UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, August 22, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

• Other QUINT countries against opening of bridge in current circumstances (Koha)
• Issue of opening of Iber bridge discussed at Osmani-Rohde meeting (media)
• Serbian media: CIA director to visit Pristina, after Sarajevo and Belgrade (media)
• Kurti meets Senator Chris Murphy, discuss range of topics (media)
• Kurti meets Senator Welch, discuss “deepening of relations” (media)
• Osmani, Devitt sign 6th amendment to Development Objectives Grant (media)
• Osmani and Tusk win M100 Media Award 2024 (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Djuric met Ruge: NATO wants Serbia to play a positive role in the region (Kosovo Online, media)
• Brkljac: Police reports submitted as evidence, indictment a disgrace for the prosecution (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)
• 26 years since the abduction of Slavuj and Perenic: We will search for them as long as we live (Kosovo Online, KiM radio, KoSSev, Radio Mitrovica sever)
• Grenell criticizes Senator Murphy and USAID: Is the USA financing Kurti's unilateral and dangerous actions? (Kosovo Online)
• 35,000 active drug users in Kosovo (NMagazin, Beta, Kosovo Online)

International Media: 

• Kosovo: Potato chips bring Serbs and Albanians together (DW)
• Kosovo gets €31 million US grant despite worsened relations (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Other QUINT countries against opening of bridge in current circumstances (Koha)

The news website recalls that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti had presented the plan to open the main bridge over Iber river in Mitrovica to representatives of EU and QUINT on August 2. From his stay in the U.S. this week, Kurti said that Kosovo’s authorities were coordinating with international partners on the plan to open the bridge. But different unnamed sources told Koha that there was no agreement about the plan and that international officials had asked Kurti not to open the bridge for traffic movement in the current circumstances. 

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier at the time had expressed disagreement with the government’s decision to open the bridge. “We the representatives of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and the EU Office in Kosovo, met with Prime Minister Kurti to inform him that our governments in consultation with NATO currently cannot support any change to the current status of the bridge in Mitrovica,” Hovenier said.

After the EU confirmed that it did not change its position from previous declarations and that actions about the bridge should be coordinated, the U.S. too maintained the same line. The UK Embassy in Pristina too told the news website that “you should refer to the remarks made by the QUINT ambassadors after their meeting with the Prime Minister on August 2. We have no other public comment at this time”. 

The German Embassy too referred to a statement by their ambassador, Jorn Rohde, who said that “Germany is doing its part in supporting NATO KFOR from its very beginning, contributing to safety + stability in Kosovo and the entire region. This stability achieved must not be put at risk through lack of dialogue or uncoordinated action”.

Issue of opening of Iber bridge discussed at Osmani-Rohde meeting (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani met on Wednesday with German Ambassador to Kosovo Jorn Rohde and discussed among things the issue of opening of the Iber bridge in Mitrovica. Osmani argued that the opening of the bridge “is in the interest of all citizens” of Kosovo. “President Osmani reiterated the importance for the implementation plan for opening the bridge to be done in consultation and coordination between our institutions and our security partners, and that the opening of the bridge is in the interest of all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity,” a press release issued by Osmani’s office notes.

Osmani and Rohde also discussed developments related to the Berlin Process.

Serbian media: CIA director to visit Pristina, after Sarajevo and Belgrade (media)

Several news websites in Kosovo quote a report by Serbian media according to which CIA Director Williams Burns will visit Kosovo today, after staying in Sarajevo and Belgrade. The U.S. embassy did not respond to a confirmation request.

Kurti meets Senator Chris Murphy, discuss range of topics (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on X on Wednesday that during his stay in Chicago, met with U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. “We discussed a range of important topics relating to Kosova, including improved security and rule of law in the northern part of our territory; the need for Serbia to finally sign, and withdraw its repudiation of the Basic Agreement to get the EU-sponsored dialogue back on track; and the major regional infrastructure projects we have in the pipeline, such as the Prishtina–Durrës railway and the Prizren–Tetova highway,” Kurti said.

