Kosovo Valley Issue Required at UN

This is confirmed for Radio Free Europe, Ragmi Mustaf, chairman of the Albanian National Council.

Earlier, a local media media in Bujanoc reported that representatives of Albanians from Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac have met in New York with Albania's Ambassador to the UN, Ferit Hoxha, and after this meeting it has been said that the issue of the Presevo Valley will be addressed at the UN.

On June 1st, Albania first took over the month-long chairmanship of the UN Security Council.

Albanian National Chairman Ragmi Mustaf told Radio Free Europe that representatives of the Albanian community living in southern Serbia are demanding that within the dialogue on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia the problem of the Presevo Valley be solved.

What is required is that there be no normalisation of relations until Valley is on the agenda of solving problems in the Western Balkans”, Mustaf said, adding:

This means that besides resolving the issue of national minorities in the Western Balkans through normalisation of relations between Pristina and Belgrade, there must be uniform standards for dealing with national minorities”.

Media in Bujanoc report that the mayor of the Bujanoc municipality, Nagip Arifi, leader of the Party for Democratic Action, the official of this party, Ardita Sinani, and the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albanians, Ragmi Mustafa, have travelled to UN headquarters in New York.

After meeting with Ambassador Hoxha on Sunday, Arifi said they informed the Albanian ambassador of the “the political sector in the Valley and the problems Albanians face in Serbia”.

On June 5th, Ardita Sinani posted on Facebook photos of the delegation of political representatives of the Valley of Albanians at the meeting with Albanian Ambassador to the UN Ferit Hoxha, adding that the <x0->the issue of the Presevo Valley will now be located at the UN”.

The inclusion of the Presevo Valley in the more inclusive international organisation is extremely important to disseminate the truth of the situation and position of Albanians in the Presevo Valley”, she said.

From Bujanovac notes that the delegation from municipalities in southern Serbia will have meetings with representatives of the American administration and the Albanian diaspora.

This is not the first time that representatives of Albanians in three municipalities in southern Serbia, known as Presevo Valley, require that Kosovo-Serbia dialogue include the status of the Albanian national minority in Serbia.

In July 2018, representatives of the Valley Albanians adopted a declaration urging officials of Serbia, Kosovo and the European Union to get involved in the negotiations process, but also in the final document of the Brussels Agreement, the status of Albanians in the Presevo Valley.

However, Serbian officials say that local self-government issues in municipalities in southern Serbia cannot be addressed in the context of Brussels' negotiations.

Since 2011, Kosovo and Serbia have launched the dialogue process for normalising relations, mediated by the EU. Currently, political-level dialogue carriers are Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, meanwhile, also has discussions on technical issues at the level of top negotiators.

Otherwise, for years the political representatives of Albanians in the Presevo Valley have demanded more rights, while denouncing many violations. The last case is the failure of Albanian addresses in the Valley, which according to Albanian politicians is being made to change “the ethnic infrastructure” of these municipalities.