Albanian Language Media:

• COVID-19: 923 new cases, 14 deaths (media)
• Donika Gervalla: We are not an experiment, we are a sovereign state (Prishtina Insight)
• Rohde, Von Cramon: MPs should follow LDK’s example (media)
• Krasniqi: Decision not to vote Vjosa Osmani is final (RTK)
• Haradinaj: We have not changed our position, we do not support Osmani (media)
• Konjufca: Serbia has not detached from Milosevic’s policy (media)
• Blinken to Vucic: US goal is to see Kosovo, Serbia reach an agreement centered on mutual recognition (Express)
• Kosovo economy to expand by 4% in 2021, according to World Bank report (Express)
• Man arrested over 1999 Kosovo Massacre (Express)
• EU expects Kurti government to be fully committed to dialogue (RFE Albanian, media)

Serbian Language Media:

• 26 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo (Kosovo-online)
• Office for KiM: Arrest of Mila Andjelkovic yet another brutal example of returnees’ intimidation (Kosovo-online)
• EU and US join forces in support of WB to prevent Russia and China influence (N1)
• US State Department: Human rights violations, corruption cases in Serbia in 2020 (N1)
• More frequent provocations of group of Albanian youngsters in front of school in Ugljare (Kosovo-online)
• Vucic: Reconstruction of Jarinje-Mitrovica North motorway to start in a month (KoSSev)

Humanitarian/Development:

• WHO report: Coronavirus likely came from animal, not a lab (CNN, N1)

Albanian Language Media  

COVID-19: 923 new cases, 14 deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 923 new cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours. 771 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 13,804 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Donika Gervalla: We are not an experiment, we are a sovereign state (Prishtina Insight)

In an exclusive interview for BIRN, new Minister for Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla outlined her plans to restore Kosovo’s international image and discussed her stance on key foreign policy issues, including the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue.

Newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gervalla has told BIRN that her first week in the job has given her hope of restoring Kosovo’s ailing foreign service.

In an exclusive interview broadcast on Wednesday night, she said that she had met many talented professionals within the ministry, who she says were “pushed by the former leadership to take certain actions against their will.”

For Gervalla, one of the first steps towards repairing Kosovo’s international image is reforming the diplomatic corps. She pointed to frequent violations of the law on the diplomatic service, which states that 50 percent of ambassadors and heads of mission should be recruited from serving members of the foreign service.

According to the new minister, only around 30 percent of ambassadors have been recruited from the foreign service, with the remaining 70 percent appointed due to political affiliations.

She added that this has damaged Kosovo’s international reputation, stating that the country’s political establishment is “not taken seriously by countries throughout the world.”

Gervalla has long been a critic of the pledge made by the previous Kosovo administration in Washington DC agreeing to a one-year moratorium on applying to international organisations – something she says will be discussed with US Ambassador to Kosovo Philip Kosnett.

“The pledge made in Washington is a terrible violation of Kosovo law,” she told BIRN. “You cannot pause the integrity and constitutionality of a country in any situation. We are not an experiment, we are a sovereign state.”

Gervalla added that she will always represent Kosovo’s interests in her new role, and will not tolerate behaviour similar to that employed by Richard Grenell, the former US Presidential Envoy for Kosovo Serbia Dialogue.

“I am certain that if [other] Grenells come and request things like in the past, I will find ways and instruments to stop these methods,” she said.

The new minister was more amenable to other elements of the agreements made in Washington DC, however, and has no plans to reverse the decision to open a Kosovo embassy in Jerusalem, a move which has been criticised by both the EU and Turkey.

“I think that the issue of our embassy in Israel is closed,” she said. “We will not enter into diplomatic adventures over an issue that is ‘job done.’”

However, the minister added that Kosovo’s foreign policy in the Middle East should be cordial towards all parties. “Kosovo is a small country and will seek partnership with Israel, but we want amicable relations with the Palestinian authorities as well,” she told BIRN.

Gervalla, the daughter of Kosovo Albanian dissident Jusuf Gervalla, who is suspected to have been assassinated by the Yugoslav secret service in Germany in 1982, revealed that she also intends to be active in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue as part of her new role.

In order to avoid repeating previous mistakes, the foreign minister believes that the new Kosovo government must not hurry into the EU-facilitated dialogue.

“We want to be prepared for the dialogue, not for it to be done superficially so that European bureaucrats can register that ‘the meeting was held and some promises were made,’” she said, adding that previously both Kosovo and Serbia did not take obligations made in Brussels seriously.

Gervalla also listed battling Serbia’s derecognition campaign as one of her three main priorities, alongside developing relations with countries that have already recognised Kosovo and focusing on the five EU member states yet to do so.

The new minister was keen to stress that relations with Serbia must be considered a subject of foreign policy and not an internal issue. “If we do not consider relations with Serbia as an external issue then we are automatically giving up our sovereignty,” she said.

