Marking the April 27th, The Day of the Missing in Kosovo, President of the Republic of Kosovo,
Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga, paid homage today at the Çabrat Memorial Complex in Gjakova and at the Martyr’s Cemetery in Meja.
During the homage ceremony, President Jahjaga was accompanied by the Mayor of Gjakova, Mrs. Mimoza Kusari-Lila and the Chairwoman of the “Thirrjet e Nënave” NGO, Mrs. Nysrete Kumnova.
At a statement issued after the homage, President Jahjaga said:
I have come here to stand together with the family members of the missing persons, to share together the pain and the anxiety for more than 1700 of our citizens, whose fate is still unknown, even 15 years after the end of the war.
I have come to Gjakova and Meja, on the day of missing people, not only to remember the pain, not only to remember the torment, not only to remember the great tragedy suffered by the family members and all the citizens during the war in Kosovo, a terrible war which occurred in our country. But to, with my presence here, show, as representatives of the institutions, that we support access to justice and the need for justice, not only for the families of missing people, but also for all of our citizens. Because, this wound will only heal when this bitter experience and bitter history for our state and the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo ends.
We still have not managed to bring to light the fate of our citizens gone missing during the war.
Despite great endeavours and despite the results achieved so far, even more work is needed, a greater engagement of all of us is required, in particular the engagement of the institutions, in order to bring to light the fate of each citizen registered as missing. This has been one of my dedications and continues to remain one during my mandate as President, and I will continue to raise this issue both within and outside Kosovo.
As you know, I have lately raised this issue at my last meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.