UNMIK/PR/1218
Pristina – SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi encouraged displaced Serbs to return to Kosovo, and called for local leaders and the public to actively support efforts to rebuild confidence of all communities during their joint visit to Prizren today.
Following a series of briefings with municipal officials and minority community representatives, the SRSG said he heard from all sides a willingness and a desire to live together and overcome the damage caused by the March riots.
“The authorities are working very hard on repairing damage, on reconstructing. And what I heard here is there is a physical reconstruction underway, and there is also a readiness to work on what I would call the social reconstruction, getting back together, living together again.”
The delegation then visited St. Archangels Monastery outside Prizren town, where Mr. Jessen-Petersen said he was impressed with the efforts of the Serbian Orthodox monks to begin rebuilding their monastery. The SRSG promised that UNMIK would continue to support the work of the Committee for the Reconstruction of Religious Sites, which has made this project a priority.
“I think the fact that the Serbs who were displaced see that they are now rebuilding the monastery, trying to resume the life that they were living, should also send a signal to the Serbs who are still displaced,” the SRSG said. The international community and the local institutions “are all trying to create the conditions that will allow people to go back,” he underlined.
Prime Minister Rexhepi also addressed the media, emphasizing the common interest of Kosovo’s ethnic groups. “Kosovo’s various communities have different problems, but also share many concerns, like unemployment,” he said. “This is the top concern of the Albanian majority, and especially of the communities.”
In conclusion, Mr. Jessen-Petersen appealed to everyone in Kosovo to follow Prizren’s positive example of the way forward. “Let us get away from breaking down, destroying, let us rebuild, let us reconstruct and that applies to the entire Kosovo.”