Albanian Language Media:

• CIA Chief makes stop in Kosovo as part of unannounced visit to Balkan region (RFE)
• Haradinaj: Head of CIA did not meet Kurti due to blockade from America (Telegrafi)
• Kusari: Bridge will be opened, government unanimous with president (RTK)
• Kryeziu: Kurti would not undertake any action that endangers national security (Koha)
• Svecla and Krasniqi visit families at new houses in the north (RTK)
• Bislimi claims the issue of missing persons is his priority in dialogue (media)
• Deadline for conversion of driver's licences ends today (Reporteri)
• Former Serbian policeman convicted of rape to be also tried for many war crimes (Koha)

Serbian Language Media:

• Families of missing persons: We are victims of insane politics (KoSSev, Radio KIM)
• More than 6.300 requests to convert drivers’ licences submitted by August 22 (Radio KIM)
• Djuric meets Pavuk, thanks him for Slovakia’s support on Kosovo, matters of importance to Serbia (Kosovo Online)
• Ruge concludes his visit to region: Western Balkans of strategic importance to NATO (Kosovo Online, social media)

Albanian Language Media

CIA Chief makes stop in Kosovo as part of unannounced visit to Balkan region (RFE) 

CIA director William Burns has arrived in Kosovo after stops earlier this week in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on an unannounced trip amid concerns about U.S. relations with Kosovo and Russian influence in the Balkans. 

Burns was seen on August 22 entering the building of Kosovo’s presidency. 

A U.S. government official confirmed to RFE/RL earlier this week that Burns arrived in Sarajevo and met with his Bosnian counterparts, members of the presidency, and the foreign minister. 

Burns is believed to have travelled from Sarajevo to Belgrade, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia before arriving in Kosovo. According to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, a U.S. military plane believed to be used to fly the CIA chief made stops in those countries. On August 22, it was seen parked at the VIP gate at Pristina's international airport, according to an RFE/RL photographer. 

But there has been no confirmation of Burns’ visit to Kosovo from the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, the Kosovar presidency, or the Interior Ministry. 

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/266dhrrr

Haradinaj: Head of CIA did not meet Kurti due to blockade from America (Telegrafi)

The leader of the Alliance for the future of Kosovo (AAK), Ramush Haradinaj, commented on the visit of William Burns, head of the CIA, to Kosovo. He said that Burns has not met with Prime Minister Albin Kurti due to the blockade imposed by American institutions on the latter.

"Now the agenda, such an agenda was completely arranged a long time ago, even if such a thing (meeting with the prime minister of a country) is practical." But in our case, this changes due to the deterioration of relations and the blockade that the institutions of America have put on Prime Minister Kurti. Because by coincidence, Kurti is not here, the head of the CIA is meeting with the head of the KIA and the president", said Haradinaj on TV Dukagjini.

Kusari: Bridge will be opened, government unanimous with president (RTK)

"We are convinced that the bridge will be opened and that this issue belongs to Kosovo", said the head of the Vetevendosje Movement Parliamentary Group, Mimoza Kusari - Lila, in RTK's "Last News".

She said that the Iber bridge has not been part of the Berlin process for a long time, and it cannot be. However, she added that while assessing the security circumstances, Kosovo coordinates the activity and that the police together with other security institutions, including KFOR will be in coordination, ‘but it is not an issue with which the principle of opening the bridge can be discussed’.

Kusari - Lila has said that the escalation of the situation did not happen due to the decisions of the Kurti government but the Serbian criminal groups.

Asked about the positions of the presidency and the government on this issue, Kusari Lila said ‘you have heard the president's statements, she was very clear about the issue of the bridge and the non-inclusion of this topic in the dialogue, and the government is on the same principle. 

She further added that there were differences on other issues, but according to her, the focus of the two institutions remains the increase of international support.

Kusari - Lila, in a direct link from Chicago told RTK that the visit of the head of the CIA, William Burns to Kosovo and the region is a security issue, and that this important visit proves the seriousness of the security events in the region and the avoidance of the potential of any conflict.

Kryeziu: Kurti would not undertake any action that endangers national security (Koha)

Arbereshe Kryeziu, MP of the Vetevendosje Movement, while speaking about the issue of the opening of the Iber Bridge, said that Prime Minister Albin Kurti and other institutional leaders would not take any action that would endanger national security. She has assessed that the opening of the bridge is an internal matter of Kosovo and does not depend on Serbia.