Rohde, Von Cramon: MPs should follow LDK’s example (media)

German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde said the decision of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) to participate in the election process of the new president of Kosovo, commendable.

“Commendable that LDK will participate in election process for a new president. Hopefully all elected MPs will follow and put the needs of Kosovo citizens above political partisanship. I can hardly imagine risking new elections in the midst of the currently raging pandemic wave,” Rohde wrote on his Twitter account.

The European Parliament Rapporteur for Kosovo Viola von Cramon shared Rohde’s tweet and commented saying ‘That‘s also my hope. Please make sure that everyone in the National Assembly of Kosovo puts the country’s interest first and not the own or the party‘s one.’

Krasniqi: Decision not to vote Vjosa Osmani is final (RTK)

Kosovo Assembly MP from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said the issue of the election of the president is a closed case for PDK. Krasniqi told Express that the decision not to vote Vjosa Osmani for president is final.

He further confirmed that PDK’s parliamentary group will meet today to discuss distribution of Assembly commissions ‘and nothing else.’ 

Haradinaj: We have not changed our position, we do not support Osmani (media)

Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said his political party has not changed its stance, and it does not support Vjosa Osmani for the president of Kosovo.

‘We have welcomed the possibility to discuss with the winner of the elections, Mr. Kurti and Ms. Osmani, however we did not receive any proposal, request, political agreement to vote the president or the government. They have not requested our cooperation, we are not par of the agreement to vote the candidate for president. We have seen the position of the LDK, it is a new relation between LDK and Vetevendosje Movement. However, as far as the Alliance is concerned, nothing has changed,” Haradinaj said.

Haradinaj spoke at the press conference also about the increase of electricity price.

“Rising energy prices hits industrial consumers, especially those in production and processing, but in the near future, all our families. The whole process of electricity liberalization should be reviewed. It is a kind of monopole in the name of market liberalization. Liberalization is false,” Haradinaj said.

He further called on the government to undertake immediate action to prevent increase of energy price.

“Relations between KEK and KESKO should change in order not to allow privileges for only one operator,” he said.  

Konjufca: Serbia has not detached from Milosevic’s policy (media) 

Acting President of Kosovo Glauk Konjufca stated today that Serbia, led by Aleksandar Vucic has not detached from its direction against the Albanian people. He said that this is evidenced by Vucic’s provocation by publishing a photo of Kosovo with the Serbian flag on it.

Konjufca in a statement to the media after the homage in Pastasella of Rahovec, said that the massacres carried out by the Serbian occupier prove best how monstrous Milosevic’s Serbian government has been.

He said it was unfortunate that justice had not yet been done, as he called for that to happen.

“In this massacre, the state of Serbia and its forces have not spared even the children. They also killed children. This shows how monstrous Milosevic’s Serbian power has been, but it also shows that today’s Serbia led by Aleksandar Vucic’s has not separated from that policy. The other thing is that they do not have the police forces here in Kosovo but, with their statements, with their attitudes, with the Serbian flag that they are flying over the whole of Kosovo, they are showing that they want to continue in the same direction that Serbia has always had, and that is against the Albanian people which has led to the massacres they committed here in Rahovec, in many villages, including the village of Pastasella,” he said.

Blinken to Vucic: US goal is to see Kosovo, Serbia reach an agreement centered on mutual recognition (Express)

The U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, sent a letter to Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic writing that the U.S. longstanding goal has been to see Kosovo and Serbia reach a comprehensive agreement centered on mutual recognition, according to Belgrade-based daily Novosti. 

“The United States is committed to our longstanding partnership. We share the vision of a stable, prosperous, and democratic Serbia on the path to EU membership. The United States’ longstanding goal has been to see Serbia and Kosovo reach a comprehensive agreement centered on mutual recognition,” Blinken wrote in his letter sent to Vucic.

Secretary Blinken in a handwritten note at the end of the letter reminded Vucic “good conversations” they had adding that he looks forward to renewing them, according to Novosti.

Serbian president Vucic confirmed Tuesday that he received a letter from Blinken, saying that except the history of mutual recognition with Kosovo, the message “was meaningful and good,” in all other aspects, and thanked Blinken for his letter.

In February the U.S. President Joe Biden, reminded the Serbian president the U.S. goal on Kosovo-Serbia dialogue on mutual recognition.

Kosovo economy to expand by 4% in 2021, according to World Bank report (Express)

A World Bank report says that Kosovo economy recovery should start in 2021 if COVID-19 pandemic is contained and consumers trust in businesses is restored.

The World Bank report says that economic activity in Kosovo contracted by 6.9 percent in 2020, driven by plunging diaspora tourism and lower investment.

“Government and Central Bank policy support measures coupled with higher remittances and goods exports mitigated the contraction,” according to the report.

