Albanian Language Media:

• COVID – 19: 17 deaths, 764 new cases (media)
• Thaci, Veseli and the others at another session on Wednesday (media)
• Nagavci: Unity around obsolete political club would be wrong (media)
• LVV Spokesman, supports Kurti’s reaction on Special Court (RTK)
• Isa Mustafa defends Lulzim Basha (media)
• Billboard in support of ex-KLA members torched overnight near Serb-majority Municipality (Gazeta Express)
• Serbian president says Merkel siding with Kosovo (media)
• Human remains of suspected missing persons from Kosovo war found in Serbia  (Euronews Albania)
• Kosovo’s economy to shrink 7.2% due to coronavirus crisis (Gazeta Express)

Serbian Language Media:

• 74 newly infected, one death and 13 cured in Serbian communities (Kontakt plus radio, KoSSev, KiM radio)
• Nine more newly infected, 29 hospitalized in Gracanica (Kosovo Online)
• Gracanica billboards (media)
• Vucic: The Russians knew what was being signed in Washington; We will fight for Serbia (TV most, TV Happy)
• Majority of Serbians opposed to NATO membership (N1, Beta)
• "The only possible option is for Serbia to join the EU" (B92, Tanjug)
• SPC monastery in Kosovo abbess: Ten nuns infected with coronavirus (Beta, N1)
• Seventy thousand requests for return of usurped property in Kosovo (Kontakt plus radio)
• Artists in support of war crimes indictees; A billboard in Gracanica burns down (KoSSev)

Opinion:

• “Specialist chambers ‘inat’ should be recognised–and faced” (kosovotwopointzero.com)

International:

• Kosovo president expects better US relations under Biden (Financial Times)
• “Serbia and NATO have to work on restoring trust in one another” (EWB)
• Suspected Mass Grave of Kosovo War Victims Found in Serbia (Balkan Insight)
• Survey: 80% of Serbian citizens against NATO membership, but only 33% against cooperation (EWB)

Humanitarian/Development:

• A year after China 'Patient Zero,' 55 mil infected with SARS-CoV-2, 1.3 mil died (N1, RTS)

 

 

 

Albanian Language Media 

 

COVID – 19: 17 deaths, 764 new cases (media)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health said in a statement on Monday that 764 new cases of COVID - 19 and 17 deaths from the virus have been recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. The highest number of new cases is from the municipality of Prishtina (277). 350 patients have recovered from the virus during this time. There are 12,508 active cases of coronavirus in Kosovo.

Thaci, Veseli and the others at another session on Wednesday (media)

Lawyer Mahmut Halimi said that in tomorrow's session against the KLA leaders in The Hague, the issue of detention and security measures will be discussed. 

"To be fair, in all likelihood, a conference will be held tomorrow to discuss the issue of detention, the measures for securing the defendants in the procedure.

Several issues related to the rules of procedure of the tribunal of the Specialized Courts will be raised. It is too early to say what will happen. 

The summary is this, that tomorrow is the session to discuss the issue of measures, will the detention be lifted, the proposals submitted in writing. The defenders have had time to submit their proposals," he said.

The lawyer further stated that at the hearing the former KLA leaders defended themselves professionally.

"I can say that the defense, which was presented at the hearings, was presented professionally. Professionalism can be shown later, in the confrontations of the case with the evidence, testimonies," he said.

"The issue of the mandate of the Special Court must be addressed anyway. The mandate of the Special Court has been for 5 years and has expired, in August as far as I know. That mandate has expired," he concluded.

Nagavci: Unity around obsolete political club would be wrong (media)

The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, Arberie Nagavci, says that there has always been unity on many issues in Kosovo, but this unity must have legitimacy. Through a Facebook post, Nagavci has demanded new elections.

"There can be no unity without legitimacy. Whenever the need arises, calls for unity must have a purpose and an axis. So what are we uniting for and around whom? These two questions are very important, because we also had unity on issues that in the end turned out to be harmful for the country," Nagavci wrote.

She further recalled the issues on which there was unity in Kosovo.

