LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: Diplomatic experience qualifies Jeremic (Beta/RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has informed the Chairperson of the United Nations General Assembly Mogens Lyketoft that Serbia has decided to nominate Vuk Jeremic for the UN Secretary General, convinced that the extensive diplomatic experience qualifies him for this post. Vucic notes that “by appointing Jeremic, as the citizen of the Republic of Serbia, Serbia is confirming support to the principle of geographic distribution of the leading posts in the United Nations system, noticing that not one member state from the region group of Eastern Europe has had a representative at the post of the UN Secretary General”. “On behalf of the Republic of Serbia, it is my honor to inform you that we have decided to appoint Vuk Jeremic as the candidate for the UN Secretary General. We believe that extensive diplomatic experience, which he acquired as the chairperson of the 69^th session of the UN General Assembly and as Serbian foreign minister, qualifies his as the candidate,” reads Vucic’s letter, whereby Jeremic’s candidacy has been made official.

 

Kocijancic: EC looks forward to opening of Chapters 23, 24 (Tanjug)

Spokeswoman for the European Commission’s (EC) Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations office Maja Kocijancic told Tanjug that the EC supported and eagerly awaited the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 in EU accession negotiations with Serbia. Following the news about the EC rejecting demands by which the Croatian government virtually blocked Serbia’s negotiating process and the opening of Chapter 23, Kocijancic reiterated the position stated by the EC earlier. The EC eagerly awaits the next steps in the process of Serbia’s accession to the EU and the opening of Chapters 23, on judiciary and 24, on justice, freedom and security, she said. The talks are ongoing, and the EC is ready to proceed with the next steps as soon as we achieve unanimity among the member-states, added Kocijancic.

 

Davenport: EC made recommendation; member-states will decide (Tanjug)

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said that the EC had made a recommendation to open Chapters 23 and 24 with Serbia and the decision now rested with the EU member-states. Asked at a press conference in Belgrade if Brussels had rejected Croatia’s arguments for blocking the opening of the chapters with Serbia, Davenport said that EC recommendations were something that was discussed by the member-states and the same applied to all chapters. The EC has given its recommendation to open the chapter. Now it rests with the member-states to decide the next steps, stressed Davenport. The role of the EC here is to give its recommendation and to assess if the candidate country is ready to open a chapter. Now we have to wait for the decisions of the member-states, said Davenport.

 

Dikovic, Djuric, Obradovic banned from entering Kosovo (Novosti)

Kosovo Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi made a decision Chief of Staff of the Serbian Army, General Ljubisa Dikovic, to be declared a persona non grata and banned him from entering Kosovo, Pristina media report. Selimi stresses in his decision the dossier of crimes committed in Kosovo and the bodies found in the mass grave in Rudnica. Selimi earlier declared the SRS leader Vojislav Seselj a persona non grata. Novosti learns that Pristina has also banned the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric to attend the party convention in Gracanica on Wednesday. The Dveri leader Bosko Obradovic was also banned yesterday to enter Kosovo.

 

Kozarev: Kosovo Serbs to vote as in 2014 (Tanjug)

The upcoming parliamentary elections will be held in Kosovo and Metohija pursuant to the decision of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), in a manner that will be completely the same as in 2014, Deputy Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Dusan Kozarev told Tanjug. Like in 2014, the OSCE will be the guarantor of unobstructed voting and regularity of the electoral process, and the Serbian government calls on our citizens in Kosovo and Metohija to go to polling stations in the highest numbers possible, Kozarev explained. The holding of the Serbian parliamentary elections in Kosovo and Metohija has been agreed at the last Brussels meeting at prime minister level, and the agreement was facilitated by the EU, he said.

The Kosovo government has made a decision that Serbia will not be able to open polling stations in Kosovo for the parliamentary election on 24 April, but that Kosovo Serbs will be enabled to vote through the OSCE centers for collection of votes, as in 2014, Kosovo Deputy Minister of Local Self-Government Bajram Gecaj said. The OSCE Mission will organize several centers for collection of votes and the technical aspects are still discussed with the mission representatives, he said.

