Petkovic meets with ICRC officials

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met on Monday with the head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jelena Stijacic, and the organisation's coordinator for protection and head of the working group for missing persons, Aurelie Gautier.

He informed them that Belgrade and Pristina had adopted a declaration on missing persons in Brussels on May 2 and noted that, above all, it was an extremely significant civilisational issue Belgrade had been insisting on for over two years .

Petkovic noted that Pristina had been obstructing the process for years and avoiding allowing an examination of nine locations that Belgrade had well-grounded information that they were burial sites of Serbs killed during the conflict in Kosovo-Metohija, the Office said in a statement.

He said that, to date, Belgrade had enabled an examination of 23 locations designated by Pristina as relevant.

At the same time, Petkovic pointed out the necessity of stepped-up ICRC activities with a view to launching the operationalisation of the declaration as soon as possible and making the first steps in its implementation.

He added that efforts by the ICRC to unblock the process and, for its part, exert the necessary influence on Pristina to meet undertaken commitments were much needed.

"It is important to restore the functionality of the process of the search for missing persons as soon as possible for the sake of the families of those missing and for the sake of building peace and peaceful coexistence in Kosovo-Metohija," Petkovic said.