Balkan News

Kosovo’s independence is irreversible according to Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize winner and former UN Envoy to Kosovo. He added that international recognitions of Kosovo’s statehood would cement the county’s status. Speaking at a special session of the Kosovo Assembly to celebrate the first anniversary of Kosovo’s constitution, Ahtisaari said …

Macedonia should work towards better relationships with its neighbours if it wants to join the EU, says PACE president Luis Maria de Puig. The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said that the road to EU membership is long and hard and that “everyone needs …

The Serbian Security and Information Agency, BIA, are denying media reports made last Friday in Pristina that three of their agents had been arrested in Caglavica, Kosovo. Jovan Stojic, chief of the Agency director’s office told Beta news agency at the weekend that “The Security and Information Agency has no …

Bosnian politics reached a new low over the weekend as Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) leaders abandoned crucial negotiations over Bosnian Serbs’ continued challenges to the country’s constitution and international authority. In a telling indication of growing tensions in the country, local police reported two vandal attacks on a Bosniak mosque and …

Serbian President Boris Tadic on Friday was presented with credentials from several newly appointed ambassadors to Serbia for the first time. He received the ambassadors in gathering from Egypt, Angola, Italy and Macedonia: Aly Galal Bassiouny, Toko Diakenga Serao, Armando Varricchio and Ljubisha Georgievski respectively.

Serbian president Boris Tadic told media in Novi Sad on Saturday that an equal regional development of Serbia should in no way postpone or halt the adoption of the draft Vojvodina Statute in Parliament. “Equal regional development is a subject that requires a serious democratic debate in the years to …

Meetings aimed at solving the “name” row between Greece and Macedonia will resume in Geneva later this month, according to the UN. “From 22 to 23 June discussions will be held in Geneva,” said Marie Heuze, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva in a press release to …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) BiH’s war crimes court sentenced Bosnian Serb wartime commander Novak Djukic to 25 years in prison on Friday (June 12th) for involvement in the May 1995 Tuzla massacre. Djukic was found guilty of war crimes against civilians and violations of international law and the Geneva …

WASHINGTON, the United States The UN announced on Thursday (June 11th) it will resume talks between Athens and Skopje on the Macedonia name dispute. Mediator Matthew Nimetz will meet Greek representative Adamantios Vassilakis and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Jolevski, in Geneva on June 22nd. They will be asked to present …

ZAGREB, Croatia Patrick Robinson, president of The Hague war crimes tribunal (ICTY), arrived in Croatia on Friday (June 12th). He is on a tour of Western Balkan countries, with stops also planned in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Slovenia. It is Robinson’s first visit to the region since his appointment …