“The recovery should start in 2021 with growth hovering above 4 percent in the medium term. However, real economic activity should recover losses only in 2022,” according to the World Bank. 

Addressing long-standing structural impediments and prioritizing limited fiscal space for high-return human capital investments is vital to supporting a resilient recovery, according to the report.

Man arrested over 1999 Kosovo Massacre (Express)

The Kosovo Police have arrested a man suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian population in the 1998-99 war.

According to the Police report the arrested person is suspected of being involved in committing war crimes against the civilian population in the village Izbice of Skenderaj municipality. The Police said that at the order of the prosecutor the suspect has been sent to custody.

Kosovo marked on 28 March the 22nd anniversary of the Izbica massacre, one of the largest in Kosovo war with more than 120 dead Albanian civilians killed by Serbian forces.

EU expects Kurti government to be fully committed to dialogue (RFE Albanian, media)

The European Union estimates that the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, facilitated by the European Union, has made “a real change in the lives and well-being of citizens in the region.”

The EU now believes that the time has come for the process to conclude successfully, by reaching a comprehensive, legally binding normalization agreement which will address all open issues between Kosovo and Serbia.

These assessments were expressed by an EU spokesperson in response to questions from Radio Free Europe about the possibility of continuing the dialogue and the principles recently presented by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

What are Kurti’s principles?

Perparim Kryeziu, spokesman for the government of Kosovo, in a statement for Radio Free Europe, stressed that Prime Minister Albin Kurti, has already expressed his position regarding the dialogue with Serbia,which continues to be unchanged.

“First, the reality of an independent Kosovo must be accepted. So, we cannot go back to the independence of 2008. Second, the truth must be accepted. Serbia has committed genocide in Kosovo and must acknowledge the crimes it has committed. Third, we must sit equal. Kosovo cannot be a topic of discussion, but it must be an equal party in the discussion. Fourth, the citizens should benefit from the dialogue and the final agreement,” Kryeziu said.

The EU has not directly addressed Kurti’s views in their responses. In Brussels, they only said that “the EU and the member states expect the dialogue to continue soon and to see the new government of Kosovo fully committed to bring this important process to a successful conclusion.”

Exactly one year has passed since the mandate of the EU Special Representative for Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak. Although it was expected that the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia would be reached “within months” this did not happen.

Lajcak’s mandate has been extended for almost two more years, until the summer of 2022. During the first year of his mandate, only a small number of meetings were held at the level of “heads of delegations” and only two meetings at the level between the then Prime Minister of Kosovo, Avdullah Hoti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

However, an EU spokesman says that “in 2020 the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell and Lajcak hosted a series of high-level meetings and chief negotiators” during which tangible initial progress has been achieved.”

Meanwhile, diplomats from EU member states, when talking about the dialogue during the first year of Lajcak’s mandate, limit themselves to declaring that they “welcome the fact that the dialogue has resumed.”

Serbian Language Media

26 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Serbian areas in Kosovo (Kosovo-online)

26 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, over the last 24 hours, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Out of 91 tested samples, 26 were positive. The breakdown of the new cases is as follows: seven in Zvecan, six in Zubin Potok, five in Mitrovica North, five in Leposavic and three in Priluzje.

Currently there are 802 active cases of Covid-19 in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo. 

Office for KiM: Arrest of Mila Andjelkovic yet another brutal example of returnees’ intimidation (Kosovo-online)

Kosovo police arrested last night at Merdare administrative crossing point, Mila Andjelkovic, a Serb returnee from Novake village near Prizren, and under police escort took her to the police station in Suva Reka, Office for Kosovo and Metohija said, Serbian media report.

As it was said in a statement Andjelkovic was arrested over allegedly falsified documents relating to the apartment in Suva Reka, her father received from Elektrokosmet company in 1998.

“The Office for Kosovo and Metohija immediately found the lawyer to Mila Andjelkovic and informed representatives of all relevant international organizations in Kosovo about her unfounded arrest. Namely, Mila was arrested over a flat usurped by an Albanian, a former colleague of her late father. Although the decision was made to evict the usurper, an agreement was reached that he continues living in a flat and pays a monthly rent for it. However, he paid the rent for one month only and after that continued to live in her apartment illegally”, the statement said.

The Office also said this arrest “represents yet another brutal example of Serb returnees in Kosovo intimidation.” It added the recent attitude of the Pristina authorities towards Mila Andjelkovic “only demonstrates there is no political willingness in Pristina to enable those expelled to return to their centuries old home places”.

“Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija must not be victims of Pristina’s arbitrariness and targets of political and staged processes. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija demands an end to the persecution of the returnees and expects reaction of Brussels and international missions to such violations of the rights and intimidation practice of the returnees. It also demands that Mila Andjelkovic is immediately released”, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Kosovo-online reported that Andjelkovic following interrogation at the police station was released to defend in freedom, pending the next decision of the prosecutor. 