 

RIK declares final electoral list (Tanjug)

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) declared late on Wednesday the final electoral list, containing a total of 20 lists. Appearing first on the ballot will be the “Aleksandar Vucic — Serbia wins” list. “For a Just Serbia — Democratic Party (Nova, DSHV, ZZS)” is appearing second, followed by “Ivica Dacic - Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) - United Serbia (JS) - Dragan Markovic Palma”. The fourth is “Dr Vojislav Seselj - Serbian Radical Party”, “Dveri - Democratic Party of Serbia - Sanda Raskovic-Ivic - Bosko Obradovic” is the fifth and “Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians - Istvan Pastor” the sixth. Appearing under number seven will be “Boris Tadic - Cedomir Jovanovic - Alliance for a Better Serbia - LDP-LSV-SDS”, followed by “Muamer Zukorlic - Bosniak Democratic Union of Sandzak” under number eighth. The ninth is “SDA of Sandzak - Dr Sulejman Ugljanin” and “For a Free Serbia - Zavetnici - Milica Djurdjevic” will appear under number 10. Under number 11 is “Citizen’s Group For Serbia’s Revival - Prof Dr Slobodan Komazec”. “Russian Party - Slobodan Nikolic” is twelfth, “Republican Party - Nikola Sandulovic” is thirteenth and “Serbo-Russian Movement - Slobodan Dimitrijevic” is fourteenth. “Borko Stefanovic - Serbia for us all” is appearing under number 15, “Dialogue - Youth with attitude - Stanko Debeljakovic” under number 16, “It’s Enough! - Sasa Radulovic” under number 17, followed by “Party for Democratic Action - Ardita Sinani” under 18 and “Green Party” under 19. “Out of spite - United for Serbia - National Alliance” will appear last on the ballot, under number 20.

RIK President Dejan Djurdjevic said that a total of 30 electoral lists had been submitted, three lists - United Russian Party, None of the Above and Roma List - withdrew their candidacy, and one had been rejected by RIK. Djurdjevic said that the 20 lists total 3,270 candidates for members of parliament. A total of 6,771,497 ballots will be printed and the vote for parliament deputies will take place on 24 April.
The municipalities that are not there (NIN, by Dragana Pejovic)

Maja Gojkovic is not the first Serbian parliament speaker who, while calling local elections, exempted from them the municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija. But she certainly made a precedent by not mentioning the provincial municipalities including those where the elections will not be held on 24 April. When Slavica Djukic Dejanovic was in trouble in 2012 of doing the same thing, she clumsily explained this with Resolution 1244, lack of legal requirements. The difference is that the vice president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), while listing municipalities where the mandates of deputies are still valid, put an end on the territory of Serbia proper with Vojvodina. Without Kosovo. The difference is, of course, that citizens have already voted in Serb regions in Kosovo and Metohija at the local elections according to Kosovo regulations. Severely pressured from Belgrade, which especially motivated them with the fairytale on the Community of Serb Municipalities, the Kosovo Serbs responded, in minimal yet sufficient numbers, to Pristina’s call to integrate and Belgrade’s call to trust it. Of 107,000 registered voters, 35,000 voted. It is clear today that the most important act in the Brussels dialogue occurred on that November 2013, but also in the Serbia-EU relationship, after which the Kosovo Serbs have been further and further away from their own place in the electoral process of the home country. Even though they are not yet voting in embassies or consulates. Voting for parliament deputies will take place at 90 polling stations, determined by the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) by the Decision on polling stations, at the proposal of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, for polling stations to be in 17 municipalities, including the southern municipalities. It derives from the Guide for implementing voting in Kosovo and Metohija that the RIK coordinators will hand the electoral material to boards in Raska, actually in Vranje, on 20 April. Then the election material, with the responsibility of board members – three members for each polling station, will travel to polls and back for counting after the completion of voting. The OSCE will be a guarantor of security, despite the fact that this mission brutally violated numerous procedures at polling stations in Serb regions in 2013, because it closed them prematurely over the incident in Kosovska Mitrovica, but in some places opened the stations too late, and improperly handled electoral material.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Lukac: Report on attack on Vucic filed (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) Interior Minister Dragan Lukac said that the RS Ministry of Interior has filed a report to the Special Prosecutor’s Office against the four known and two unknown persons in connection with the attack on Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, in Potocari in July last year. “Given that institutions at the B&H level, the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of B&H and the B&H Prosecutor’s Office, failed to do anything in that regard, we have submitted the report on 1 April,” Lukac said in his closing argument on the 2015 Report on Work Performance of the Ministry of Interior of RS. He has said that the public has not been earlier informed on filing the report because, in agreement with the Special Prosecutor's Office, the additional information was being collected. Serbian Prime Minister was attacked in July last year after the commemoration of the victims in Srebrenica. Vucic was firstly verbally attacked by a group of people in Potocari, who then stoned him.

