open a mission in Jerusalem (EO)
• SGG condemns the killing of Sebahate Sopi, calls for concrete actions to protect women (Klan)
• Kosovo’s Kurti Urges Albanians Abroad to Join North Macedonia Census (Balkan Insight)
• ‘I want to live not just survive’: Kosovo and its chronic brain drain problem (euronews)
• Kosovo Police probe threat to BIRN team filming disputed property (Prishtina Insight)

 COVID-19: 747 new cases, five deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 747 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths in the last 24 hours. 435 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 12,648 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Fist Covid vaccines set for Kosovo from India (Koha)

Koha has learnt that the first doses of the anti-Covid vaccine form AstraZeneca, part of the COVAX initiative, have departed India and are on their way to Kosovo.

However, due to uncertainties regarding the vaccine rollout through the COVAX programme, it is not yet clear when they will reach Kosovo.

Meanwhile, international media report that many EU countries are expected to resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after the European Medicines Agency concluded the vaccine is safe and effective.

Syla: Albania has secured 500 vaccines for healthcare staff in Kosovo (media)

Chairman of the Kosovo healthcare trade union, Blerim Syla, said he had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama who confirmed that the country has secured 500 Covid vaccines for the Kosovo’s healthcare workers.

Syla said in a Facebook post that the vaccination of the staff would take place in the town of Kukes. Syla said they began drafting a list of persons that would receive the vaccines and that he is set to travel to Tirana to discuss the technical details.

Kosnett urges opposition to put needs of people above political partisanship (media)

The U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo, Philip Kosnett, held separate meetings yesterday with the acting leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj and the leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj.

Kosnett tweeted after the meetings: “Encouraged them to act constructively in opposition, working together with the government on shared goals & putting the needs of citizens above political partisanship.”

Hoxhaj meanwhile tweeted: “Welcomed @USAmbKosovo to PDK HQ to discuss the current internal political developments in Kosovo w/ emphasis on election results and formation of the new institutions. Kosovo needs stability and leadership.”

Haradinaj said they discussed challenges Kosovo is going through, the Euro-Atlantic integrations, the pandemic, economic recovery, and dialogue with Serbia. “We discussed the recent political developments and the political maturity demonstrated by our country following February 14 elections. I informed the ambassador that the Alliance will be a powerful voice that will seek accountability from the future government.”

Haziri: LDK should have a vote for Vjosa Osmani president (RTV21/Telegrafi)

Deputy leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lutfi Haziri said that while the official position of the party on Vjosa Osmani’s bid to become president of Kosovo will be taken by LDK’s leading structures, it is his personal view that Osmani should be endorsed.

“LDK should have a vote because it would firstly vote for a president of the country and second for a person that grew and politically matured in LDK,” Haziri told RTV 21.

Haradinaj: AAK will not vote for Osmani nor will it make necessary quorum (Telegrafi)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj spoke in an interview with RTV Dukagjini about his meeting with the leader of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) Albin Kurti and acting President Vjosa Osmani and said they asked for his cooperation on important state issues.

“I welcomed the meeting. I asked Mr. Kurti is he wants joint governing and he replied: ‘We want to have constructive government-opposition relations with you’. So they do not want to share responsibility,” Haradinaj said.

On Osmani’s candidacy for president of Kosovo, Haradinaj said his party MPs will not vote for her nor will they secure a quorum in the Assembly in order to validate the vote. “I told them I don’t want for three government branches to be in the hands of one person, in this case Mr. Kurti. I told them this is not okay for democracy either. I told them I will not give them the vote nor will I make the quorum.”

Vucic’s post of Serbian flag on Kosovo map backdrop sparks reactions (media)

As part of marking the March 2004 riots which left dead 11 Albanians and eight Serbs, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic posted on social media a picture of the Serbian flag against the Kosovo map backdrop, a move which sparked reactions in Kosovo, Klan Kosova reports.

Vucic captioned the photo: “Today Serbia is not weak, does not threaten, but does not forget and will not allow for 17 March to happen again. We remembered and drew every lesson when we lost. We know what happened and we called it by its true name – massacre.”

Acting leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Enver Hoxhaj commented on Twitter: “Serbia under @avucic autocratic rule is in a state of hypnosis where propaganda & hate is incited against neighbors. Kosovo as an independent & sovereign state is the wall of Euro-arlantic (sic.) values against middle age mentality.”

