“Serbia ready to negotiate with Priština”

14 January 2011 | 13:37 | Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- The government and Commission for Missing Persons are ready to begin negotiations with Priština, Commission for Missing Persons Head Veljko Odalović said today. Veljko Odalović (Tanjug, file) "If talks were to begin today, we would be absolutely ready for them," he told a news conference and added that, regardless of the current situation, the commission had continuity in its work in the southern Serbian province. He pointed out that Serbia had the support of the international community, primarily of EULEX, in the process of finding the missing persons, and pointed out that the report of Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty had a huge significance in shedding light on the fate of the missing persons, and on the atmosphere and the situation in which the crimes occurred. Odalović said that a total of 1,500 cases of missing persons in Kosovo had been solved so far and that there were currently about 1,800 open cases, 526 of which were requested by Serbia and the rest by Kosovo Albanians. According to him, the dialogue between Belgrade and Priština will substantially contribute to the solving of the fate of the missing persons, taking into account that the largest number of cases have been solved based on Serbia's requests and information. When asked if there could be any organ trafficking victims among the missing persons, he stressed that the majority of Serbs had gone missing after the arrival of the international mission, which was a period that largely overlapped with what former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte had described in her book. Odalović specified that over 400 persons went missing after June 10, 1999. He underscored that the commission had earlier insisted that organ trafficking allegations should be examined in detail, adding that he expected that an investigation would be carried out.