UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, March 29, 2023

Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to continue next week at level of chief negotiators (RFE)
Kurti: There cannot be a super minority in Kosovo (media)
Kosovo gets assurances from U.S. that there will be no association that threatens sovereignty (Koha Ditore)
Police stations in north to be used as premises for election officers (Dukagjini)
Wigemark meets Viehe, discuss security ahead of elections in north (media)
AJK: Increasing number of attacks against reporters in 2022 (Klan Kosova)
Hovenier meets civil society representatives, discuss human rights (media)
From trenches to courtroom: Kosovo’s war leaders face new battle (BIRN)
Opposition blames pension fund investments decrease on lack of fund board (BIRN)

Kosovo-Serbia dialogue to continue next week at level of chief negotiators (RFE)

Spokesperson for the European Union, Peter Stano, said on Tuesday that a meeting between Kosovo and Serbia chief negotiators will be held next week. The meeting will focus on the implementation of the agreement on normalisation and the implementation annex, agreed by the parties on March 18 in Ohrid.

Commenting on a proposal by Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic to hold the next meeting between Kosovo and Serbia in Montenegro, Stano said: “We are glad that the dialogue is becoming so popular in the region and an increasing number of countries are offering to host it. But let us go step by step. The dialogue is based in Brussels and we have made a very important step in Ohrid, with the accord between the President of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Kosovo, where they agreed on the agreement and the implementation annex. The focus now is on the implementation”.

Kurti: There cannot be a super minority in Kosovo (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, in an interview with Tirana-based Top Channel, commented on Article 7 of the agreement on normalisation, saying that it refers to an appropriate level of self-management for the Serb community in Kosovo. “There is no autonomy for the local Serbs in Kosovo. They are citizens of our Republic, and I am their Prime Minister too,” he said.

Kurti also argued that there can be no privileged community based on ethnicity because privilege for someone can be discrimination for someone else. “I am not in favor of discriminating, oppressing, exploiting, or marginalizing the Serbs. We Albanians have been under Serbian rule for a century, and we will never even think about doing something similar to that, but we cannot have a super minority in Kosovo either. We cannot have privileged people based on ethnic or religious background, because privilege for someone means discrimination against someone else. This is why I can assure you that there will be non-transparent solutions that threaten our constitutionality and the republican and democratic order,” Kurti said.

Kosovo gets assurances from U.S. that there will be no association that threatens sovereignty (Koha Ditore)

The daily reports on its front page this morning that Kosovo Assembly President, Glauk Konjufca, met during his stay in the U.S. with Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, on Tuesday, and that he got assurances that there will be no association or other mechanism that threatens the sovereignty and constitutional order of Kosovo. Konjufca said after the meeting that he shares with the U.S. diplomat the same opinions on how to work together on the common agenda for Kosovo’s membership in Euro-Atlantic and international organisations, and also to advance bilateral relations.

On the other hand, representatives of opposition parties in Kosovo argue that the Ohrid agreement between Kosovo and Serbia is being reduced to the urgent formation of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities. MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Avdullah Hoti, argued in a Facebook post that Kosovo has now been cemented in a status quo. In reference to Prime Minister Albin Kurti, he said that “he who opposed the Association with violence, and who received popular support for this opposition, will now implement it in practice”.

Police stations in north to be used as premises for election officers (Dukagjini)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) did not tell Dukagjini which premises will be used by the municipal election commission for preparations for the April 23 extraordinary elections in the four northern municipalities. But the TV station learned from sources close to the organisation that CEC officials are expected to be placed in police stations in Mitrovica North, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic. Several days ago, the CEC asked the Ministry of Interior Affairs to identify safe premises in the north to prepare the election process. The TV station asked the Ministry too on the issue but received no reply.

Wigemark meets Viehe, discuss security ahead of elections in north (media)

Head of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, met on Tuesday with NATO Head of Current Operations, Ariella Viehe, and discussed the security situation in Kosovo ahead of the extraordinary local elections in the north scheduled for April 23. Wigemark tweeted after the meeting: “A great discussion with NATO's Head of Current Operations, Ariella Viehe, about the security situation in Kosovo following last year’s crisis and in light of the municipal elections in the four northern municipalities. We also discussed the close cooperation between EULEX and NATO-KFOR”.

AJK: Increasing number of attacks against reporters in 2022 (Klan Kosova)

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo published the annual report “Indicators of the level of freedom of media and security of reporters” for 2022 and according to the findings of the report, the number of attacks against reporters marked an increase from 29 in 2021 to 33 in 2022. Recommendations of the report highlight the need for reporters to report all cases of violations against their rights, greater cooperation between state institutions and the media, to create the Data Management System for reporters by the Kosovo Judicial Council as soon as possible.

Hovenier meets civil society representatives, discuss human rights (media)

United States Ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, met on Tuesday with representatives of civil society and discussed human rights. Hovenier tweeted after the meeting: “Inspired and grateful for the opportunity to discuss human rights with representatives from Kosovan civil society. Their invaluable advocacy has helped advance human rights throughout Kosovo. Human rights are universal. They apply to everyone, everywhere”.

From trenches to courtroom: Kosovo’s war leaders face new battle (BIRN)

Over two decades after they fought a war together as Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas, Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi are reunited in court in The Hague to fight war crimes charges.

Back in 1998, during the early months of the Kosovo war, Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi all worked together in a small building in the remote hilltop village of Likoc/Likovac that served as the main headquarters of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.

On April 3, the four wartime leaders will be together again, this time before the prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague courtroom to hear the charges against them read out in the courtroom as their trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity begins.

Thaci, Veseli, Selimi and Krasniqi, who all became senior politicians after the 1998-99 war ended, are accused of being responsible for committing a series of crimes against hundreds of civilians and non-combatants during the conflict. They all have pleaded not guilty.