• COVID-19: 926 new cases, 10 deaths (media)
• First doses of Covid vaccine arrive in Kosovo (media)
• Kurti: We are working night and day to secure vaccine (media)
• Complications of president election increasing (Koha)
• Abdixhiku and Osmani meet again, LDK to decide on president vote on Monday (media)
• Visa liberalisation for Kosovo not in EU Council's agenda (Koha)
• Redzepi: Time for "Great Serbia" and "Great Albania" is over (media)
• Kurti appoints three political advisers and spokesperson (media)
• Kosovo leaders vow to sue Serbia over wartime ‘Genocide’ (al)
• Kosovo's EU-backed war crimes court 'has full US backing' (euronews)
• Shqiprim Arifi’s party, winner of Presevo elections (RTK)

 

COVID-19: 926 new cases, 10 deaths (media)

Kosovo has recorded 926 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths in the last 24 hours. 666 persons have recovered from the virus during this time.

There are 14,684 active cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo.

First doses of Covid vaccine arrive in Kosovo (media)

A shipment of 24,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine, secured through the COVAX initiative, arrived at the Prishtina Airport last night. Healthcare staff will be the first category to receive the vaccines, media report.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that while the first shipment is small it gives great hope for the beginning of saving human lives process. Addressing reporters at the Prishtina Airport, Kurti said Kosovo was not a wealthy country and needed international support, especially from the United States and the European Union, to help battle the deadly virus. “In the year we left behind time was lost on governance. Time that cost us a great deal and many lives, time which cannot be brought back just as we cannot bring back those we lost. It is now time to act,” he said.

Minister of Health Arben Vitia said although the vaccination against coronavirus is beginning, it doesn't mean the pandemic is over. "There is no room for relaxation," he said adding that he has talked to supporting countries in an effort to secure additional doses of the vaccine. "Vaccination begins next week with priority on the healthcare personnel," Vitia continued.

Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, said that the "European Union and its Member States, acting together as #TeamEurope are among the lead contributors to COVAX" while Deputy head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Ricardo Serri, said it was a pleasure to represent the EU in receiving the first vaccine doses in Kosovo. "Today Kosovo has received for the first time 24,000 doses of the Covid vaccines which will perhaps be sufficient to address the needs of the people at the front line," he said on Sunday evening. He added that additional vaccines are expected to arrive in Kosovo in the coming weeks.

U.S. Ambassador Philip Kosnett said he was pleased to have been present when Kosovo received first vaccines. "The U.S. is a proud contributor to the multinational Covax initiative," he tweeted.

UK Ambassador Nicholas Abbott thanked all who were involved in securing the vaccines for Kosovo. "Well done to the Ministry of Health, WHO, gavi, UNKosovoTeam and donors who made this happen. I'm proud Great Britain played our part, with over £500m of support for Covax."

United Nations Kosovo Team Coordinator Ulrika Richardson said the arrival of the vaccines brings hope but stressed that COVID-19 is not over. "I urge you to respect the measures," she said adding that no one is truly safe without all being safe.

German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde said the first shipment of COVAX vaccines is 'great news' and underlined: "We continue our support. Every third euro on COVAX is provided by EU, every fifth from Germany. This is international solidarity in action by #TeamEurope." 

Vjosa Osmani, candidate for Kosovo president, said she was thrilled about the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines. I want to express my gratitude to our intl partners for their support in making this possible. In the fight with this deadly virus, nobody wins until everybody does. This is an important day but we must continue to stay alert of the dangers of this virus," she wrote on Twitter.

Former Prime Minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti said the arrival of the vaccines was made possible after many efforts by the Ministry of Health and urged the health authorities to begin vaccination through the immunisation strategy which sets out the priority categories.

Spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Avni Bytyci criticised the current government of Albin Kurti and the previous led by Avdullah Hoti for, as he said, competing on who will take credit for the vaccines "which are donation/handouts for countries who have failed to secure them on their own."

Mayor of Prishtina, Shpend Ahmeti, hailed the arrival of the vaccines but added that he did not "understand the ceremony of receiving the vaccines."

Leader of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) Behgjet Pacolli slammed the ceremony organised at the Pristina Airport for the vaccine arrival calling it 'banal'.  "Efforts should focus on finding solutions, securing millions of vaccines Kosovo urgently needs as well as the 'vaccine' that will help Kosovo's economic recovery," he wrote.

Kurti: We are working night and day to secure vaccine (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti said his government is working 'night and day' to secure vaccines against the coronavirus.

In a telephone conversation with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Kurti said he received confirmation of the EU to deliver vaccines to Kosovo.

RFE reported that the European Union announced on March 27 that the Western Balkans will receive 650,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the European Union.

Complications of president election increasing (Koha)

Koha reported that the decision of the Constitutional Court in favour of the complaint filed by two Vetevendosje officials regarding the replacement of MPs in the last legislature could cause delays in scheduling the Assembly session for electing the new president.

While the session was said would be announced once the replacement of MPs is completed, the Constitutional Court's ruling may delay the process for several days. This could complicate things for Vjosa Osmani in her efforts to become president of Kosovo, Koha wrote.

According to the Constitutional Court, after the 30% gender quota is secured, replacement of MPs is done on the basis of the received votes and not gender, which has been the previous practice. Eugen Cakolli from the Kosovo Democratic Institute said once the Constitutional Court's ruling is published, the Central Election Commission will have to make the necessary changes.