 

Grand opening of Covic’s new office in Mostar: Is Mostar the Croat capital (Patria)

Dragan Covic organized a grand opening celebration of his new office in Mostar as the Croat member of the B&H Presidency. It is obvious that Covic has a great deal of work in Mostar so he had no choice but to open an office on Nikola Subic Zrinski’s lane with tax payers’ money. Besides Covic, Mladen Ivanic, member of Presidency B&H from the RS has an office in Banja Luka. Back in 1996, Momcilo Krajisnik had his office in East Sarajevo. Borislav Paravac continued this practice – besides his office in B&H Presidency, he had ‘field offices’ in Lukavica and Banja Luka. All office running costs have been covered by the state budget. After Ivanic had taken over mandate of Presidency member, the office of President of RS Milorad Dodik requested an eviction of Ivanic from the RS government building, so a new accommodation was to be found for this member of B&H Presidency. According to the Rules of Procedure, regular and emergency sessions of the collective chief of state are to be held in Sarajevo, at the Presidency building, unless a decision is made about holding a session elsewhere. Such a decision can be expected now; it is quite possible that Bakir Izetbegovic, Dragan Covic and Mladen Ivanic will hold meetings in Mostar and in Banja Luka. It is a question of time when Covic and Ivanic will complain about having to come to Izetbegovic all the time. The opening celebration was attended by members and selected HDZ officials only, while neither Bosniak nor Serb representatives attended. Thus it can be expected for this office to host political party collegiums. Considering that HDZ B&H and Covic’s idea of moving Federation of B&H government to Mostar failed (although some of the ministries are placed just there), he found the way to send a message that Mostar is the Croat capital! Analyzing work of Presidency members so far, few have not noticed the extent to which it is emphasized the people that a member of Presidency comes from. Almost every official communication specifies if Presidency member is from RS or the Croat people or the Bosniak people. And while Bosniaks swear by unity and strength of Bosniak uniting, they seem to miss seeing ever growing dissolution of the state. While Bosniaks are ‘uniting’, Croat and Serb political representatives are strengthening their local communities in every possible way, and to the detriment of the state.

 

Zvizdic: To adopt methodological rules for data processing without further delay (Fena/Srna)

Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic said that he expects from the Agency for Statistics to immediately and without any further delay adopt the necessary methodological rules for data processing of the census and exclusively and only in accordance with the census, the international standards for census and recommendations of the international monitoring team. The RS Statistics Office asks that a single program for data processing be adopted as soon as possible in keeping with the B&H Law on Population Census, just like the Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdic, and the B&H Council of Ministers’ coordinator for the population census, Adil Osmanovic, ask. The SDS President Mladen Bosic said that some are trying to manipulate the figures from the B&H population census and said that insisting on including at any cost those who do not live in B&H among B&H citizens who live in B&H is not right.

