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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Government continues to assist in resolving fate of missing persons in Kosovo-Metohija

Belgrade, 11 March 2005

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in a meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) head of operations for North America and Western, Central, and Southeast Europe Francois Stam that the Serbian government and the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija will continue to provide all necessary assistance in resolving the cases of missing persons in the province.

Francois Stam and Vojislav Kostunica

Kostunica stressed that the issue is of utmost importance both for the families of the missing and for establishing the truth about incidents in the province.

Kostunica said that the government, in cooperation with the Serbian Red Cross and the Serbia-Montenegrin Red Cross, will provide as much aid as possible to internally displaced persons in Kosovo-Metohija.

He stressed that to truly help, it would mean the return of the expelled to their homes, but that this calls for many other conditions to be met, such as the freedom of movement, reconstruction of houses, and new jobs.

Stam, who is also Chairman of the Working Group on Missing Persons in Kosovo-Metohija, said that the biggest problem was insufficient protection of the Serb and non-Albanian population in Kosovo-Metohija.

He underlined that the task and obligation of not only the International Committee of the Red Cross, but the international community as a whole, is to secure conditions for the return of internally displaced persons to their homes.

He indicated the importance of ICRC activities in our country and good cooperation with the Serbia-Montenegrin Red Cross, which did much to help all victims of conflicts in this area in the past decade.

At today’s meeting there was talk about ICRC activities and the renewal of activities of the Working Group for Missing Persons in Kosovo-Metohija, which will hold a meeting in March.