"I don't think the opening of the Ibri Bridge is an issue between Kosovo and Serbia, it is completely related only to the Republic of Kosovo and it does not depend on Serbia if we will do such an action and on the other hand it is an action as the last in the framework of the actions that had to be done in the northern part to establish law and order there, which was practically absent in the past. I do not believe that there has ever been a greater extension of sovereignty in the North, in fact there has not been at all in the past. It has started in the last three and a half years. I don't believe that Prime Minister Kurti or other institutional leaders would do such an action if it would endanger or violate our national security", she told KTV on Thursday.

Kryeziu said that the internationals should be more clear in their statements on this matter.

"Nor do we pretend to undertake actions that would bring us problems with KFOR members. I think that the internationals should be clearer in their statements regarding the request and need of the Republic of Kosovo to do such an action and not endlessly lean towards the actions that suit Serbia", Kryeziu emphasised.

She added that the European Union has lost control of the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. "Even they themselves have realised that the dialogue has gotten out of hand and they are trying to bring it back and keep it by bringing back issues that happened 8-10 years ago because they cannot focus on the most important issue, such as the basic agreement and they can't focus precisely because of the way they are treating Serbia", she said.

Svecla and Krasniqi visit families at new houses in the north (RTK) 

Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, together with the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, have visited two of the several families who moved in the new houses in the north built by the government. 

Krasniqi announced that these families got new houses after 25 years of repression from Belgrade for releasing properties in the northern municipalities. 

"We cannot be anything other than happy and encouraged when we see the families who have already entered the new houses built by the government in the northern municipalities. Together with Minister Svecla, we spent the day in Leposaviq and Northern Mitrovica. There are 6 houses from the first call, 21 from the second call and 11 from MMPHI, which were built for beneficiary families who did not have the opportunity to live in their properties", announced Krasniqi.

He further said that over 200 new houses are expected to be built from September 1 in cooperation with a humanitarian association. 

"We cannot be anything other than happy and encouraged when we see the families who have already entered the new houses built by the government in the northern municipalities", Svecla also wrote.

Bislimi claims the issue of missing persons is his priority in dialogue (media) 

Kosovo’s first deputy prime minister, Besnik Bislimi, hosted on Thursday a meeting with representatives of the Coordinating Council of the Family Associations of the Disappeared in Kosovo. Their exchange coincided with the International Day of Disappeared Persons. According to the announcement from the government, the parties agreed to hold a sensitising table for the International Day of Persons Disappeared by Violence, which is commemorated every year on August 30. 

"Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi also informed the associations about the addressing with priority in Brussels within the dialogue process the issue of persons disappeared by violence, on the commitment of the Governmental Committee for Missing Persons, and offered continuous support for awareness and advocacy in relation to this issue", the announcement states. 

It is further emphasized that the Council thanked the Deputy Prime Minister for the support, and in particular for the visit to Srebrenica on the occasion of marking the anniversary of the Serbian genocide there on July 11, and they informed him about the challenges they are facing and the commitment of the associations in this process. 

Deadline for conversion of driver's licences ends today (Reporteri)

Today is the deadline for residents to apply for the conversion of driver's licences from those issued by Serbian institutions to official Kosovo driver's licences.

The deputy director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani has said that so far, 6,325 residents have converted their driver's licences. He further gave the statistics of the conversion of driver's licences in the municipalities separately.

In the municipality of Leposaviq, 1,994 residents have converted their driver's licences. In North Mitrovica, 1,536 driver's licences were converted. In Zubin Potok, 940 drivers' licences were converted, while in Zvecan, 1,154 residents converted their driver's licences. 

From the statistics, it appears that only 215 citizens in Gracanica have converted their driver's licence from Serbian to Kosovo ones.

Former Serbian policeman convicted of rape to be  also tried for many war crimes (Koha)

The former member of the Serbian police, Zoran Vukotic, sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment for sexual violence during the war, appeared in a hearing status before the Basic Court in Pristina.

Zoran Vukotic's sentence for violence during the war has been confirmed by all levels of the judiciary. And, from October he will be tried for other war crimes. The court has decided to combine accusations elaborated in three cases. 

