The Mayor of North Mitrovica, Goran Rakic, yesterday protested in Brussels due to the violation of already reached agreement, in the eve of the new round of the Brussels dialogue. Rakic criticized the decision of local Albanians to resume the construction works in the suburb Brdjani in North Mitrovica, until the issue of the return of displaced persons to that suburb is not settled.
Humanitarian aid in equipment for the Maternity Department of the Hospital in North Mitrovica, that was earlier prevented from entering Kosovo at the administrative crossing Jarinje, will be dispatched today to the North Mitrovica Hospital.
Albanian residents of the Kroi i Vitakut neighbourhood in the northern part of Mitrovica changed their position regarding resuming construction work on their houses today. Earlier, neighbourhood representatives said they would continue construction today but they have now decided to wait for the outcome of talks between Pristina and Belgrade representatives in Brussels.
The leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj said that northern Kosovo is untouchable as any other part of the territory that has unilaterally declared independence.
After three days spent in Slovenia where he was detained on the basis of a warrant issued by the former state of Serbia and Montenegro, Haradinaj is back to his political activities. “Northern Kosovo is untouchable as any other part of our state. Our institutions should have the responsibility for managing the northern Kosovo,” said Haradinaj.
European Union Special Representative in Pristina, Samuel Zbogar, presented his proposal for resolving disputes over the so-called Peace Park build on the Mitrovica main bridge, said spokesperson to the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, Maja Kocijancic. She did not however explain details of the proposal. Kocijancic added that talks on the Mitrovica barricade will resume on 22 June while a meeting between prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic respectively, has been scheduled for the next day.
Family Ilić is evicted this morning from their house in North Mitrovica after a Kosovo Albanian won the court process in dispute over the ownership of the house.
The news site reports on a roundtable being held in the town of Gracanica about the situation in Kosovo, specifically about the northern part of the country. Sources told Koha that in attendance is Aleksandar Jablanovic, the leader of the Serbian List and former Kosovo Minister for Returns and Communities who was suspended from this post after insulting the mothers of missing persons from Gjakova/Djakovica. Jablanovic reportedly said at the roundtable that only the northern Serbs can remove the barricade on the River Ibar Bridge.
The Head of administration in the municipality Mitrovica North Adriana Hodzic said that the municipal administration today received the required documents, stressing that humanitarian aid for maternity ward of the Health Centre in Mitrovica North will be handed over as soon as possible. Hadzic stated that procedure will start on Friday, hoping that the realization of the action of delivering humanitarian aid to the maternity ward will happen quickly after.
Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri met yesterday the EU office in Pristina’s coordinator for dialogue on the north, Boyd Mckechnie. The two discussed preparations for the meeting of the working group on freedom of movement in Mitrovica that is set to take place on 17 June in Brussels. The Brussels meeting will also be attended by the Mitrovica North Mayor Goran Rakic and will focus on finding concrete solutions to the movement along the main River Iber bridge.
Djuric said that the attack once more proves that there are certain individuals in KiM who prefer an atmosphere of lynch to rule of law and freedom of expression.