UNMIK Headlines 18 March
Serbs, talks for creation of Association without Pristina’s consent (Koha)
In a front-page story, the paper reports that only one day after Kosovo government officials said there would be no talks for the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority municipalities without first implementing the other points of the April 19 agreement, Kosovo Serbs plan to start consultations on their own. Kosovo Serb political representatives will meet Belgrade officials in Gracanica on Wednesday, to discuss the establishment of the Association and future steps regarding the participation of Serbs in Kosovo institutions.
A special Ombudsperson for the special court (Zeri)
According to the paper, the special court that will address war crimes allegations will have an ombudsperson who will handle complaints and verification of violations of human rights. The government of Kosovo needs to sign an agreement with the Netherlands, prior to the constitutional amendments that would enable the establishment of special court. According to the agreement, if found guilty by the special court, the defendants would serve their time in the Netherlands.
Jahjaga: The diaspora should invest in Kosovo (dailies)
The President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, on Tuesday attended a conference for institutional support for diaspora entrepreneurs, held in Winterthur, Switzerland. Jahjaga invited the Kosovo Albanian diaspora to invest in Kosovo and to help Kosovo emerge from the current economic crisis. In her address, Jahjaga called the diaspora a strong pillar for all processes that Kosovo has gone through.
Former EULEX investigator: The mission had a political agenda (dailies)
Troy Wilkinson, a former investigator with the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX), told KTV on Tuesday that EULEX officials get high salaries for doing nothing. Wilkinson said that he noticed that the mission had a political agenda to prosecute the so-called big fish without looking at the facts. He said that EULEX had made a selection of cases that it wanted to address, while closing its eyes to many crimes that took place in Kosovo, including murders and corruption.
Witness: €250,000 for the assassination of Xhavit Haliti (Koha)
The paper reports on the front page that the State Prosecution has received testimony about an assassination plot against Xhavit Haliti, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). An unnamed witness claims in his written testimony that Ibrahim Kelmendi had offered him €250,000 for Haliti’s murder and that Florim Ejupi was supposed to carry out the assassination. Haliti himself submitted the testimony to the Acting State Chief Prosecutor. Ibrahim Kelmendi was one of the leaders of the Popular Movement of Kosovo, the political wing of the former Kosovo Liberation Army.
Panama to help Kosovo (Zeri)
The Kosovo Assembly Speaker, Kadri Veseli, on Tuesday met the Speaker of Panama’s Parliament, Adolfo Valderrama, and the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Luis Eduardo Duiros. The meeting focused on deepening political and economic relations between Kosovo and Panama. “Valderrama assured me that he would personally engage in the future to ensure the recognition of Kosovo by other countries in Latin America,” Veseli wrote on his Facebook page.