 

Croatia’s candidate for UN Secretary-General interviewed (Hina)

Croatia's candidate for UN Secretary-General, Vesna Pusic, was interviewed at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. The former Croatian foreign minister is one of eight candidates for the successor to Ban Ki-Moon, whose term expires at the end of the year. The successful candidate could be made known in September. Pusic attended an informal, two-hour interview on Wednesday with members of the General Assembly and the Security Council. She said that she comes from Croatia, a country that in 25 years passed from war to stable peace, from international isolation to being a member of the European Union, from being a recipient of aid to a provider of development assistance. That experience made us modest and taught us not to look upon other countries with arrogance, said Croatian Deputy Parliament Speaker. Pusic said that if she was selected, she would simplify the UN’s decision making and reporting model, persist in resolving global conflicts through negotiations, mobilize as many countries as possible to join development assistance programs and insist on strengthening human rights globally. She also spoke about the accomplishment of the UN’s development objectives and the reform of the UN Security Council, and advocated a more balanced representation of regions and genders in UN bodies, the struggle against climate change and protection of journalists. The Secretary-General has to be a leader, not an administrator, the former activist and university professor and incumbent Croatian People’s Party leader underscored, noting that she believed her experience of working in various types of organizations requiring different skills would help her in the position of Secretary-General. Some of the questions put to Pusic referred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague and Pusic said that in its work there had been many problems and frustrating rulings and that the court had not always been non-political. Despite that, I think that it has fulfilled its role in deterring and preventing crimes, she underscored. She supported the concept of two states as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but added that the main problem was that it had not been implemented. The two-state solution has been paralyzed due to the situation on the ground. That topic should be kept high on the agenda otherwise the entire Middle East, southern Europe and northern Africa could become destabilized, said Pusic. She condemned the sexual abuse of children committed by UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

 

NATO Accession Protocol to be signed on 19 May (RTCG)

National Coordinator for NATO, Vesko Garcevic, announced that the Protocol on the Accession of Montenegro to the Alliance would be signed at a meeting of foreign ministers at the headquarters of NATO on 19 May.  Appearing on the RTCG’s talk show Izazov (Challenge), Garcevic said that immediately after signing the protocol, Montenegro would be able to attend meetings of the Alliance, including NATO Summit, which is to be held in Warsaw in early July, RTCG news portal reported. Also, the conditions to start the ratification of the Agreement on Accession of Montenegro to the Alliance in the national parliaments of NATO member states are being met. Ambassador of Slovenia Mitja Mocnik said that Slovenia would ratify the Agreement by the autumn, adding that he expected the whole process to be completed by next spring.

 

More than 10,000 people protested against abolition of Zaev and Verusevski (Telegraf.mk)

Calmly and without a single thrown object at the police who maintained order passed the mass protest in front of SDSM where more than 10,000 people publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of President Gjorge Ivanov, which allows abolition of SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, and his ally Zoran Verusevski and two suspects in the case "Coup". Citizens chanted slogans directed against Zaev and SDSM, and carried a banner that said "You get away from the Court, but you won’t get away from people". Their gathering was organized by the civic movement for the defense of Macedonia, and there gathered citizens of Skopje and other cities of the country. The audience was addressed by Aleksandar Pandov from GDOM, who said Macedonia’s security was breached with the activities of Verusevski and Zaev. “Last year Macedonia was confronted with the most direct threat to its security. Four long years people employed in the state security, controlled and orchestrated by Zoran Verusevski pervaded the security of Macedonia, with a single objective to tarnish the Republic of Macedonia to denounce the officials who are in power to destroy the institutions, to bring the Republic of Macedonia to its knees,” Pandov said. He called Zaev and Verusevski executioners of Macedonia. “Zaev and Verusevski are the two main actors of this. They are executioners of the Republic of Macedonia, they are people who have sold their soul for dollars, people who do not choose means to come to power. They want the same scenario of 2001. Their attempt now is to fight among us Macedonians,” Pandov said. After half an hour stay in front of the SDSM headquarters, the protesters dispersed peacefully. Earlier, they gathered in front of parliament, where the protest also took place peacefully.