A press release issued by Kurti’s office notes quotes him as saying “now that it has been 11 months since the killing of our police sergeant Afrim Bunjaku in Banjska of Zvecan, it is high time for chief criminal Milan Radoicic to be delivered to Kosovo’s judicial authorities”. Kurti also asked the U.S. to put pressure on Belgrade on the matter.

Kurti meets Senator Welch, discuss “deepening of relations” (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a post on Wednesday that he met with U.S. Senator Peter Welsch, “a friend of Kosova, who visited our country immediately after the terrorist attack that took the life of Afrim Bunjaku last year. We discussed deepening the relations between our two countries on both the economic and political fronts, as well as exploring new avenues for collaboration. I also highlighted the significant progress Kosova has made and the government's efforts to uplift all of our society, such as the introduction of free higher education”.

Osmani, Devitt sign 6th amendment to Development Objectives Grant (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Tuesday that together with the United States, she signed the 6th amendment to the USAID Kosovo Development Objectives Grant Agreement. “This additional $34.5M will support projects aimed at enhancing services through accountable and effective institutions while expanding opportunities for inclusive democratic and economic participation. Deeply grateful to U.S. Ambassador Hovenier and USAID Kosovo Mission Director Devitt for U.S.' continued support in our efforts to build stronger, more sustainable institutions and foster a fairer, more equitable society for all,” Osmani wrote in a post on X.

Osmani and Tusk win M100 Media Award 2024 (media)

Most news websites reported on Wednesday that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has been awarded the M100 Media Award for this year and that the ceremony will be held on September 12 in Potsdam. A press release issued by M100 notes: “Since the beginning of her political career, Osmani-Sadriu has tirelessly advocated for reforms, the strengthening of democracy, a pro-European course, the fight against corruption, as well as equality and women’s rights in her country and beyond. President Osmani is committed to democracy and the rule of law, as well as the integration of the Republic of Kosovo into the Euro-Atlantic structures. Despite all threats and obstacles, President Osmani is unwavering in sending strong pro-European signal that democracy and freedom must be defended as essential achievements. In 2024, President Osmani was awarded the European Prize by the Coudenhove-Kalergi Society for her continued efforts in promoting and defending Euro-Atlantic values”.

Serbian Language Media 

Djuric met Ruge: NATO wants Serbia to play a positive role in the region (Kosovo Online, media)

NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Boris Ruge met yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Djuric, with whom he discussed the partnership between Serbia and NATO.

Ruge stated on X that NATO wants Serbia to play a positive role, based on good neighborly relations.

"Today I finished my tour of the Western Balkans in Belgrade. I spoke with Marko Djuric about Serbia's partnership with NATO, as well as the Alliance's efforts in the region. NATO wants Serbia to play a positive role, based on good-neighborly relations with all the countries of the Western Balkans," wrote Ruge.

Brkljac: Police reports submitted as evidence, indictment a disgrace for the prosecution (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)

Miodrag Brkljac, lawyer of Milun Milenkovic Lune, who is charged by the Special Prosecutor's Office with the criminal offense of terrorism, stated that the indictment is a disgrace for the prosecution because it is based on police reports.

"The indictment presented to us by the Special Prosecutor is a legal document that, in a case and legal situation like this, should be supported by clear, solid, and convincing evidence that leaves no room for doubt that our clients indeed committed the criminal offense they are charged with. Instead of proposing such evidence that would practically leave us speechless, to put it simply, the prosecutor has proposed a number of police reports that represent correspondence between police investigators and the prosecutor himself, from which nothing relevant to this case can be established with certainty, and especially, no essential and relevant facts can be established that our clients actually committed the criminal offenses they are charged with," Brkljac said.

Brkljac emphasized that it is a disgrace that an indictment like this has been raised in such a case.

