Pristina Liaison Officer in Belgrade, Valdet Sadiku, will have a new associate. According to Pristina-based daily Zeri, Kosovo government has appointed Xhelal Shaqiri, former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) member, to the post of the Assistant Liaison Officer in Belgrade.

“He is actually a technical person and for the nomination of such person no consent of the other side, in this case Belgrade, is needed. Pristina, simply appoints him. However, I think that Pristina had to be more careful if he was really the KLA member. In this case we can interpret this either as a reckless political move or as an intentional political provocation. Anyways, a room has been left for Pristina to withdraw this decision and appoint someone else to this post,” said chairperson of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Milovan Drecun. He added that liaison officers of both, Belgrade and Pristina, have significantly contributed to better communication of both sides, even though this might not be that visible.

Analyst Fadil Lepaja commented on the matter and opined that Belgrade’s refusal to accept the new official in this office would be detrimental for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, and reminded that incumbent President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, was also the KLA member.