"There was unity for the agreement with Serbia in 2013, around Hashim Thaci as prime minister then. There was also unity around the establishment of the Special Court in 2015, again around Hashim Thaci as prime minister. There was also unity for the demarcation with Montenegro in 2017, around Ramush Haradinaj, prime minister of the ruling PAN coalition at that time. There was also unity for the overthrow of the Kurti government with 82 votes in the middle of the pandemic this year, around Hashim Thaci president and Isa Mustafa, leader of the obsolete political club," Nagavci further wrote on Facebook. 

According to Nagavci, unity cannot be an aim in itself.

"It must be an instrument in the service of a purpose. There can be no unity around those who have no legitimacy, much less around those who are responsible and accountable for the situation today. Many mistakes have been made in the past in Kosovo and to its detriment by those who were yesterday and who continue to be today. Unity around the outdated political club would be another mistake," she wrote. 

Nagavci, from the ranks of the Vetvendosje Movement, also said that Kosovo needs new elections as soon as possible to enable creation of a legitimate and proper axis for unity.

LVV Spokesman, supports Kurti’s reaction on Special Court (RTK)

Vetëvendosje Movement’s (LVV) spokesman Përparim Kryeziu reacted after the statements that the leader of this party was late to express his position on the indictments filed by the Special Court against the former KLA leaders. Kryeziu said that it took others two weeks to understand and agree with Kurti's attitudes over the past five years.

"It did not take Albin Kurti two weeks to summarize his views five years ago and during the last five years for the Special Court. It took others two weeks, especially these two weeks, to understand and agree with what Mr. Kurti and the Vetevendosje Movement have said five years ago and during the five years," wrote Kryeziu.

Isa Mustafa defends Lulzim Basha (media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Isa Mustafa got involved today in the debate on the role of the leader of Albania’s Democratic Party Lulzim Basha, during his time as part of UNMIK, as well as the accusations that he worked to investigate KLA members.

Mustafa says that Albania has sided with Kosovo in the most difficult times on its path to liberation and state building, both during the rule of the Democrats and the Socialists.

"I was in exile for nine years, from 1990 to 1999, and I experienced Albania as my home, my country. I feel very bad that in 2020 we "discover" after the liberation that someone from Albania, has been against the KLA. Such untrue constructions do not help the KLA members who are now in The Hague. They do no good to the truth. They harm the Albanian harmony and solidarity in Albania and Kosovo, which we need more than ever before," he said. 

Mustafa said that neither Lulzim Basha nor Sali Berisha created the Special Court, but it was voted in the Assembly of Kosovo. 

"The Special Court was not made by Lulzim Basha, Sali Berisha, but it was decided by the Assembly of Kosovo. If Kosovo did not, the UN Security Council would decide. Albania has no hand or deceit in this decision or in the court proceedings that took place after the war. To us, the presence of Albanians from Albania in the UNMIK mission, as well as of Kosovars, must have been an honor. It has been specific help. Muddling people without any sound reason and without arguments is not a way and a manner of defending the values ​​of the KLA, the values ​​of our state and the Albanian state. Such attacks must stop, because they are harming us," Mustafa wrote.

Billboard in support of ex-KLA members torched overnight near Serb-majority Municipality (Gazeta Express)

A billboard on the main road leading to Serb-majority municipality of Gracanica that expressed support for ex-KLA members who have been indicted by the war crimes court in The Hague was torched overnight, the Kosovo Police have reported.

The billboard was part of Kosovo-wide campaign in support of ex-KLA commanders, including former president Hashim Thaci, and PDK leader Kadri Veseli, who currently are being tried at the Hague accused of war crimes. Local authorities of Gracanica, including mayor Srdjan Popovic, have complained that the billboard depicting the KLA logo is seen as provocation and asked for its removal.  

The Kosovo Police spokesperson for the Pristina region, Agron Borovci, told Gazeta Express Tuesday morning that relevant units have responded to the scene and have launched an investigation. Local Albanian residents living in the nearby locality of Kishnica when the billboard was erected, say that they feel provoked with this incident. 

Serbian president says Merkel siding with Kosovo (media) 

Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, said that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was always just towards Serbia, but does not support Belgrade on Kosovo’s issue. 

Vucic speaking to TV Happy in Belgrade said that to Merkel Kosovo’s issue “is done deal, an independent country,” adding however that Merkel was “always just towards Serbia.” 

German Chancellor Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have organized two summits to convince Kosovo and Serbia resume the stalled dialogue facilitated by the European Union and reach a comprehensive agreement on all outstanding issues.

The dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade resumed in the second half of 2020 after Kosovo removed all trade barriers with Serbia. But no breakthrough was achieved in dialogue after Serbia is insisting to renegotiate an agreement on establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, whereas Kosovo insists on negotiating a final legally binding agreement on mutual recognition, Gazeta Express reports. 

RTK on the other hand reports on Vucic revealed on Serbia's Happy TV details from the signing of the document for economic normalization between Kosovo and Serbia on September 4 in the White House. 

"We are confident that everything signed in Washington will remain in force. It is important for us to have good relations with America. They said everything would be respected. Before the conversation, I talked to all our allies that there will be no surprises on the issue of Kosovo, because if there is, we will not sign anything. I informed President Vladimir Putin immediately after the signing of everything, as I did with European officials," Vucic said.

Human remains of suspected missing persons from Kosovo war found in Serbia  (Euronews Albania)

Human remains were found in a town called Kizevak in Serbia, which are suspected to belong to citizens of Kosovo.

Authorities say that searches have been going on in this place since 2015 and now it is the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judge’s duty to determine the following steps.

Since 2001, the bodies of 941 Albanians have been found in mass graves in Kosovo, who were killed in Kosovo in 1999.

According to data published by the non-governmental organization Humanitarian Law Center, based on a report by the UNMIK Office on Missing Persons, 744 bodies of citizens of Kosovo were found in Batajnica near Belgrade since 2001.

There are still 1,643 missing persons, whose fate remains unknown since 1998-1999.

Kosovo’s economy to shrink 7.2% due to coronavirus crisis (Gazeta Express)

Kosovo’s economy is expected to contract by 7.2 % due to coronavirus, the Central Bank Governor, Fehmi Mehmeti, said Monday. 

He made the comments appearing in a press conference jointly with the prime minister Avdullah Hoti and minister of Economy, Hykmete Bajrami. Mehmeti said the Central Bank of Kosovo will support the policies of the government and work on the principle of the free economy. He said that the banking sector during the pandemic was stable, adding that the economy is expected to shrink 7.2 percent due to COVID-19 pandemic measures. Mehmeti added that the Central Bank has helped the Government to draft the economic package and remains committed to help the economy of the country.  

Kosovo Government introduced last week new COVID-19 restrictions imposing curfew in municipalities hit the most by the pandemic, which has triggered reaction of gastronomes complaining that the new measures would harm their businesses. 

 

 

 

Serbian Language Media

 

74 newly infected, one death and 13 cured in Serbian communities (Kontakt plus radio, KoSSev, KiM radio)

The North Mitrovica Crisis Staff announced today that according to the latest data, in Serbian communities were registered 74 news cases of coronavirus infection and one death, while 13 persons recovered, reported Kontakt plus radio. 

The person deceased is from Leposavic.

Out of 249 processed samples, positive cases were recorded in the municipalities: North Mitrovica (32), Zvecan (13), Gracanica (8), Priluzje (8), Leposavic (5), Gnjilane (4), Zubin Potok (3) and Lipljan (1).

Thirteen patients recovered - seven from North Mitrovica, three from Zvecan and one each from Zubin Potok, Gracanica and Strpce.

56 people were hospitalized in the Health Center in North Mitrovica, and one patient at the Nis Clinical Center. 

The measure of home isolation was determined for 487 people.

544 cases are currently active.

Nine more newly infected, 29 hospitalized in Gracanica (Kosovo Online)

Based on the last received samples, Covid-19 was confirmed in nine more patients from the territory of the municipality of Gracanica, while 29 patients were hospitalized at the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Laplje Selo, the Crisis Staff of the municipality of Gracanica announced.

The total number of coronavirus positives in the municipality of Gracanica is 140, including the nine new cases.

The number of examinations is increasing daily in Covid dispensaries.

The Municipal Crisis Staff calls on the locals to behave responsibly and in a disciplined manner and to strictly follow the recommended measures, reported portal Kosovo Online.

Gracanica billboards (media)

Representatives of Youth Council from Gracanica as a response, to the billboard “Freedom has a name, KLA” in the municipality nearby Kisnica, placed a banner in front of their building – “Peace has no alternative”. 

Dusan Borisavljevic, president of the council, said that the youth was upset, but also that they have become immune to fear. 

