Kosovo still without memorial for children killed during war

Since Kosovo's liberation, in June 1999, thousands of candles have been lit and flower wreaths have been placed in memory of a thousand and 133 children believed to have been killed during the country's recent war.

Among the victims of the Serbian genocide in Kosovo are all Sebahate Berisha's children from Rahovec's Hoqa Minor, who were killed after being hit by house bombs in the village of Nagavc.

I got five girls killed. Adelina Berisha 9-year-old, 7-year-old Nnomza, 5-year-old February. The 2-year-old Lezi and Elhame Berisha, who had only six months --”, confessed to Mother Sebahatya.

For these and all the other children killed throughout Kosovo during 1998-99, there is still no particular memorial.

Sebahatja, who again became a mother after the war, tells Radio Kosovo that the lack of a memorial for children killed is unreasonable.

For these children this memorial should be built in the past. Not to be left 24 years after the war. We as mothers could come sometime to visit that country and know where our children are. No matter how much this would be a relief for us parents”, she said.

The dark and tragic fate of Sebahates was shared with her sister, the Office, who also had her children killed at midnight on April 2, 1999: Call 12-year-old Dafina 9-year-old and 7-year-old baby Valmira. Even the Office says that the memorial for children should be realized.

I would thank those who would build a memorial for children. Since we, but also the foreigners who would visit this country, as well as our young people who are and will be born, know the sacrifice of children for this country to our Kosovo”, said Officefette Berisha.

The names of 12 children who lost their lives under the ruins of the bombed house are inscribed on a plaque, located on the edge of the street near the mosque of the village of Hocée e Vogel.

At this monument are 34 names of Albanians, women, men and children killed by the Serbian regime during the recent war in Kosovo.

After Kosovo's liberation, two mothers who lost children in war became mothers again. Sebahate's daughter, Adelina, is the first child to be born in the Berisha family, which with the blood of non-normas “pagoi” of the expensive freedom.

Adelina, who after the war became the first joy of the Berisha family, says she would like to see a beautiful memorial as soon as possible where children killed during the war throughout Kosovo would be remembered.

“Normal, memorial needs to be built so as not to lose evidence of crime and not forget victims. We, of course, will be proud all our lives and when they become our children, we will have where we take them and tell them where their uncles and aunts are, our brothers and sisters. We, the Berisha family children, are very proud of the sacrifice of children who were killed, but also for our mothers who are heroin”, she said.

Historian Sabit Syla says Kosovo has been delayed with the establishment of a memorial for children killed in the war. According to him, Memorial is a necessity and would lead to the memory of victims.

The children of the children of martyrs killed or disappeared during 1998-99, giving their lives for freedom, have carried out their duties on their homeland. We the living and generations to come need their memory. Honoring the work of those who have fallen for freedom of homeland is a clear border that separates good and evil. Therefore, it should still be such a memorial that memory is always alive in our memory and future generations”, he said.

Bekim Blakaj, from the Fund for Humanitarian Law, had said in a proposal for Radio Kosovo that since the post-war institutions have focused on memorizing slain KLA fighters. He says that for other categories of victims, less has been done here, including children killed during the war.

Of course, it's extremely long since and I don't know how to reason on a lack of a memorial or whatever it was to document and accept the suffering of children and children as victims. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened so far and we're in this situation. But it must at least from now on become something more in this direction”, he said.

Last year, the Government has started preparations for implementing the “Memorial for children killed during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo”. To that end, a Ministerial Commission of a Task Force, led by MP Saranda Boguyevci, who survived 16 Serbian Army bullets and killed 14 family members during the war.

Radio Kosovo has asked Government when it is expected to begin building this memorial. Not showing any date, the prime minister's office has said they are in the negotiating phase on forms of memorisation of children killed, and that the Action Plan for the construction of Memorial for children killed during the war was drafted in December 2022. /rtk