Balkans

At the trial of the former Croatian Serb leader, Goran Hadzic, a protected witness has recalled being forced to walk through a minefield as a human shield in Croatia in 1991.The protected witness, GH-059, was living in the Croatian village of Loves when it was occupied by Serb forces in …

Marking 68 years since the first radio station started in Montenegro, the head of the public broadcaster, RTCG, says many challenges lie ahead, starting with digitalisation and financial stability.Speaking at the celebration on Tuesday in Podgorica, Rade Vojvodic, head of RTCG, addressed the many challenges facing the country’s oldest broadcaster. …

Croatia has prosecuted 27 war crimes perpetrated during and after Operation Storm in 1995, but none has yet ended in a verdict.According to the Croatian state prosecutor, published in the media on Tuesday, November 27, war-crimes cases linked to Operation Storm are in different phases of prosecution. Two are in …

Marking their seventh anniversary, Bosnia’s Armed Forces complain of having the same number of staff and same obligations as before, but on a lower budget.Marking the seventh anniversary of the armed forces, Bosnia’s Defence Ministry said it is proud of the help that Bosnian soldiers have provided during natural disasters …

Macedonia initialled a Chinese loan that will be used to build more motorway stretches, the Transport Minister said at Tuesday’s signing ceremony.“The agreement gives priority to infrastructure projects like road and railway networks, bridges, energy and telecommunications facilities… [and] encourages cooperation among banks and companies from both countries”, Macedonian Transport …

Albanians are marking the 100th anniversary of their country’s independence with concerts, exhibitions, fairs and new monuments in the capital, Tirana, and in Vlora.The festivities in Tirana began on Monday with the inauguration of a mosaic of the Albanian flag, with stones collected from battlefields linked to the struggle for …

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule says Bosnia did not take the key steps that were needed for it to submit a credible EU membership application.Following the second High-Level Dialogue on Bosnia’s EU integration process, the Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fule, said Bosnia had not met its main commitments undertaken at the …

First Deputy PM and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic says ‘everything that happens regarding Kosovo will be painful for Serbia’.Vucic delivered his stark warning ahead of a series of diplomatic meetings over the next two weeks “that will largely determine the course of events” on Kosovo. After a meeting with the …

Valentin Inzko denies Croatian journalist’s claim that an investigation into Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his son Igor has been launched in Austria or Germany.The international community’s High Representative has denied a journalist’s claims that anti-corruption investigations have been initiated against the President of the Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated …

Refugees from Kosovo residing in Montenegro’s capital, whose barracks were burnt down in July’s fire, have been re-housed in more than 200 containers, until permanent homes for them are built.The installation of containers in the Konik camp, the largest refugee camp in the Balkans, which hosts around 1,500 mainly Roma …