“Despite everything, this latest provocation is something that has caused unrest among our locals and something that makes us unable to sleep peacefully. We believe that the goal of everything was to intimidate our people who live here. That’s why we came up with the idea to respond to their provocations with a performance which invokes the peace. We do not want to go back to what was in the past, because we want a better future in which peace reigns and that is why this is our message, the message of peace,” Borisavljevic said. He emphasized that the banner with the message “Peace has no alternative” will stand in the centre of Gracanica until the billboard at the entrance to Gracanica is removed.

Today, the media reports that last night, unknown perpetrators set the billboard near Kisnica on fire, which has the emblem of former KLA. Only one part of the billboard was burned, but the message is still visible, reported media adding that the scene is secured by Kosovo Police, and about twenty meters from the billboard, there is also an Italian KFOR vehicle. Numerous television and media crews from Prictina were also at the scene this morning, according to the media.  

Portal Kosovo Online quoted an article of Lajmi, and an Albanian resident of Gracanica municipality Granit Gashi, who was quoted as saying that the KLA emblem and inscription “Freedom has a name” was not provoking anyone, thus there was no need for its removal.  

Gashi said that the Mayor of Gracanica, Srdjan Popovic, was the loudest against this inscription. 

“Serbian residents were not much against it, but the loudest was Mayor Srdjan Popovic, who said radical things when he said that this is a Serbian municipality. But this is a Kosovo municipality and not a Serbian municipality. He constantly makes such statements and discriminates against Albanians,” Gashi said. 

“Legally, this time it is under the management of the Ministry of Infrastructure and they do not have the right to take the initiative to remove this billboard. But even though they do that, they should know that they will face the Albanian residents of the municipality of Gracanica, because we will guard this billboard peacefully and we will not allow anyone to destroy it. We will not attack anyone, and we will not create a conflict, but we will calmly guard this billboard so that no one would remove it,” Gashi said. 

“Today I was at the police station in Gracanica and there I was informed that the prosecutor’s office in Pristina had started an investigation into who set up the billboard and when, and they told me that the police would not do anything until the judicial authorities gave the final version regarding this billboard,” Gashi stated. He also expected the issue of the billboard to be discussed at the next session of the municipal assembly. 

Vucic: The Russians knew what was being signed in Washington; We will fight for Serbia (TV most, TV Happy)

The President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic stated that the Russians knew what would be signed in Washington, that he did not hide anything, and that the most important thing on Serbia's side was that there were no surprises on the issue of Kosovo, quoted TV Most. 

Vucic told TV Happy last night that before he traveled to Washington, he saw the Russian ambassador to Serbia, as well as that he talked to Vladimir Putin immediately afterwards.

"Do not underestimate the Russian secret services," said Vucic, adding that the Russians had information, as well as that he did not hide anything.

"First, it is my duty to talk to the partners who support us about Kosovo and I told them that there will be no surprises around Kosovo, because if there is, and I expected them to be, there will be no surprises on our part, as there never were have been,'' Vucic emphasized.

He adds that he informed Putin about everything else in the conversation immediately after Washington, as he informed all Europeans, and Angela Merkel before and Marcon after.

Vucic said that the opposition in Serbia was not interested in what was signed in Washington, or the points of that agreement. 

"They were only interested in finding something against me and having something to say," Vucic added.

The President of Serbia assessed last night that, after the political change in the USA, the situation will certainly not be simple, but he emphasized that Serbia would fight.

Asked whether the change in the US means a new temptation for Serbia, Vucic recalled that in the campaign, Joseph Biden said that he considered Kosovo an independent state.

"We have many channels in Biden's team as well. We will fight for Serbia. I know one thing, and that is that life means a fight. We will fight and that is my motto," Vucic said on TV Happy.

Majority of Serbians opposed to NATO membership (N1, Beta)

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) said that three fourths of the population of Serbia are opposed to NATO membership, reported region broadcaster N1.

CeSID official Ivo Colovic told a Belgrade NATO Week conference that just 14 percent of the 800 people polled have a positive attitude towards cooperation with the Alliance.  

He said that half the polled said that they favor membership in the European Union, adding that the people who are opposed to EU membership are aged 18-29 and over the age of 60.

