The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have reached an agreement to collaborate in finding and identifying hundreds of people who are still missing from the 1998-99 war.
The conflict witnessed over 13,000 fatalities, with the ethnic Albanian majority of Kosovo fighting against Serbia.
The European Union states that 1,621 people are still unaccounted for. The EU has been leading the efforts to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo, with the latter declaring its independence in 2008.
Most Western countries have recognised Kosovo, but Serbia has not.
During talks in Brussels on Tuesday, they reached an agreement on the missing persons.
Under the deal, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti pledged to use satellite data and other advanced technology, including laser mapping, to detect mass graves.
The agreement includes sharing official files and forming a joint commission on missing people, which the EU will chair.
“More than 20 years after, their families continue to live in grief, unaware of the whereabouts of their loved ones,” said the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who mediated the deal.
“Families have the right to know the fate of their relatives as does society at large.”
Tuesday’s deal follows a normalisation agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, which Mr Borrell announced in March.
The fate of missing persons is one of many outstanding issues between the two sides. Recent acrimony has focused on demands to set up an association of Serb-majority municipalities, which Mr Kurti sees as a tool to undermine the Kosovo government’s remit across the country.
Accusers have alleged that Serbia is supporting Kosovo Serbs who are resisting the authority of Pristina.