ZUBIN POTOK - Director of the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) Marko Djuric said Wednesday that the government had provided funds for the construction of six blocks of flats and several dozen houses in the southern Serbian province to facilitate returns of displaced Serbs and other non-Albanians.
Director of the Kosovo Police, Shpend Maxhuni, called Serb returnees to join the Kosovo police Service (KPS). Maxhuni said that it would contribute to the reduction of incidents to which returnees are exposed. During the visit to the returnee village Drsnik near Klina/Kline, Maxhuni said that attacks on returnees and their property can be prevented by better cooperation between the returnees and the police.
New phase of the program for returns and reintegration in Kosovo has started. This program is a joint initiative financed from European Union and Ministry for Returns and Communities that supports creation of a sustainable, tolerant and multiethnic environment in Kosovo, which ensures fundamental human and minority rights.
Kosovo Minister for Communities and Returns, Dalibor Jevtic, said that house of Miomir Pantic, in the village Ljug, in Istok/Istog municipality, was set on fire. That is the second case of burning houses of Serbian returnees in Kosovo, in the last 24 hours. "The incident, which occurred in the village Ljug, Istok/Istog municipality, is a severe attack on our efforts aimed at bringing return to a higher level. Perpetrators of this and other incidents must be found," said Jevtic.
ISTOK - A house owned by the Serb returnee family Pantic in the village of Ljug, Klina municipality, was set on fire, the head of the Pec District Vinka Radosavljevic told Tanjug.
The incident occurred last night, said Radosavljevic, adding that the part of the house that caught fire was empty as the Pantic family no longer lives in it.
Only six Serbs have remained in Istok.
This is the second incident of setting fire to Serb-owned houses in Klina and Istok in the last two days.
Four homes and two auxiliary buildings, owned by Serbs, were burglarized in the Village Grabovac near Klina, according to the Kosovo Ministry of Communities and Returns.
Kosovo Minister for Communities and Returns, Dalibor Jevtic strongly condemned last night's incident, reports Tanjug.
Jevtic said that the burglary and theft of items from the house is obvious intimidation of returnees and a message to those who wish to return to Kosovo that they are not welcome.