President Hashim Thaci on Wednesday presented Kosovo as an “example” to be followed by other countries in the region when it comes to respecting the rights of ethnic minorities, while calling for dialogue in order to build a “home for all communities”.
But Thaci admitted that challenges lie ahead for Kosovo, following years of conflicts and interethnic tensions.
A seven-month-long struggle of the unified opposition against the Kosovo government has ended in undignified collapse following the election of the former head of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, Hashim Thaci, as President of Kosovo.
The virtual break-up of the opposition bloc puts the ruling coalition, led by the PDK, and Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, on firmer ground, just as the hotly contested implementation of a law establishing an autonomous Association of Serbian Municipalities looms.
Kadri Veseli, the new leader of the ruling PDK party, who also chairs the Kosovo assembly, has urged Prime Minister Isa Mustafa to make major changes in the composition of the government.
Despite a Pristina court’s recent sentencing of two Kosovars for joining an alleged terrorist group in Syria called ‘Harausham’, no Kosovo institution can provide proof of the organisation’s existence. One suspect says he has “no clue” where the prosecution found the group.
Officials from both countries have greeted the coming into force of an agreement signed between Kosovo and Macedonia, which means locals need only ID cards to cross the frontier.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-and-macedonia-implement-id-border-crossing-04-18-2016
Ban on entry of the head of Serbia's Kosovo Office - one of several recent bans - is designed to remind Belgrade that Kosovo does not want the Serbian election campaign conducted on its territory, experts say.
Albanian and Serbian Mayors from the Pristina region of Kosovo pledged to cooperate in a joint statement facilitated by the OSCE and signed on Wednesday.
A Kosovo court has jailed a man for seven months for conducting online propaganda on behalf of the Islamic State, ISIS, on Facebook.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-jails-isis-facebook-propagandist-04-12-2016
A Kosovo court has jailed an ISIS propagandist for seven months for engaging in propaganda for ISIS through his Facebook profile. The court said Samet Imishti from the town of Hani i Elezit had also been fined 800 euros.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kosovo-jails-isis-facebook-propagandist-04-12-2016
The founder of Belgrade’s Humanitarian Law Centre, Natasa Kandic, has been ordered to compensate Serbian Army chief Ljubisa Dikovic for accusing him of involvement in war crimes in Kosovo and Bosnia.