OSCE Special Representative for Western Balkans welcomes progress on search for missing persons

BELGRADE, 13 May 2014 - Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Western Balkans met Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić in Belgrade on 12 May, and on a trip to southwest Serbia, Stoudmann welcomed the progress made by Serbian authorities in the search for missing persons.

Dačić, who took office on 27 April 2014, reiterated Serbia’s support to the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship’s priorities in the region, namely the enhancement of regional co-operation, the importance of steering reconciliation efforts and the need to foster the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština with the support of the European Union. Serbia will chair the OSCE in 2015.

Ambassador Stoudmann also travelled to the municipality of Raška, southwest Serbia. He was pleased to witness progress made at the Rudnica mass grave site where excavation work has started. He welcomed the constructive co-operation shown by the Serbian authorities as well as the work of the experts on the spot. “Progress made in the search and identification of missing persons in this area is essential from a humanitarian and reconciliation perspective. It can only contribute to improving the relations between Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština, and therefore steer further stability in the region,” said Stoudmann.

Switzerland has been supporting reconciliation efforts and contributing to solving the fate of missing persons in the Western Balkans for many years and is contributing to the excavation work in Rudnica, Serbia, in the framework of its OSCE engagement.