EU and US join forces in support of WB to prevent Russia and China influence (N1)

The European Union and the United States are determined to cooperate much more closely in the policy towards the Western Balkans in finding a solution for Belgrade and Pristina’s relations, EU sources have told the Belgrade Beta news agency Tuesday.

The unnamed diplomats added that although Washington and Brussels would join political forces, the EU would have a leading say in the negotiations on a comprehensive agreement on the Kosovo issue.

They said the US administration’s strong support was motivated by the strategy and geopolitical interests of the EU and the US in the Western Balkans, which largely coincided, especially regarding “the EU integration and its economic and political order halting the spread of Chinese and Russian influence”.

Diplomats in Brussels said US President Joe Biden called on the EU leaders in a video conference for joint action in foreign policy, especially regarding China and Russia.

Biden “also pointed to the need for the US and the EU to continue their engagement around Turkey, the southern Caucasus, Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans“, the sources told the agency.

See at: https://bit.ly/31wmP4J

US State Department: Human rights violations, corruption cases in Serbia in 2020 (N1)

According to a report released by the US State Department on Tuesday, Serbia is a country marked by significant human rights challenges in 2020, and a significant number of issues in different areas like severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including violence, threats of violence and unjustified arrests and prosecutions of journalists.

The State Department 2020 report cites numerous cases of corruption among members of the government, crimes involving violence or threats of violence against persons with disabilities, and crimes committed against members of sexual minorities – the LGBT population.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3rDDON4

More frequent provocations of group of Albanian youngsters in front of school in Ugljare (Kosovo-online)

A group of Albanian youngsters came yesterday afternoon to the playground of Primary School “Ugljare” in the village of Ugljare, near Kosovo Polje, Kosovo-online portal reports, adding an incident occurred afterwards, including provocations and insults uttered against the Serb pupils getting out of the school building following the end of their lessons.

Ugljare village representative Aleksandar Trajkovic told the portal Albanian young men jumped over the protective metal fence, around the playground, more than two meters high.

“Young men from Kosovo Polje were doing this several times. They interrupt the lessons, intimidate the pupils and teachers. Similar incident happened yesterday. They had a verbal conflict with a son of the priest from Kosovo Polje, while one of the Albanian young men was pointing to something he kept under his t-shirt. I can’t confirm what it was about”, Trajkovic said.

Ugljare residents reported to police similar incidents taking place in front of a school almost a year ago.

“We have requested police to be present until 17.00 hrs, when the teaching process ends. Unfortunately, they did nothing so far to prevent incidents.  Those young men continue to intrude the playground and expel children while they are playing. Because of cases such as this one, the children lock the entry door of the playground”, Trajkovic said.

91 pupils attend the Primary School in Ugljare village, the portal recalled.

Meanwhile, Kosovo Minister for Communities and Return Goran Rakic condemned today the increasingly frequent attacks on Serbian pupils at Ugljare Primary School.   

“Such incidents and constant intimidation of Serbian children must be stopped immediately. This is a clear and very bad message that is being sent to the Serbian community, and that is why I appeal for a quick reaction of police and competent authorities, so that in the future, these attacks would be prevented”, Rakić wrote on Facebook.

Vucic: Reconstruction of Jarinje-Mitrovica North motorway to start in a month (KoSSev)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced today that work on reconstruction and expansion of Jarinje-Mitrovica North motorway would commence in a month, the latest, KoSSev portal reports.

Vucic said in a ceremony marking the beginning of the works on Novi Beograd-Surcin section of the highway today that instruction for Jarinje-Mitrovica North motorway reconstruction was already made, adding the funds were provided.

He also spoke about reconstruction of the hospitals in Gracanica and Mitrovica North, projects being announced for months by both Belgrade and local institutions representatives in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, the portal recalled. The works would commence in August this year. 

Humanitarian/Development

WHO report: Coronavirus likely came from animal, not a lab (CNN, N1)

Covid-19 probably came to people through an animal, and likely started spreading no more than a month or two before it was noticed in December of 2019, a World Health Organization draft report finds.

The least likely source: a laboratory leak, the WHO’s joint international team concluded.

WHO is scheduled to release the final report on its investigation into the origins of coronavirus on Tuesday, but a draft version of the report obtained by CNN shows there’s still no smoking gun and no evidence suggesting the virus was spreading any earlier than the very end of 2019.

The report gives four possible sources for the virus and the most likely scenario is via an intermediate animal host, possibly a wild animal captured and then raised on a farm.

But the investigation has not found what other animal was infected by a bat — considered the most likely original source of the virus — and then may have transmitted it to a human. “The possible intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2 remains elusive”, it reads.

See more at: https://bit.ly/3sHlN1B