Balkans

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina Forensic experts announced Wednesday (August 5th) that they have identified the remains of Colonel Avdo Palic, former commander of Bosniak forces in the Zepa “safe” area. Palic went missing in July 1995, at the end of the Bosnian conflict, after Bosnian Serb forces over-ran the enclave.

ATHENS, Greece An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale rocked southern Greece early Thursday (August 6th). The epicentre was about 50km north of Kalamata on the Peloponnese island and about 165km southeast of Athens. No injuries or damage was reported.

It took the International Commission for Missing Persons, ICMP, eight years to identify the remains of Avdo Palic, a Bosnian Army colonel from Zepa. Interviews which BIRN’s-Justice Report held with Palic’s wife Esma, ICMP and other officials, shed more light on the controversy.

Skopje/Sofia – A diplomatic row over a prison sentence Macedonia handed to a Bulgarian national could signal growing ethnic tensions and further burden Skopje’s already stalled bid to join the EU and NATO, media said Thursday in both countries. Macedonia recently sentenced 23-year-old mother-of-two Spaska Mitrova to three months in …

During a visit to two villages in the Leposavich municipality on August 5, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu called on Serbs to participate in local elections, Bulgarian news agency quoted Tanyug agency as saying. Serb participation would contribute to a better future for the republic, Sejdiu was quoted as saying.

PODGORICA Montenegrin FM Milan Roćen has said that his country will appoint an ambassador to Kosovo when both sides agree that the conditions for that have been met.

MOSCOW Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will arrive here for an official visit in October, it was announced in Moscow. The news came after Wednesday’s telephone conversation between Medvedev and his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadić.

A three-day visit to Kosovo by the influential leader of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mustafa Ceric, is proving controversial Describing the visit as promoting the “destabilisation of the region”, Milorad Dodik, the premier of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity, stressed that Bosnia has not recognised Kosovo’s independence.

Citing current conditions, Serbia’s minister for Kosovo and Metohija, Goran Bogdanovic, argues that Kosovo Force, KFOR, should not be reduced. For the first time in ten years, NATO has made extensive cuts to its peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and Metohija, with KFOR reduced from 44,000 to 13,849 troops, daily Politika …

A modern defence operations centre has been opened in Sarajevo, thanks to the US provision of $5 million in funding. Local media reports that the facility will function as a military command and control centre and can also be utilised in the event of natural disasters. The opening of the …