UNMIK Headlines 11 March
Seven urgent measures for the Valley (dailies)
Koha Ditore reports that the Albanian political factors in Preshevo, Bujanovc, and Medvegja municipalities approved a seven-point document listing urgent measures needed for affirming the rights of Albanians in the Valley in a meeting Saturday.
They requested the help of the Kosovo Government on fulfilling the rights of Serb community in Kosovo and Albanian community in Serbia. However, they said unification with Kosovo does not benefit anyone. The document also states that the improvement of the present situation in the Valley can be achieved by taking urgent measures, which include: complete integration of Albanians, economic revitalization, the right in using official language and in written as the use of national symbols, decentralization of the judiciary, and achieving the full security in the region.
Hoxhaj: Serbia accepting reality in Kosovo (Zëri)
During a presentation in a roundtable hosted by Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy in Athens, Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj said that Kosovo is one of the most successful examples of state-building in the history of the UN and is a result of international conscience and justice. “Above all, Kosovo reflects a modern state-building beyond the ethnic principle by turning into a civic and multi-ethnic state”, said Hoxhaj.
Speaking about the dialogue with Serbia, Hoxhaj said it is a unique opportunity for normalizing relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and added that the latter is slowly but surely accepting the political reality of an independent Kosovo.
Pressure over opposition (Express)
Except for the meetings with institutional officials, Baroness Ashton will also meet on Thursday with representatives of the opposition - Isa Mustafa and Ramush Haradinaj – but not Albin Kurti. Sources claim that the chief of European diplomacy aims to convince the opposition to accept the solutions offered for the north. “All the agreements reached in Brussels have to be ratified at the Assembly, therefore the opposition has to be also convinced to accept the solution of Brussels, as Prime Minister Thaçi did,” said an official involved in the dialogue.
Reshuffling without removing ministers (Tribuna)
Interior Affairs Minister Bajram Rexhepi and Infrastructure Minister Fehmi Mujota could swap positions as part of the reshuffling of the central government. Besim Beqaj, currently Minister for Economic Development, is expected to take up the vacant post of Minister of Finance and relieve his post to Fadil Ismaili, a candidate from the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR).
Sources from the Office of the Prime Minister said these are the only changes discussed so far. “No minister will be removed,” said the source, adding that PM Hashim Thaçi preferred not to remove ministers in the last year of his mandate.
UNMIK failed investigating post-war crimes (Tribuna)
The Human Rights Advisory Panel concluded that UNMIK should apologise and compensate for the moral and material damage to families of post-conflict victims in Kosovo. HRAP found that UNMIK failed in addressing the cases of murder and kidnapping carried out after the conflict. The Panel made the conclusion in reviewing a case where a Kosovo citizen complained that UNMIK did not perform the necessary investigations in the kidnapping of the plaintiff’s husband and son in 2000. HRAP is set to review another 250 similar cases. Decisions of the Human Rights Advisory Panel are not obligatory and it will be up to the chief of UNMIK to decide further action, writes the paper.
UNMIK chief Farid Zarif responded to the conclusions of the HRAP and said UNMIK requested for EULEX to continue the investigations of all cases of kidnapping and murder in post-conflict Kosovo so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice. “SRSG regrets the absence of effective investigations in the case of the plaintiff’s missing family members,” reads Zarif’s letter. With regards to the compensation, the letter notes that this is something that should be undertaken by Kosovo provisional institutions established by UNMIK. “SRSG is ready to discuss the creation of a mechanism to address these problems with relevant authorities,” the letter reads.
Vetëvendosje wants property of Monastery through Assembly (Koha Ditore)
Vetëvendosje Movement hopes to make the Kosovo Assembly rule in favor of overturning the decision of the Kosovo Supreme Court to give 26 acres of socially-owned property to the Orthodox Monastery in Deçan. The Organizational Secretary of Vetëvendosje movement, Dardan Molliqaj, said on Friday that the decision of the Supreme Court is based on the situation during the regime of former President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic and as such, should not be valid. “We that the Kosovo Assembly discusses this issue as very important, and above all decides […] to invalidate all agreements and transfers of public property during this period,” said Molliqaj.