• Borrell to meet Kurti and Vucic separately before joint meeting (media)
• Osmani, Steinmeier agree there is “special momentum” with EU proposal (RFE)
• COMKFOR Ristuccia interview with Klan Kosova
• Svecla: Groups orchestrated by Belgrade trying to destabilise Kosovo (RTK)
• ‘Do not go Away’ Sends Powerful Message to Youth of Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)
• Kosovo Started Year With Inflation Over 12 Per Cent (Prishtina Insight)
• Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame Comes to The Hague (Prishtina Insight)
• Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Accused of Torturing Prisoners as Hague Trial Opens (BIRN)

Borrell to meet Kurti and Vucic separately before joint meeting (media)

The European Union said on Tuesday that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have confirmed their participation in the meeting in Brussels on February 27. A spokeswoman for the EU said that EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, will first hold separate meetings with the two leaders, followed by a joint meeting.

The meeting is expected to focus on the EU proposal for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The last meeting between Kurti and Vucic was held in November last year amid tensions over the licence plates.

Osmani, Steinmeier agree there is “special momentum” with EU proposal (RFE)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday that in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia there is “a special momentum” after the EU proposal for the normalisation of relations.

During a telephone conversation, the two presidents talked about the EU-facilitated dialogue and Kosovo’s integration process. “President Osmani said that Kosovo remains committed and constructive for a dialogue process that contributes to sustainable peace and stability in the region,” a press release issued by Osmani’s office notes.

COMKFOR Ristuccia interview with Klan Kosova

Commander of KFOR peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, Angelo Ristuccia, said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Tuesday that he made clear it to Belgrade that KFOR has sufficient capacities to provide security and freedom of movement for people throughout Kosovo.

Asked to comment on Serbia’s request for the return of its troops to Kosovo, Ristuccia said: “My only concern was to maintain a stable situation as much as possible in order to enable the resumption of dialogue. I was expecting the request, because they had mentioned it many times earlier, and I was ready for it when it arrived. We analysed the request, took note of it, replied and made it clear to them that KFOR is fully equipped, organised for its mandate, and that we have mechanisms to increase the presence of our troops in case the situation deteriorates. So, we were very clear that we are and we would be fully committed to the implementation of our mandate.”

Ristuccia said that KFOR received no request from the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to deploy in the north. “The Kosovo Security Forces may be deployed to the north with the approval of KFOR’s Commander. We fully respect their levels of training and what they can do in cases of disasters, cases of unexploded devices, and so on. They do an extraordinary job and I have to commend them on this. However, we have not received any request from the KSF to be deployed there … Let me be clear: there is an agreement between Kosovo’s institutions and KFOR and NATO that the approval of the KFOR Commander is needed for the deployment of the KSF to the north,” he said.

Svecla: Groups orchestrated by Belgrade trying to destabilise Kosovo (RTK)

Kosovo Police confiscated on Tuesday in the north 6,300 bullets that were smuggled from Serbia. Commenting on the police operation, Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, said that “this again proves the fact that certain groups, orchestrated and supported by Belgrade, are maximally engaged to destabilise our country”. He also said that Kosovo’s security institutions will continue their uninterrupted engagement to combat any form of crime that threatens the security of Kosovo and its citizens.

‘Do not go Away’ Sends Powerful Message to Youth of Kosovo (Prishtina Insight)

A sculpture placed in front of the government of Kosovo building sends a strong appeal to the nation’s youth not to abandon it.

A body positioned westwards with open arms like a comic book superhero and with pseudo-leg elongated beyond the ordinary, roots not too reinforced for the earth and with a deformed body, is placed in front of the Kosovo government building.

The purpose of the sculpture, called “Do not go away”, expresses the great concern of Kosovar society – migration  –  the abandonment of Kosovo by young people for Western countries.

At first glance, the figure that resembles a young man seems to have left for another dimension with as much power as he has, so that his body has been deformed, as if he left his volume behind in Kosovo while on his way West.

The sculpture has no legs, only hands, which in the position it holds seeks help through them, as much as the power to climb higher. There are no eyes to express pain or joy, only a slightly raised head that, in one form or another as much as it carries a prayer, requires strength, it also shows rebellion.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3InYcfj

Kosovo Started Year With Inflation Over 12 Per Cent (Prishtina Insight)

In the last two years, many countries of the world have faced rising inflation. Kosovo was also faced with a price increase.

The Kosovo Statistics Agency, KAS, has clarified that the overall harmonized index of consumer prices was higher by an average of 0.9 per cent in January 2023 compared to December 2022.

By comparison with the same month in 2022, the inflation rate in January was 12.1 per cent. Kosovo ended 2022 with an inflation rate of 11.6 per cent according to KAS.

The increase in price in vegetables was 10.4 per cent, electricity 3.1 per cent, tobacco 2.6 per cent, goods and services for the usual maintenance of the household economy 2.2 per cent and trees 1.9 per cent.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3IkSX0c

Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame Comes to The Hague (Prishtina Insight)

On the fifteenth anniversary of Kosovo’s independence, a book about two mothers who lost their loved ones during the war has been translated into Dutch and is being promoted in The Hague.

The city is filled with tanks, armored cars and soldiers. Shots of machine guns and mortars are heard. Mother is talking on the phone. We haven't run away yet, they have surrounded all of Kosovo, she answered the insistent voice of the father.

This is how Ag Apolloni recounts a sequence of his experiences from the Kosovo war in his novel Glimmer of Hope, Glimmer of Flame. But this documentary novel is not all about his own war experiences. In fact, the novel focuses on the tragic tales of two Kosovar mothers, Ferdonija and Pashka, whose loved ones disappeared in the war.

It’s a book that talks about two Kosovo-Albanian mothers, and which starts and ends at the Cathedral of Mother Teresa – named after the most famous mother that Albanians gave the world, as Apolloni likes to describe it.

The novel was published in 2020 but has been translated into Dutch in honour of the 15th anniversary of Kosovo’s independence, and was promoted in The Hague on Friday.

Ag Apolloni told our editor:  “I had found the topic, I was ready to write the book about Ferdonije, but I could not leave aside the story of Pashka.” He tells about how the idea for the book came after an invitation he received from a friend to visit Ferdonije.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3XSZBQZ

Kosovo Ex-Guerrilla Accused of Torturing Prisoners as Hague Trial Opens (BIRN)

As former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala’s war crimes trial began in The Hague, the prosecution claimed that prisoners he allegedly assaulted are still suffering the consequences of his violent abuse.

In the second war crimes trial to open at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, proceedings began on Tuesday in the case against former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighter Pjeter Shala, who is accused of direct involvement in the arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder of prisoners.

In their opening statements, the prosecution and the victims’ counsel, a lawyer representing the victims, argued that the alleged crimes left the victims physically damaged and suffering the consequences of the abuse to this day.

Shala repeated his ‘not guilty’ plea to the court.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3xHDbau