"The only possible option is for Serbia to join the EU" (B92, Tanjug)

Deputy Ambassador of Sweden in Belgrade, Joachim Waern, stated today that the only existing option is for Serbia to become part of the European Union.

He added that the goal of the process is to improve the lives of the citizens of Serbia, instead of making the EU, Brussels or Sweden happy.

The main goal of the accession and commitment of the Serbian government that it has to face is precisely that better life, said Waern at the online conference on the occasion of the presentation of the European Commission (EC) report on Serbia for 2020, organized by the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, where Head of EU delegation to Serbia Sem Fabrizi spoke.

The Deputy Ambassador said that he wanted to see a new beginning, to bring much more life to the accession process, to improve and accelerate accession.

From the Scandinavian point of view, he added, the reconciliation process is very important, as well as strong neighbors, who strengthen each other, which Sweden would like to see in the Balkans as well.

See more at:https://bit.ly/2IGYqmS

SPC monastery in Kosovo abbess: Ten nuns infected with coronavirus (Beta, N1)

Mother Haritina, the abbess of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) medieval Pecka Patrijarsija monastery in western Kosovo, said on Monday that ten out of 18 nuns there were infected with the coronavirus and that all of them were in self-isolation.

"Some have severe, some mild symptoms. A doctor pays us regular visits and a nurse is constantly checking the sick nuns," Haritina said.

She was also infected, spent a few days in a hospital, but felt better now.

Mother Haritina added the monastery, built in the 13th century, was locked and would not be reopened until the epidemic was over.

In the meantime, the medical staff in charge of the SPC Patriarch Irinej's treatment said his condition was stable.

The Patriarch was infected with coronavirus and was hospitalised on November 4. He has been recently reported to have experienced some heart problems.

See at:https://bit.ly/38QViQo

Seventy thousand requests for return of usurped property in Kosovo (Kontakt plus radio)

Serbs and other non-Albanians have submitted about 70,000 requests for the return of usurped property in Kosovo, reported Kontakt plus radio, adding that 18,000 lawsuits for damages have also been filed before Kosovo courts.

The real owners are exposed to exhausting lawsuits and therefore have huge financial losses. 

"The court made the last decision that I have no right to enter or use anything ... And they set up a fence. I cannot enter while the temporary measure is in force. I have been suffering for fifteen years, the law does not apply here," says Milos Zivkovic from Kosovo Polje.

The Djordjevic family from Pristina revealed that in 2005 their property, a plot in Caglavica, was usurped. In that attractive location, an Albanian built a building. Since then, there has been a struggle to prove ownership.

"We went to the cadaster in Pristina to get the paper for my plot. However, they say that it was written on the possession list that the plot was registered on a person A. G.," states Milanka Djordjevic from Pristina.

Lawyers representing the Serbs must prove who the real owner is and fight in Kosovo courts for years.

"The problem is to explain to the clients themselves why the work on the case is delayed. Many of them are exhausted in every sense, mostly older people who left Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, who live in Serbia mostly in some collective centers or privately," points out lawyer Jovana Filipovic.

Endangering the right of private property makes it permanently difficult for Serbs to return. 

"I can say that this is a unique legal phenomenon in the 21st century. Namely, there is a system of endangering property rights here, which has been massive and organized since 1999," says prof. Dr. Dusko Celic, from the Faculty of Law, University of Pristina with temporary headquarters in Mitrovica North.

"An independent technical agency must be formed, which will first determine what is happening in the field, what is registered in the cadaster from the field, compare it with the cadastral records from Kosovo and Metohija located in Krusevac. The only cadaster that existed in that area. Then compare what happened in the meantime, because we have a large number of falsified sales contracts," says Igor Popovic, Assistant Director of the Office for KiM.

"Counterfeits with threats and violence are the main mechanisms for seizing real estate from Serbs. It is about property whose market value can be expressed in millions of euros," reported Kontakt plus radio.

Artists in support of war crimes indictees; A billboard in Gracanica burns down (KoSSev)

Freedom has a name – KLA’ – reads the slogan of a campaign created by a group of Kosovo artists, launched on the day Hashim Thaci and Kadri Veseli announced that the indictment issued against them by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office for KLA War Crimes had been confirmed. Billboards with the slogan can be seen throughout Kosovo, as well as on social networks and TV stations. Over the weekend, one such billboard located on the highway in Gracanica caught the public eye due to the negative reaction it stirred among the Kosovo Serb community – which interpreted it as a provocation. The media reported this morning that unknown perpetrators have reportedly set the same billboard on fire early this morning, wrote portal KoSSev. 