Kosovo’s former ambassador to the U.S. Vlora Citaku slammed Vucic’s post as a “serious verbal aggression” which she said should be condemned as such. “This is not a parody account. This is the official account of the President of Serbia,” she said. “Kosovo is Kosovo. Period,” Citaku added.

Koha reports that Vucic post on Instagram has been flooded by comments from Albanian users, most of whom accuse him of spreading fake news and calling for the post to be taken down.

Russia says Kosovo has no right to open a mission in Jerusalem (EO)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kosovo has not had the right to open any diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.

She said the step was “contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, according to which Kosovo’s right to have special diplomatic relations with other countries has not yet been regulated.”

“We would like to emphasize once again our principled position on Jerusalem: the city should be the capital of the two independent states of Palestine and Israel, open to the believers of the three monotheistic religions,” Zakharova said.

SGG condemns the killing of Sebahate Sopi, calls for concrete actions to protect women (Klan)

The Security and Gender Group (SGG) has strongly condemned the shooting of Sebahate Sopi, on Sunday, 14 March in Pristina, expresses indignation at the number of women’s lives lost in Kosovo at the hands of their partners or former partners, and calls upon relevant institutions to take effective measures in preventing gender-based violence and providing effective protection to victims.

“Violence against women, including domestic violence is one of the most serious human rights violations. According to Article 24(1), Law on Protection against Domestic Violence, the Kosovo Police shall respond to any report relating to acts of domestic violence or threats to commit such acts. The Law further states that the ‘Kosovo Police shall use reasonable means to protect the victim and prevent further violence,’ and sets out specific measures to be taken in such cases.

Six months since the incorporation of the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) into the Kosovo Constitution, it is time to advance their implementation and take concrete actions to prevent violence against women and girls, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators. Institutions must be held accountable for their commitments. In this regard, Article 50 of the Istanbul Convention (immediate response, prevention and protection) requires the following: “Effective measures should be taken to prevent the most blatant forms of violence which are murder or attempted murder. Each such case should be carefully analysed in order to identify any possible failure of protection in view of improving and developing further preventive measures,” SGG said in a statement to the press.

The group encouraged Kosovo institutions to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the death of Sebahate Sopi as well as the circumstances leading to her death. “The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a shadow epidemic of violence against women worldwide. Kosovo institutions must take urgent steps to prevent femicide and gender-based violence against women in Kosovo.”

Sebahate Sopi was paid tribute to yesterday by representatives of the civil society in a silent protest in front of the government of Kosovo building.

Kosovo’s Kurti Urges Albanians Abroad to Join North Macedonia Census (Balkan Insight)

Drawing on his appeal among Albanians outside his country, Kosovo’s would-be Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has urged diaspora Albanians from neighbouring North Macedonia to take part in that country’s census.

Kosovo’s potential Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has used his growing popularity in the wider Albanian diaspora to call on ethnic Albanians from North Macedonia to take part in that country’s census.

In snap elections in Kosovo on February 14, Kurti’s Vetevendosje party received the support of more than 75 per cent of the more than 50,000 votes that Kosovars living abroad cast.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2PbpltZ

‘I want to live not just survive’: Kosovo and its chronic brain drain problem (euronews)

In the summer of 2017, Gzim Olluri graduated with a journalism diploma from the University of Pristina.

A few weeks later, Olluri was in Zagreb, applying to the Croatian authorities for a work permit so he could take a job on a construction site.

“When I submitted the documents they said: ‘How can you work in construction with a diploma in journalism?’,” Olluri recalled.

Now 29, Olluri has worked on sites ever since, joined by his two brothers – both in their 20s – who have also left Kosovo to find work elsewhere in Europe.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3f866wH

Kosovo Police probe threat to BIRN team filming disputed property (Prishtina Insight)

Kosovo Police have said they will investigate an implied death threat made to a BIRN Kosovo team on Tuesday when they were trying to film in a southern town.

“The prosecutor has been informed while police units are investigating the case,” the police report on Thursday said.

Police started investigating after the case was initially closed by a prosecutor on Tuesday. Prosecutor Anton Hasanaj said he saw no elements of a criminal offence.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2NAIFka