Balkans

SKOPJE, Macedonia The UN mediator in the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece, Matthew Nimetz, arrived on a two-day visit to Skopje on Monday (July 6th) and met with Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki. Joining them was Macedonia’s representative in the name talks, Zoran Jolevski.

PRISTINA, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci announced on Monday (July 6th) that the government has allocated 300,000 euros for reconstruction of houses belonging to all communities in Mitrovica. He described the return of citizens to their property as a legitimate right of everyone and said rebuilding homes has created a …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Zeljko Komsic, the Croat member of BiH’s tripartite presidency, took over the chairmanship of the institution Monday (July 6th) based on the usual rotation. His term will last eight months. His predecessor was the Serb member of the presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic.

Sarajevo -Around 2,500 people began a three day Peace March on Wednesday to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre. The 111 kilometre long march will end on Saturday at the Memorial Park Potocari near Srebrenica where some 8,000 people were murdered by Bosnian Serb troops in 1995. The march …

The election of a new mayor of Sofia, to replace Boiko Borissov who is girding up to become Prime Minister of Bulgaria, will take place on October 24 2009, the Municipal Election Commission said on July 8 2009. Borissov’s party, GERB, won a majority in Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections on July …

International observers say that Bulgaria’s July 5 general elections were a cause for some concern amid vote-buying accusations, but stress that the outcome of the poll reflected the will of the people. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, …

Jordan has recognised Kosovo’s independence, making it the 61st country to do so, Albana Beqiri, advisor to the Kosovo Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Jordan is the first country to recognise Kosovo’s independence in the past two months. Sixty-one states have now recognised Kosovo as an independent nation since it’s unilateral …

Macedonia has to produce some concrete results very soon if it wishes to make a positive impression before the European Commission drafts its report on the country’s progress this fall, the EU ambassador to the country said. At a press conference in Skopje yesterday afternoon, EU Ambassador to Macedonia Erwan …

Serbian authorities have deported a man wanted by Bosnia for his suspected role in the execution of 23 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) civilians in the central Bosnian city of Jajce in 1992. Zoran Maric, a former member of the Bosnian Serb army, was extradited on Tuesday on the basis of a …

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic has opened a 21-kilometre-long stretch of the highway on Corridor 10, between the border with Macedonia and the southern Serbian village of Levosoje near Bujanovac, around 350 kilometres south of Belgrade. Cvetkovic said yesterday that the government had fulfilled its promise made to citizens exactly …