The initiative ''Freedom has a name – KLA''  was launched by a group of six artists and intellectuals, two of whom participated in the Belgrade-based Merdita/Dobar dan festival – PDK MP and artist, Eliza Hoxha and actor and director, Fatmir Spahiu.

Other initiators of the campaign include the director Burbuqe Berisha – who in 2011, as the executive director-general of the National Theater in Pristina, opposed the screening of the play ''Married Couple Martin'' in one of the theaters in Belgrade, Atelje 212; one of the most famous hip-hop artists in Kosovo Festim Arifi, a philosopher and member of the Association of Kosovo Philosophers, Ismail Tasholli, and an Associated Press photographer, Visar Kryeziu.

See more at: https://bit.ly/2ILNwMm

 

 

Opinion

 

“Specialist chambers ‘inat’ should be recognised–and faced” (kosovotwopointzero)

Opinion piece by Besa Luci 

Discomfort may remain, but Kosovars must insist on justice for all.

Last week, Hashim Thaçi made an initial appearance at the Specialist Chambers in the Hague over accusations of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. It’s been a prospect hanging over him for 10-years, since Council of Europe special rapporteur Dick Marty’s 2011 report paved the way for the establishment of the judicial mechanism. 

Now, together with three other top former KLA officials, he is facing 10 counts of serious crimes allegedly committed during 1998-99. The four defendants have each pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Thaçi’s indictment marks the latest drama along a turbulent road for a man who over a two-decade political career has gone from heading the political wing of the KLA, holding high-ranking government and state posts, to being synonymous in many people’s eyes with “the captured state” due to his autocratic leadership style.

That he has been one of the most contentious, divisive and polarizing political leaders in Kosovo is a narrative already ingrained to his political profile. 

But when he stepped down from the public post of president his “demise” that many might have even hoped for, all of a sudden seemed less cathartic. A now former president, who for more than 20 years has largely controlled and orchestrated the country’s political life, and continuously sought to establish himself as a “key historical figure,” was being accused of war crimes. A huge political event that transpired as if it was the most natural occurrence.

As promised, when the indictment against him was confirmed, he resigned, stating that he would not “under any circumstance go in front of the court as President of the Republic of Kosovo.” Claiming to want to defend the integrity of the state and advising against public protests of manifestations, it finally seemed like a selfless act. 

But as with almost everything that Thaçi has driven or done politically, it also seemed that once again he might be dragging the entire Kosovar society with him. This time, through a court he pushed for establishing, potentially expecting to avoid ending up as its highest profile defendant; meanwhile, regardless of his resignation, he has left the burden to citizens to make sense of it all. 

For many Kosovar Albanians, the running sentiment for some time now has been that the Specialist Chambers — established as part of the Kosovar judicial system but run from the Netherlands by foreign officials — is an unjust transitional justice mechanism due to its perceived “ethnic” character; that’s because its mandate to pursue serious crimes committed between 1998 and 2000 is explicitly founded upon an investigation into specific allegations of crimes reportedly committed by members of the KLA.

Read full piece at: https://bit.ly/36N1fuM

 

 

 

 

International

 

Kosovo president expects better US relations under Biden (Financial Times)

Kosovo expects its relations with the US to improve with the election of Joe Biden, after decades of key American support was thrown into doubt under the Trump administration, the Balkan country’s acting president has said.

“Everyone knows that president-elect Biden is not just any friend of Kosovo,” said Vjosa Osmani in an interview with the Financial Times, referring to Mr Biden’s long support for intervention and dialogue between Serbia and its former breakaway province of Kosovo. “He knows our pain very well.”

Ms Osmani assumed the role of acting president in early November after her predecessor, Hashim Thaci, resigned to face war crimes charges brought by a special Hague-based court.

After a brutal war that followed the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the US has long played a key role in relations between Serbia and Kosovo. While Mr Trump sought to engage, some saw his interventions as serving narrow US economic and political interests.

“Joe Biden knows the truth, and the truth is very plain and simple,” Ms Osmani said. “Serbia lost Kosovo because it abused the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity to kill the people that lived in that territory, to commit attempted genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He knows the truth and he will not try to change the truth.”

