• Osmani and Kurti attend funeral for Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state (media)
• EU on attacks against police in the north: Avoid unnecessary speculation (Telegrafi)
• Kosovo Assembly to hold plenary session today (media)
• Vetevendosje collects signatures for establishing inquiry committee on energy (media)
• Haxhiu: There can be no serious steps in fight against corruption without vetting (KP)
• Kosovo, Serbia Urged to Not Politicise Missing Persons Issue (BIRN)
• EULEX expert lists main obstacles in identification of human remains (Koha)
• Ethnocentric Memorials Dominate Kosovo’s War Remembrance Culture (BIRN)
• Albanian minister at UN SC: Images from Ukraine remind us of those from Kosovo in 1999 (media)
• COVID-19: 13 new cases (media)

 

 

Osmani and Kurti attend funeral for Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state (media)

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti took part in the funeral of the former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who died last month at 84.

Osmani said Kosovo is eternally grateful for the extraordinary contribution of Secretary Albright noting that "she recognised the pain of our people, and we will continue her efforts to advance and defend democracy." Kurti said: "We gave our last farewells to a person who has done so much for our people, for our freedom and for peace."

At the funeral ceremony, Osmani and Kurti also met the Secretary of State Antony Blinken whom they thanked for the U.S. contribution to Kosovo. "Continuous support and common values are the strongest guarantee of the unwavering friendship with the U.S.," Osmani said on social media.

EU on attacks against police in the north: Avoid unnecessary speculation (Telegrafi)

Peter Stano, EU foreign policy spokesperson, told the news website that the EU strongly condemns recent attacks against the Kosovo Police.

"Kosovo Police is the main provider of security and any use of force against its officers is unacceptable," Stano said, adding: "We urge everyone to avoid unnecessary speculation that can lead to further increase of tensions, reiterating that the investigation of the case will be done by relevant law enforcement authorities."

Kosovo Assembly to hold plenary session today (media)

The Assembly of Kosovo is scheduled to hold a plenary session today, beginning at 10 o’clock.

The Assembly is set to review the proposal of 40 MPs for setting up a parliamentary inquiry committee to look into the way the Government of Kosovo has handled the energy crisis.

Vetevendosje collects signatures for establishing inquiry committee on energy (media)

The head of the Vetevendosje Movement (LVV) parliamentary group, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, said at a press conference yesterday that they have gathered the necessary signatures from MPs to establish an inquiry committee on energy. She added that the scope of the committee would be to look into the decision making process in the energy sector from 2006 to now and that the proposal comes in light of the present situation in the Assembly where, as she said, the parliamentary democracy has been put into question by the opposition parties.

Opposition parties - the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) - are insisting on the establishment of a committee on energy.

Koha reports that PDK however has said it would not be supporting the establishment of the committee, as proposed by LVV, without it first investigating the latest energy crisis while Kallxo writes that if LVV’s motion is passed, the committee would also investigate the privatisation of Kosovo Energy Distribution Services (KEDS), a process that was opposed with protests by the Vetevendosje Movement. Gazeta Express reports that the LDK has said it supports the LVV's proposal for committee but noted that ruling parties are normally not those to initiate such a motion.

Haxhiu: There can be no serious steps in fight against corruption without vetting (KP)

Kosovo's Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, underlined the importance of the judicial vetting process being implemented in Kosovo.

While reporting to the Assembly's committee on European integrations, Haxhiu said: "With our government there will be no situations or circumstances whereby a prosecutor or a judge is threatened for the case they are handling. Therefore, I am not confident that without the vetting process we can have serious actions in the fight against crime and corruption. That is why we are carrying out a deep justice reform," she said.

Kosovo, Serbia Urged to Not Politicise Missing Persons Issue (BIRN)

On Kosovo’s National Missing Persons Day, civil society activists called on the Pristina and Belgrade authorities to avoid politicisation of this sensitive issue and address it as a humanitarian problem.

Yellow flowers were laid out to form the number 1620 in Pristina’s main square on Wednesday in memory of those who are still missing from the 1998-99 war, as Kosovo marked its National Missing Persons Day.

“We still have 1,620 people missing from wartime… 23 years afterwards, families are still waiting to know about the fate of their loved ones,” said Marigona Shabiu, the executive director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights NGO.

“We consider that this issue has been dragged out for a while, it is being politicised by both the Kosovo and Serbia governments and we urge that this issue be addressed as a human issue,” Shabiu added.

At a separate event around 90 kilometres west of Pristina to mark National Missing Persons Day, people gathered at a memorial in the village of Meje to commemorate more than 377 Albanian civilians who were killed by Serbian forces on April 27, 1999.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Kq5z4S

EULEX expert lists main obstacles in identification of human remains (Koha)

The condition of preservation of the remains, i.e. whether they are burned or highly-fragmented, and the inability to obtain appropriate reference blood samples for DNA-based identification are the two main factors that could hinder identification of remains, said EULEX forensic anthropologist Luisa Marinho.

On the National Day of Missing Persons, EULEX said commitment it remains committed to continue supporting the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM) in its efforts to shed light on the fate of 1,620 persons, who are still unaccounted for.

Ethnocentric Memorials Dominate Kosovo’s War Remembrance Culture (BIRN)

As Kosovo marks its national day of missing persons, commemorations and memorials for civilians who disappeared or died during and after the 1998-99 war remain deeply divided by ethnicity.

On April 27 each year, Kosovo commemorates its national day of missing persons, but families of the wartime disappeared and Kosovo Albanian and Serb officials always commemorate separately.

Jasmina Zivkovic, whose father Paun went missing in September 1999 in the eastern municipality of Ferizaj/Urosevac, marks the day with other relatives of Serbs who disappeared.

But the attendance of politicians at such commemorations often means that in a country where ethnic divisions remain strong and the legacy of war looms large, remembrance is highly politiciased.

“Unfortunately, politicians still use commemorative activities for their own agenda. Usually speeches that you hear from them are full of blame for the other side and the spreading of hate,” Zivkovic told BIRN.

“I think it represents the marginalisation and exclusion from the public domain of important initiatives dedicated to preserving the memory of all victims, regardless of ethnic or national origin,” she added.

For more than two decades, ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo have built separate memorials for their fallen heroes and civilian victims of the 1998-99 war and its aftermath.

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

Albanian minister at UN SC: Images from Ukraine remind us of those from Kosovo in 1999 (media)

Olta Xhacka, Albania's Foreign Minister, said that what is happening in Ukraine right now reminds her of Kosovo where thousands of innocent civilians got killed.

Speaking at a meeting of the Security Council, Xhacka said that alike Ukraine, Kosovo also experienced an unprovoked attack from Serbia in 1998. "I come from the Western Balkans, a region that until 24 February 2022 was considered the scene of the last war in Europe. Scenes of bloodshed and destruction that we see in the images coming from Ukraine, affect very differently someone for whom war and war crimes are not things one reads about in history books, but memories from several decades ago," she said.

COVID-19: 13 new cases (media)

13 new cases with COVID-19 were confirmed in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. 23 persons recovered during this period. There are 412 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.