UNMIK Headlines 13 May
UNMIK chief Zarif visits Belgrade, meets Dacic (Koha)
The Serbian Principal Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, met on Monday in Belgrade with UNMIK chief Farid Zarif and discussed developments on the eve of the United Nations Security Council session. Dacic stressed the importance of UNMIK’s presence in Kosovo, “as the sole guarantor for the status-neutral position of the international presence in Kosovo”. Dacic and Zarif also exchanged opinions about the work of UNMIK from January to April, with special emphasis on the future reconfiguration of the EULEX mission.
CEC asks OSCE for assistance for the north (Kosova Sot)
The Central Election Commission (CEC) will not be able to organize, on its own, early general elections in the north on 8 June. In a meeting yesterday, the CEC approved a cooperation agreement with the OSCE, for assistance in organising elections in the four northern municipalities. The CEC considers that OSCE facilitation is still required in the north to tackle technical issues, although its role would not be the same as in the 2013 local elections.
Deadline for certification of political parties, 16 May (Bota Sot)
The Spokesperson of the Central Election Commission, Valmir Elezi, stated for Radio Kosova that all political parties of Kosovo are obliged to apply for certification to participate in early elections, by 16 May. He said that political parties have the right to include a maximum of 110 candidates on their election lists. “The office for registration of political parties will accept applications until 16 May, and the office will decide on their certification only after receiving the applications,” said Elezi.
Pacolli negotiates with Thaci and Mustafa (Koha)
Behxhet Pacolli, leader of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR), said on Monday that he is negotiating with both PDK leader Hashim Thaci and LDK leader Isa Mustafa on pre-election coalitions. Pacolli said he met both leaders on Monday but that an agreement has yet to be reached. “Talks are ongoing; everything depends on the offers of the two big parties. On Friday we will learn if the AKR will enter into a coalition with either of them or if it will run alone,” Pacolli was quoted as saying. An LDK source told the paper: “There have been intensive talks. The AKR was engaged in talks with two separate teams: one team was negotiating with us, and the other team was negotiating with the PDK”.
Belgrade aims for a joint list for Serbs (Lajm)
According to Serb politicians, Kosovo Serbs should aim to run in the 8 June parliamentary elections with a joint list. According to them, that proposal has been presented not only by politicians from the Serb Civic Initiative, which in local elections won in the majority of predominantly Serb municipalities, but also by Belgrade authorities, who support this political party. Former Kosovo Assembly MP Rada Trajkovic told Radio Free Europe that, some time ago, before the Assembly of Kosovo had been dissolved, Belgrade authorities had called on Kosovo Serb politicians to form a joint list and run in the Kosovo parliamentary elections. “I think that talks started before the Kosovo Assembly was dissolved. Now there are talks to form a joint list and all Serb MPs who were in the Assembly will be offered a place on this list and a joint election campaign. There are still consultations going on, but we didn’t have a final broader meeting where we could talk amongst ourselves”, emphasized Trajkovic.
Enver Zymberi was killed by the first bullet (Koha)
The paper reports on the front page that it has secured a copy of the indictment against four Serbs for the killing of Enver Zymberi, from the Kosovo Police Special Unit, in July 2011. The indictment was filed last week by an international and local prosecutor almost three years after the killing. The indictment is based on the testimony of a Serb member of the Police Special Unit who took part in the July 2011 operation. The Serb police officer has won the status of “cooperating witness.” Citing details from the indictment, the paper also reports that Zymberi was killed by the first bullet to the head. A fire exchange then broke out between 50 Kosovo Police officers and a group of 10 to 15 Serbs, which lasted over 20 minutes.
500 displaced persons in Montenegro to be registered (Kosova Sot)
The Kosovo and Montenegrin Ministries of Internal Affairs have come together in a project to assist displaced persons from Kosovo in Montenegro by supplying them with civil documents. From 12 to 16 May, four teams will undertake a mission to Montenegro to assist around 500 displaced persons in applying for personal documents, including passports.