UNMIK/PR/1691
PRISTINA – Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo (SRSG) Joachim Rücker met today with local residents in Cernicë/Cernica, Donji Budriga/Budriga I Ulte and Zhegër/Žegra to hear their concerns on how to reconcile the communities in Kosovo.
The SRSG was accompanied by Brig.-Gen. Douglas. B. Earhart, who was representing COMKFOR, Lt.-Gen. Roland Kather, Deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri and Gjilan/Gnjilane Municipal Assembly President Xhemajil Hyseni.
In Cernicë/Cernica he met community leaders in the local Kosovo Serb school. Later he met separately in front of the Albanian school with members of the Albanian speaking community and visited the local mosque.
In Donji Budriga/Budriga I Ulte he met with Serb internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the temporary home of one of the IDPs, Zoran Trajkovic.
In Zhegër/Žegra he held an outdoor meeting near a youth centre and surveyed unoccupied houses where Kosovo Serbs used to live.
In all stops he listened to residents’ concerns about the reconciliation process and its progress, including the return of IDPs.
He said the members of the visiting group were working on a “first project” to have 29 families returned to Zhegër/Žegra. “We all agree that more needs to be done to resettle IDPs in Kosovo,” he said. “This is an important step and we must all work together to build a better future.”
