Chairman of the Kosovo government’s commission for missing persons Prenk Gjetaj had a meeting yesterday with the British Ambassador to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell and discussed the process of determining the fate of missing persons during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo. Gjetaj said the issue of missing persons should be treated with priority by the government of Kosovo while O’Connell expressed the readiness of his government to support Kosovo in the joint effort of determining the fate of missing persons.

The Association of Families of Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo marked the 17th anniversary of the first mass kidnapping in Kosovo and initiated collecting signatures for the construction of the monument for the Serbian victims in Belgrade. "As an Association, we will initiate a petition so that the state, citizens, veterans' organizations, the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense could help," said the president of the Association, Simo Spasic, adding that it is necessary to collect about 2,500 signatures.

The Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and Metohija laid wreaths at the monument Istina (Truth) in Kosovska Mitrovica, marking in such way 17 years since the first mass kidnapping of Serbs in Kosovo, when workers of surface mine Belaćavac were kidnapped.

Remains of missing massacre victims killed during the 1998-99 conflict finally given a proper burial by their families.

For 16 years in one small village in Kosovo's central region, the relatives of missing war victims visited empty graves.
Some had photographs, some did not. But it was at least a place where they could bring flowers, talk to the picture, and mourn the loss of a loved one whose body had not been found.

The Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Murdered Serbs has said that the announced platform for Kosovo "is the last hope for the kidnapped."

The platform should be presented by President Tomislav Nikolic.

The association believes that the document should demand that "Europe and the U.S. order the leaders of the KLA to free kidnapped Serbs."

The new memorial dedicated to the 1,650 people who have not been found since the Kosovo war was inaugurated in the garden of parliament to mark the end of Missing Persons Week.

The two-metre-high marble monument, entitled To Those We Miss, was unveiled on Monday at a ceremony attended by senior officials including Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and the families of people who have been missing since the war ended in 1999.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Isa Mustafa, said today that through dialogue in Brussels, Pristina will put pressure on Belgrade for the issue of missing persons. Mustafa made this statement during the unveiling of a monument in the memory of missing persons in the yard of the Kosovo Assembly in Pristina on the occasion of Kosovo’s National Day for Missing Persons. “I know this is a very sad day. You [families of missing persons] are still waiting for news about your loved ones. We will see that all those responsible will face justice.

The Kosovo Assembly will hold a plenary session today dedicated to the day of missing persons during war, 27 April. According to official figures, there are over 1,600 persons from Kosovo, whose fate remains unresolved. After the session, a memorial dedicated to the missing persons from the 1999 war in Kosovo will be revealed.  The NGO Cries of Mothers, called once again on the Kosovo institutions to do more in resolving the fate of missing persons in Kosovo.

The Chairman of the Government Committee on Missing Persons, Prenke Gjetaj, said on Wednesday the forensic teams will begin excavating a suspected mass grave in Novi Pazar, on 23 and 24 April. According to Gjetaj, around 100 bodies of the Albanians killed during the conflict in Kosovo are suspected to have been buried in this mass grave. He also announced that Serbia has allowed the excavations at the site.

The Association of Families of the Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo and Metohija (KiM) said on Friday that it will press charges before the domestic and international courts against the persons responsible for the crimes against Serbs and non-Albanians in Kosovo before and after 1999.

The victims' families have solid evidence of crimes committed by “leaders of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who today take leading positions within their parties and the Albanian parliament in KiM,” states the release.