The first case contains accusations of brutal murder, inhumane treatment, terror and looting against the caravan of displaced civilians in Upper and Lower Studime, between May 2 and 3, 1999, as well as involvement in the Studime Massacre, in which 116 Albanian civilians were killed.

The second contains the accusation of the murder of four Albanian civilians and the mistreatment of 18 others in Vushtrri on May 5, 1999.

Meanwhile, the third case accuses Vukotic of murdering 13-year-old Burim Muli. 

He is expected to be tried initially for sexual violence during the war in the Vushtrri region.

Serbian Language Media 

Families of missing persons: We are victims of insane politics (KoSSev, Radio KIM)

Missing Persons Resource Center and Association of Kosmet Victims Families ahead of International Missing Persons Day due on August 30 once again recalled that there are more than 1.600 missing persons in Kosovo still being looked for, urging both governments in Belgrade and Pristina to unblock the process of finding their loved ones, Radio KIM reported.

The families of missing Serbs and Albanians gathered in a roundtable “Missing Persons, Nobody’s Concern” organised in Pristina and urged all relevant actors to commit to finding the missing persons, recalling that a quarter of century elapsed since their loved ones disappeared.  

Neglected

“For 25 years the families feel neglected, the governments in Belgrade and Pristina do not consider us humans who are waiting for the human beings to be found. Politics does not consider they (missing persons) were human beings. If they had thought so, our loved ones would have returned to us until now. We implore all institutions in Kosovo, Serbia and the international community to calm our hearts as soon as possible, otherwise we will never be able to heal”, Bajram Qerkini from Missing Persons Resource Center said.

“We expect once again to exert a strong and energetic pressure on all relevant actors and stakeholders involved in resolving our problem, our humanitarian and ethical problem. We want politics to be excluded from the resolution of this problem. We implore, appeal to all, to commit seriously, as there is still a large number of missing persons on the list. We are living in the XXI century, a century of European culture and civilization, where there are ways to identify remains of human bodies with satellite images, to find them”, Natasa Scepanovic from Kosmet Victims Families Association said.

Everything is more important than human lives

“To exhume and identify people. To resolve the issue of wrong identification, to take samples of bodies in the morgue in Pristina for DNA testing again, to see to whom those bodies belong. A quarter of a century has elapsed, these have been long years. We are losing our health, our members are dying, parents who did not live long enough to find out the destinies of their loved ones. It is hard, what happened to us may never happen to anyone else again. We are victims of insane politics, criminals who killed people on both sides {…}”, Scepanovic said, adding those who committed crimes must be punished, and those who are mandated to help must be involved in the resolution of this problem.

Working groups for missing persons in Belgrade and Pristina are established, Qerkni said. “I am asking them a question: Do you consider us humans or animals? Animals are also looking for their ones. What they consider us to be, we do not have information from the people who are supposed to provide them to us. We expect dates when exhumation on three locations will start”, Qerkini added.

More than 6.300 requests to convert drivers’ licences submitted by August 22 (Radio KIM)

More than 6.300 requests to convert Serbian drivers’ licence issued by dislocated police directorates from Kosovo to Kosovo ones had been submitted by August 22, Radio KIM reports.  The deadline for conversion expires today at 16.00, Radio KIM added.

The highest number of requests had been submitted in four northern municipalities. 1.944 were submitted in Leposavic, 1.536 in Mitrovica North, 940 in Zubin Potok and 1.154 in Zvecan.

Djuric meets Pavuk, thanks him for Slovakia’s support on Kosovo, matters of importance to Serbia (Kosovo Online)

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric met with Slovakian Ambassador to Serbia, Michal Pavuk and thanked him for the support his country extends on matters of national importance to Serbia, Kosovo Online portal reported.

Djuric assessed that bilateral relations and cooperation between Serbia and Slovakia were exceptional, voicing expectations that they would be further reinforced and intensified with the meetings at high and highest political levels, which would remain a priority.

Djuric expressed particular gratitude to Slovakia over its principled stance when it comes to Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as for its support on matters of national importance to Serbia. 

Ruge concludes his visit to region: Western Balkans of strategic importance to NATO (Kosovo Online, social media)

Assistant NATO Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Boris Ruge has concluded his visits to Sarajevo, Pristina and Belgrade, emphasising strategic importance of the Western Balkans to the NATO Alliance, Kosovo Online portal reported citing the NATO statement.

Read the full statement at: https://shorturl.at/Ki4L8