On August 30th, International Day of the Disappeared, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani stated that more than 1.600 people went missing during the Kosovo War of 1998/99, and this continues to be the country’s “deepest wound.”
In a Facebook post, Osmani claimed that “Serbia is repeating the crime” by “denying the truth” and by not opening its archives, thus violating the agreements that have been reached.
“The truth cannot be hidden behind the propaganda that Serbia is for peace and integration into the European Union (EU). The truth is singular: Serbia in 2024 still sleeps on mass graves of innocent civilians,” Osmani wrote on Facebook on the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared.
Last year, Kosovo and Serbia committed, through the Joint Declaration on Missing Persons, to provide full access to reliable information and to make all relevant documents available to determine the fate of the missing persons.
So far, these commitments have remained only on paper.
The Serbian authorities accuse Kosovo of not fulfilling the agreement.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated on August 29th that his government is committed to acting on any information that contributes to resolving cases of missing persons.
He also announced that preparations had begun for excavations at the Kozlje site near Novi Pazar in Serbia, in search of missing persons.
During the last war in Kosovo, more than 13.000 civilians were killed, and thousands went missing.
Over the years, thousands of bodies have been found at various locations, but according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1.612 people are still listed as missing in Kosovo, the majority of whom are Albanians, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