 

National office of President Gjorge Ivanov demolished (Telegraf.mk)

With hoodies, a larger group of hooligans entered the National Office of the President in downtown Skopje and demolished it entirely. Once they completed the demolition of the Office they continued to the Ministry of Justice, which is nearby and started massively to break the windows. At the same time in the midst of the demolition, the crowd of protesters chanted “No justice, no peace”. Group of hooligans were previously before the Parliament, from where they headed towards the headquarters of VMRO-DPMNE. However, some of them separated and headed for the National office and seized the moment when there was no police to strike on the premises and demolish them. While the officers appeared, the hooligans largely demolished the premises of the Ministry of Justice. Soon the special police forces appeared and managed to break away the hooligans. Group of hooligans broke through the city center. Police at the same time did not allow the group of protesters to get closer to the headquarters of VMRO-DPMNE. There were stationed strong police forces that did not allow the protesters to get close to the party headquarters of the ruling party.

 

Hahn has dismissed all speculations that the June 5 elections could be postponed (Telegraf.mk)

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn has dismissed all speculations that the June 5 elections could be postponed, Telegraf.mk reads. In his statement given for Radio Free Europe, Hahn claims the elections will be held because they are in line with the Macedonian Constitution. “Now when the Parliament is dissolved, they (the elections) will be held, but it is necessary and important to carry out these elections in a way that would be recognized by the international community. In the contrary, the country will not have a Euro-Atlantic perspective, which was the comprehensive goal of our actions and efforts that were accepted in the June/July agreement last year. If everything is corrected now, or unimplemented, then it is opposite to the citizens' and the political leaders’ interests, who need to realize that is harmful in terms of the country's entire perspective, risking to be put into isolation,” Hahn said. The European commissioner stressed that the political factors need to understand that democracy means compromise, joint work, and service to the people rather than selfish interests. “They should be focused and implement fair and transparent elections, and the Government and all the stakeholders should contribute to having an electoral roll that will be adopted by everyone and which will be revised,” Hahn added.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

French court rules to extradite Bosnian war crimes suspect (RFI, by Mike Woods, 13 April 2016)

A French court ruled Wednesday to extradite Radomir Susjnar, a suspected Bosnian Serb paramilitary, to Sarajevo to face charges of crimes against humanity. Susjnar’s lawyer has appealed the ruling, while plaintiffs have hailed the French court for validating arguments for international justice. Bosnia-Herzegovina wants Susnjar to face accusations he was part of a Bosnian Serb paramilitary group that massacred 59 Bosnian Muslims in the city of Visegrad in June 1992. The group’s leader, Milan Lukic, was given a life sentence by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in 2009. Witnesses say Susnjar personally locked the people – most of them women, children or elderly – inside a house and set it on fire. All but eight of them perished. He was arrested in the Paris region in April 2014 and has already faced several hearings. “The court of appeal has asked the Bosnian legal system to provide various information about their legal system, about the charges Susnjar would face if he were extradited, about the penalty he would incur,” says Simon Foreman, the French lawyer representing Bosnia-Herzegovina in the case. Prosecutors argued that France could only extradite him under common law principles, because crimes against humanity were not punishable offenses in France when they happened. “We said the prosecutor’s argument – that it was only a common law crime, because of the non-retroactivity principle, and because crimes against humanity were only incorporated in French law in 1994 – goes against European law and international law,” Foreman explains. “Both very clearly state the non-retroactivity principle does not apply to crimes against humanity, which have always been crimes under international law, and certainly since 1945.” The court’s ruling in favour of extradition on international principles was a relief to victims, who had called on the court and on French President François Hollande not to set precedent they feared would allow war criminals to find a safe haven in France. “It’s a great day for us, for truth, and for justice,” says Bakira Hesecic, president of the Bosnian group Women Victims of War, who was in France to hear the ruling. “We hope that during the trial in Bosnia, Susnjar will reveal the location of the remains of the victims that he burned in the house, so that their families can give them a proper burial.” But Susnjar’s lawyer Olivier Morice, who has previously argued that his client has been confused with another man of the same name, said he would take the case to France’s Cassation Court. “Mr. Susnjar believes the appeal court gave into pressure from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and that is intolerable,” Morice says, arguing the ruling did not follow procedures of the criminal code. “At the time, what was then Yugoslavia had no laws to punish this type of incident, and so he cannot be tried for these offences today,” Morice argues. “My client maintains he cannot be held responsible for these crimes, that it is a case of mistaken identity, and that he is not concerned in any way.” The judge that ruled in favour of the extradition, Jean Bartholin, suggested the higher court could reverse the order, as it had a different interpretation of the case. The Cassation Court has previously reversed extradition rulings for suspects wanted in Kigali for their alleged participation in genocide in 1994, on the ground that the crime was not a punishable offence in Rwanda until after the genocide.