In today’s edition, Koha however quotes sources saying that the session for president’s election could be scheduled during this week.

Abdixhiku and Osmani meet again, LDK to decide on president vote on Monday (media)

Sources of Insajderi news portal reported that the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) Lumir Abdixhiku met with the candidate for the Pressident of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani on Saturday. The same sources informed that the meeting was held in a positive spirit and that LDK is expected to make the final decision on the issue of president on Monday.

Sources with LDK informed that there is already a general impression that quorum for Vjosa Osmani’s election will be created.

Visa liberalisation for Kosovo not in EU Council's agenda (Koha)

Koha Ditore reports on the front page that the European Parliament's adoption of the report calling on EU to grant visa-free travel to Kosovo has revived hopes in Kosovo but at the same time the report does not change anything as the EP has repeatedly urged the EU to approve visa liberalisation.

Meanwhile, officials in Brussels, say that the visa liberalisation is not on the agenda of the European Union Council. Portugal, which currently presides over the EU, has said it acknowledges the importance visa liberalisation has for the citizens of Kosovo and will continue to work on it but Koha points out that the comment is no different from that of previous presidencies which in fact resulted futile.

Redzepi: Time for "Great Serbia" and "Great Albania" is over (media)

Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Emilija Redzepi said in an interview with Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz that the time for creating "Great Serbia" and "Great Albania" is over.

"All nations of the Balkans have to realise that the time of nationalism, and above all of chauvinist forces of a nation more superior than the others, did not bring bring anyone any good and is a wrong way to act," she said. "So let us respect one another, respect the values of diversity. Naturally, a difficult past can never be forgotten but it is our parental and citizen duty to bring up our children in the spirit of tolerance," Redzepi continued.

Kurti appoints three political advisers and spokesperson (media)

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti has appointed Fellenza Podrimaj and Jeton Zulfaj as political advisers at his cabinet, while Shenaj Shala as political adviser/chief protocol.

All three of them were part of the previous Kurti government, and they will continue to work close to PM Kurti during his mandate, informs a communique released by the government of Kosovo.

Prime Minister Kurti also nominated former member of the civil society Perparim Kryeziu as the spokesperson of the government.

Kosovo leaders vow to sue Serbia over wartime ‘Genocide’ (exit.al)

Kosovo leaders vowed to demand justice from Serbia in an international court over the thousands killed during the ‘98-’99 war engaged by the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

On Saturday, on the 22nd anniversary of three Serbian massacres against Albanian civilians in the Suhareka, Krusha e Madhe and Krusha e Vogel villages, the country’s leaders paid homage to the victims, and stressed their promise during elections to sue Serbia in an international court over what they consider genocide against their people.

“The new government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti has promised to first file a lawsuit over the Serbian state’s genocide; this has to happen first, then we should be prepared to ask for our rights during each phase, starting from the dialogue with Serbia and throughout all other stages of state-building,” Acting President and Speaker of Assembly Glauk Konjufca told journalists on Saturday.

He said Kosovo and its people still suffer the pain of “three open wounds”: the massacres they went through, the missing persons, and the justice that has not been delivered yet.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti also promised to prioritize the issue of Serbian crimes in Kosovo and the fate of the over 1,600 missing persons.

“This is an example of Serbia’s genocide against Kosovo, when it exercised terror against us in order to make us flee from our land,” Kurti said from Krusha e Madhe memorial graveyard.

“Our government will work as none before for justice, for victims’ families, for our losses, and martyrs who paid a high price for our freedom,” he added.

MP Vjosa Osmani, the main presidential candidate, said they will never cease asking for justice over the atrocities Serbia committed in Kosovo – “the killing of children, women, innocent people, “guilty” simply of being Albanian” – which she classified as genocide.

Serbian forces killed at least 241 Albanian civilians in the three massacres commemorated this weekend (25-28 May, 1999). In Krusha e Madhe and Krusha e Vogel they machine gunned men aged 13-72 and burned down nearly 900 houses. In Suhareka, the members of the Berisha family were taken into a building, grenades were thrown against them and they were machine gunned – 48 died, 3 managed to come out alive and tell the story.

Kosovo's EU-backed war crimes court 'has full US backing' (euronews)

The U.S. has given its full backing to an international war crimes court in the Hague that recently indicted Kosovo’s former president, Hasim Thaci, and four other ex-Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders that fought against Serbia from 1998 to 1999.

The State Department said that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office “have the full confidence of the U.S. government” a day after an association of former KLA fighters living in the U.S. wrote to President Joe Biden asking him to withdraw his support.

Gani Shehu - a former member of the Atlantic Battalion, diaspora Kosovo Albanians that returned to Kosovo in 1999 to fight the Serbian invasion - wrote to Biden on 24 March, calling for the KSC/SPO to be uprooted from its current home in the Hague and moved to Kosovo.

See more at: https://bit.ly/31s8Blf

Shqiprim Arifi’s party, winner of Presevo elections (RTK)

Alternative for Change political initiative which is led by Shqiprim Arifi has won local election in Presevo. Based on preliminary results, media report that Alternative for Change has won 4,205 votes. The second is ranked Albanian Democratic Party lead by Ragmi Mustafa with 2,792 votes, the third is Party for Democratic Movement led by Ardita Sinani with 2,093 votes. Based on these results Arifi will win a second term as mayor of Presevo.