The new memorial dedicated to the 1,650 people who have not been found since the Kosovo war was inaugurated in the garden of parliament to mark the end of Missing Persons Week.
The two-metre-high marble monument, entitled To Those We Miss, was unveiled on Monday at a ceremony attended by senior officials including Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and the families of people who have been missing since the war ended in 1999.
After the unveiling, parliament speaker Kadri Veseli told the families that the monument sent the message that Kosovo’s institutions will always remember them.
“In meantime, we want to send a human message to those who continue to keep the missing bodies. It is the last moment to return them to their land,” Veseli said, in a reference to Serbia.
Nexhmije Batusha, who buried her husband last year and a son in 1999 but is still looking for a second missing son, said she had come from the village of Krushe e Vogel/Mala Krusa to take part in the ceremony.
She said she receives monthly 220 euro in state benefits.
“I had the chance to talk to parliament speaker today, Kadri Veseli, and he said that they will increase assistance for us,” said Batusha told BIRN.
Before the unveiling of the monument, Kosovo’s parliament also held a session dedicated to missing persons.
“All you honourable members of parliament, when you talk to the international community, don’t just talk about politics but about missing persons as well, ” Bajram Qerkinaj, the of the coordinating council of missing persons associations, told MPs.
“Do not only hold dialogue with Serbia but also make them find our loved ones,” added Qerkinaj, whose son has been missing since 1999.
Missing Persons Week in Kosovo was marked with memorial commemorations in 12 villages and towns for those who were killed by Serbian forces in 1999.
The last one was in the village of Meje/Meja on Monday where thousands of people gathered to mark the 16th anniversary of the massacre of more than 300 Kosovo Albanian men.
In February, Interpol issued ‘red notices’ for 17 former members of Serbian forces, including a ruling party MP, over allegations that they committed war crimes in Kosovo in April 1999 related to the Meje/Meja killings.