 

Protesters ransack Macedonia president's office (World Bulletin, 14 April 2016)

The demonstrators are demanding that Gjorge Ivanov resign after his shock decision to block legal proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal

Protesters ransacked the offices of Macedonia's presidency late Wednesday and set fire to the furniture, as thousands took to the capital's streets in a deepening political crisis. Sporadic clashes broke out in Skopje as demonstrators pelted buildings with eggs and stones, with one group smashing all the windows at President Gjorge Ivanov's public offices before setting the furniture alight. Twelve people were arrested and a journalist was injured in the clashes, police spokesman Toni Angelovski said. The demonstrators are demanding that Ivanov resign after his shock decision Tuesday to block legal proceedings against top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. The United States and European Union have both voiced serious concern over Ivanov's move, which is threatening Macedonia's aspirations to join the EU. The Balkan country is also on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis, and has been under the spotlight over its use of force to prevent desperate migrants from crossing the shuttered border with Greece.

- Anger on the streets -

Ivanov's move has deepened a crisis that began last year when the opposition SDSM party accused then premier Nikola Gruevski of wiretapping some 20,000 people, including politicians and journalists, and said the recordings revealed high-level corruption. The government denied the accusations and in return filed charges against SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, accusing him of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" the country of two million people. Wednesday's clashes came as people poured onto the streets of Skopje for a second night running, with smashed glass from the windows of Ivanov's offices littering the ground and riot police turning out in force.

In front of the parliament, SDSM supporters tried to break through a police cordon towards rival supporters of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn urged calm, tweeting that he was calling "upon all political parties and responsible citizens to refrain from acts of violence".

- 'Coup d'etat' -

In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Ivanov said he was halting proceedings against politicians embroiled in the scandal "in order to put an end to this political crisis" ahead of elections planned for June. Gruevski -- a political ally of the president -- was among those targeted in the probes, along with Zaev, former interior minister Gordana Jankulovska and ex-intelligence chief Sasho Mijalkov. Gruevski stepped down as premier in January, paving the way for parliamentary elections -- but the opposition has announced plans to boycott the polls, saying it fears electoral fraud. Although he may himself benefit from the dropping of the probe, Zaev denounced what he called a "coup d'etat" by the president. Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005 but accession talks have yet to open and the prolonged crisis will do nothing to improve its chances. The EU voiced alarm over the dropping of the wiretap inquiry, saying it raised "serious concerns". "We call on all sides to avoid interventions that risk undermining years of efforts within the country and with the support of the international community to strengthen the rule of law," a spokesperson for the bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said. The US ambassador to Skopje, Jess Baily, warned in a tweet that "a blanket pardon without due process protects corrupt politicians and their associates". Ivanov's move appeared to take even his own VMRO-DPMNE by surprise, with the party expressing "huge disagreement" at the decision. James Ker-Lindsay, a Balkans expert at the London School of Economics, said the EU needed "to very seriously consider whether Macedonia still merits the designation as a candidate for membership of the EU". "Whether it was Gruevski's decision or Ivanov's decision that doesn't matter. It's all part and parcel of the ruling class which has become completely discredited and completely rotten," Ker-Lindsay said. The original wire-tapping scandal triggered protests in Skopje, eventually prompting the EU to step in and mediate. Macedonia's political parties eventually agreed to solve the crisis by holding elections scheduled initially for April 24 but later postponed to June 5 over opposition and international concerns that they would not be free or fair. Hahn tweeted on Tuesday: "I have serious doubts if credible elections are still possible."

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ.  The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.