See more at: https://on.ft.com/3kDZrcy

“Serbia and NATO have to work on restoring trust in one another” (EWB)

BELGRADE – Serbia should put aside its emotions and focus on the benefits that partnership with NATO offers, it was said during the panel “Serbia and NATO – New government(s), new trends?” organised as part of the 8th Belgrade NATO Week by the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS).

NATO Deputy Assistant to the Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Carmen Romero said that NATO worked closely with Serbian institutions to ensure the dialogue with civil society organisations, in order to increase public knowledge on the role of NATO around the world.

“NATO has responded in two ways to COVID-19. First protecting our forces to remain ready to deal with any security threats, and by making sure that this health crisis does not become a security crisis. And second, by showing strong solidarity supporting civilian efforts. Individual NATO allies have provided critical medical assistance to Serbia and also to other countries in the Western Balkans,” said Romero.

See more at: https://bit.ly/32TIogt

Suspected Mass Grave of Kosovo War Victims Found in Serbia (Balkan Insight)

Remains of bodies suspected to be those of ethnic Albanians who were killed in the 1998-99 Kosovo war were discovered at an open-cast mine near Raska in southern Serbia.

The Serbian authorities said they found human remains at the Kizevak open-cast mine during excavations near the town of Raska on Monday but said it was not possible to say how many bodies are buried there until an exhumation is done.

“This now falls under the jurisdiction of the High Court in Belgrade, the Department for War Crimes,” Vasilije Seratlic, a spokesperson for the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office, told BIRN on Tuesday.

The Kizevak open-cast mine near the town of Raska is not far from the Rudnica quarry, where the bodies of more than 40 Kosovo Albanians killed by Serbian forces in the 1998-99 war have already been found.

Kushtrim Gara, head of the secretariat for the Kosovo government’s Missing Persons Commission, told Kosovo TV channel KTV on Monday evening, that excavations at the Kizevak location have been ongoing since 2015, but a satellite image of the site from late 2019 had moved the process forward.

See more at: https://bit.ly/36Mpvxh

Survey: 80% of Serbian citizens against NATO membership, but only 33% against cooperation (EWB)

BELGRADE – The survey conducted by the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) and the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), presented during the 8th Belgrade NATO Week, shows that there is space for improvement when it comes to informing Serbian citizens about Serbia-NATO cooperation.

“This is the fourth survey cycle that CeSID and CEAS had performed together on the representative sample of the citizens of Serbia to see what is the attitude of Serbian citizen towards Euro-Atlantic integrations”, said Ivo Čolović, Project Director at CeSID.

It shows that if a referendum on Serbia’s accession to the EU were to be held about half of the Serbian population would vote to join, while around 36% would vote no and around 14% would abstain. Čolović says that there are no major changes when it comes to those who are against accession to the EU.

See more at:https://bit.ly/36PstRM

 

 

Humanitarian/Development

 

A year after China 'Patient Zero,' 55 mil infected with SARS-CoV-2, 1.3 mil died (N1, RTS)

The world has lived with the novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, for a year now, after the 'Patient Zero' was registered as a 55-year-old man in Chinese Hubei province on November 17, 2019, according to ‘China Morning Post.’

Experts believe the bats were responsible for transferring the virus to animals which humans ate and in 12 months it spread to over 55 million people causing more than 1,3 million fatalities, Serbia’s state RTS TV reported on Tuesday.

Since last November 17, several cases had been registered daily in China, and in less than a month, the number had reached 27 people with symptoms of what would later be recognised as the new virus.

The numbers then started rising rapidly, and the epidemic from China crossed its borders to become the pandemic, leaving almost no country without a case.

Although 38 million patients have recovered so far, the pandemic shows no signs of fading out, and some experts predict its peak is yet to come.

These days, China, where the coronavirus originated from, registers several cases daily. At the same time, the US has up to 150,000 infected, and some European countries report over 40,000 in 24 hours.

Beijing has reported just over 86,000 cases of infection and 4,643 deaths from COVID-19-related complications since the epidemic outbreak in the country, much less than many other countries which have registered the first cases weeks and months later.

Currently, the worst situation with the pandemic is in the US, India, Brazil, France and Russia, RTS TV said.

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