"You saw, the prosecution was offended by this. It’s a disgrace for the simple reason that some of the police reports contain such notorious falsehoods, not to say nonsense, that they do not deserve to be part of these files. Such evidence must, by law, be eliminated as unacceptable evidence and physically removed from the case files, and instead of doing that, the court allows such evidence to remain in the files. God forbid a verdict is based on such evidence," Brkljac said.

He also mentioned that during the opening statement, the prosecutor highlighted that the ambulance vehicles in this case were used for "arms smuggling" and stated that he proposed to the court that the crew who were in the ambulance that day be called to testify.

Read more at:  https://tinyurl.com/y4pzbvw2

26 years since the abduction of Slavuj and Perenic: We will search for them as long as we live (Kosovo Online, KiM radio, KoSSev, Radio Mitrovica sever)

It has been 26 years since the abduction of Radio Pristina journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic. On the road between Velika Hoca and Zociste, at the place where they were last seen, family members and journalists once again reminded everyone of this unsolved crime and stated that they will not give up searching for the truth.

Slavuj and Perenic were abducted on August 21, 1998, between Velika Hoca and Orahovac while on their way to the Monastery of the Holy Healers in Zociste to do a story about the return of abducted monks.

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/4bptadb8

Grenell criticizes Senator Murphy and USAID: Is the USA financing Kurti's unilateral and dangerous actions? (Kosovo Online)

Former US President Donald Trump's special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Richard Grenell, criticized Senator Chris Murphy for his meeting with Kosovo PM Albin Kurti, but also criticized the US Agency for International Development, USAID, which yesterday allocated to Kosovo about 3.5 million dollars in aid.

Grenell said in a post on X that the whole world has condemned Kurti's unilateral actions that are destabilizing the region.

“Everyone - NATO, the Germans, the French, the EU, the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration - has made clear that Albin Kurti is causing problems.”

In another post on X, Grenell reacted to USAID aid to Kosovo:  

“Pure corruption. You were just condemning Kosovo leadership and Albin Kurti for his dangerous unilateral actions. Now you are funding his dangerous unilateral actions? Is this a payoff for Kurti attending the Democrat Convention? I am calling on the State Department’s Inspector General to investigate this grant and its timing.”

35,000 active drug users in Kosovo (NMagazin, Beta, Kosovo Online)

There are about 35,000 active drug users in Kosovo, most of whom use cannabis and cocaine.

Muharem Ademi, "Labyrinth" Center coordinator in Pristina, told the media that the average drug use begins at the age of 16.

"Based on our assessments during general work in the field and during work in the center, and requests for treatment, we estimate that there are currently about 35,000 active drug users in Kosovo, of which about 10,000 are drug addicts or problematic users, as we call them. Those 10,000 they take drugs at least three times a week, which means they are addicts," said Ademi, reported NMagazin, citing Kosovo Online.

According to him, the large use of cocaine and crack cocaine on the market is a concern.

Ademi emphasizes that there is an imbalance in the database they have as a center, and it is noted that men make up about 91 percent of drug users, while nine percent are women and girls.

He says that many women and girls find it difficult to seek help, because they think they may be stigmatized in society.

International Media

Kosovo: Potato chips bring Serbs and Albanians together (DW)

Despite ongoing tension between Belgrade and Pristina, ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have found a way not just to coexist, but to thrive. Boban Ristic and Agron Halimi from Vushtrri discovered common ground in potato chip production. For them, economic survival takes precedence over politics.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/27pepz64

Kosovo gets €31 million US grant despite worsened relations (Balkan Insight)

Kosovo has received a multi-million grant from the United States. But the U.S. ambassador remarked that relations with Albin Kurti’s government remain “less positive than we had hoped”, following a row over plans to open the controversial Mitrovica bridge.

The United States has agreed to give Kosovo a €31 million ($34.5 million) grant despite a row between the countries over the opening of a controversial bridge. 

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/vkh74a6h