Jevtic and Schlumberger visited basketball camp in Prishtinë/Pristina

(RTK2)

With the aim of supporting sport and socialisation of Serb and Albanian children, Minister for Communities and Return Dalibor Jevtic together with the Ambassador of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Jean-Claude Schlumberger, on Friday visited the junior multi-ethnic youth basketball camp in Prishtinë/Pristina, the online version of RTK2 reported on Friday.

After spending some time with the children and telling them that he came to support socialisation and sport because, according to him, by doing so a future can be built where young people are the key factor, Minister Jevtic addressed the media present and said that this was a very good initiative organized by the OSCE’s part.

“I am in favour of continuation of this initiative, for Serb and Albanian children to socialise in this and other ways. Aside from getting engaged in sports, they will also have the opportunity to talk and bring out their life experiences through the workshops. We have to do everything in our powers in order for this camp not to be the first and the last one to be organised, but for these children to continue to socialise and be guests of each other in Strpce/Shtërpcë, Gjakovë/Djakovica, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, Pejë/Pec and everywhere else where they come from and by doing so send the clear message that coexistence is possible, that sports is what brings people together. Sports should not be the only thing that brings people together, but also in other ways, to demonstrate with our own examples how in which manner we should think about our joint future,” Minister Jevtic.

He thanked the OSCE and all the ones that helped making this idea happen and stressed that he will work on for initiatives similar to this one to continue.

The OSCE Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger thanked Minister Jevtic about this kind of support saying that it is very important for similar sports activities to be held and that this is why the OSCE decided to take one such step.

“Here we have children from the Albanian and Serb communities and they did not only play basketball, but they also had different workshops and talked to each other about various topics – issues that are related with problems of today, therefore this helped them socialise, play, train today,” Schlumberger said.

Junior basketball tournament for 12-15 years old children started on 20 June and it will go on for ten days, while it was organised in groups. About 45 Serb and Albanian community children from Gjakovë/Djakovica, Strpce/Shtërpcë, Mitrovicë/Mitrovica and Pejë/Pec are currently taking part in the camp.

Fifty-eight employees of Prishtinë/Pristina Municipality learn Serbian

(RTK2, 24 June 2016)

Although the Albanian and Serbian are official languages in Kosovo, most of the citizens are not acquainted with both languages. This is why it comes to problems in communication, which are particularly expressed in the work of local self-governments. Because of this, the OSCE Mission together with the Language Commissioner at the Kosovo Government has organised teaching of two official languages in Kosovo municipalities. This project is also being implemented in the Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina.

Saranda Bogujevci, Director of the Department of Culture in the Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina, says she belongs to the generation that has poorer knowledge of Serbian, and that its acquaintance will significantly ease her communication with the parties and her colleagues.

“I consider that it is important for us to be acquainted with the official languages as there are Serb nationality employees among us with whom, due to different languages, we have problems in communication. We are currently in the first phase of learning, but I consider that it is an advantage that some terms were already known for us. I hope that I will manage to be acquainted with the language until the end of this course,” said Saranda Bogujevci, Director of the Department of Culture in the Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina.

Although the Serbian is among the difficult languages to be learned, for now, according to teachers, all participants have managed to learn the basic terms envisaged with the programme.

“We try to teach them how to come to terms with the parties, to be able to respond to professional requests. We can say that this is a medium level course of Serbian language,” stresses Davor Petkovic, a teacher.

Director of Administration highlights that there is the possibility to organise Albanian language course for employees of Serb or other non-Albanian communities, but for now there is no sufficient number of participants.

“The course will go on until December and everyone will get a certificate at the end of it. The project has also envisaged organising the Albanian language course for employees coming from communities that do not speak Albanian, while for now we have only one interested employee,” says Muhedin Nushi, Director of Administration Department in the Municipality of Prishtinë/Pristina.

The course is being attended by 58 Prishtinë/Pristina municipality employees, while over the course of this year 11 additional municipalities in Kosovo were included in the project for learning two languages, including the municipalities of Gracanica/Graçanicë, Partes/Partesh, Ranilug/Ranillug, Strpce/Shtërpcë and many other ones.

International Day against Drug Abuse marked

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

About 3.000 persons are considered to be drug users in Kosovo. This was stated in a conference organized by Kosovo Police and Ministry of Interior Affairs in cooperation with the OSCE to mark the International Day against Drug Abuse.

Kosovo Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs, Nehat Mustafa, said that Kosovo has now a strategy against narcotics and emphasized that Kosovo institutions are cooperating in fighting this phenomenon.

Bajram Nuhiu of Kosovo Police Directorate for the Investigation of Trafficking in Narcotics said that there are three objectives in fight against narcotics: decrease of the demand, decrease of the offer and cooperation.

Representative of the OSCE, Shpresa Mulliqi, said that fight against drugs happens everywhere, and not only in Kosovo. According to her, even developed countries sometimes fail to stop criminal groups that deal with narcotics.

Thaçi: Spain to recognize Kosovo soon

(Most monitored broadcaster, KTV)

In an interview for Spanish news portal EFE, Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi expressed his confidence that Spain will soon recognize the independence of Kosovo.

Thaçi did not want to draw any parallels between Kosovo’s secession from Serbia and separatist movements in Spain, saying that Spain is not Serbia nor Catalonia is Kosovo, KTV reported.

First local referendum held in Kosovo

(Most monitored broadcasters, KTV)

For the first time in Kosovo, a referendum for a local issue has been held. Residents of Dubravë village of Suharekë/Suva Reka voted in a referendum about the location for the new mosque. Local authorities that organized this referendum said that the referendum directly expresses the will of citizens, KTV reported.

Based on Kosovo Law on local self-government and on its Statute, Municipality of Suharekë/Suva Reko responded positively to the request of Dubravë villagers, to organize a referendum regarding the location of the new mosque

The entire process was organized by the municipality and only one polling station was established in a local school in the village, KTV reported.

Mayor of Suharekë/Suva Reko, Sali Asllanaj, visiting the polling station on Sunday, said that through this referendum the municipality respects the will of citizens.

Out of 760 eligible voters, 267 citizens voted for the construction of the mosque while one citizen voted against, the online version of KTV reported.