Diplomat Urges Kosovo, Serbia Not to Politicise Missing Persons

British ambassador Ruairi O'Connell told a conference on wartime missing persons in Pristina on Tuesday that the issue was "emotional" for families of the victims and should not be used for political purposes.

"Governments in the Balkans have given their commitment to the London summit [of Western Balkans states in July] to not misuse the issue of missing persons for political gains," O'Connell said.

"It is the easiest thing that someone during an electoral campaign tries to present himself as the biggest patriot. I think that people are tired of such presentations from politicians," he added.

A joint declaration at the end of the summit in London, which was signed by Kosovo and Serbia's prime ministers Ramush Haradinaj and Ana Brnabic alongside other Balkan leaders, committed the two countries to impartially and effectively investigate missing persons cases regardless of the victims' ethnicity or religion.

It also committed them to "refrain from any politicisation of the missing persons issue".

A total of 1,638 people are still listed as missing from the war in Kosovo.

"If for me this is an emotional issue, I can imagine how difficult is for you," O'Connell told families of missing persons who were in the audience at Tuesday's conference.

Bajram Cerkinaj, head of the Pristina-based Missing Persons Resource Centre, also asked both governments to put politics aside when addressing the fate of missing persons.

"We are asking the governments of Kosovo and Serbia [to do] what they are obliged to do for families of missing persons and citizens. There cannot be dialogue [between Pristina and Belgrade] without pushing forward the issue of missing persons," Cerkinaj said.

Milorad Trifunovic, the co-head of the Missing...