Kosovo voiced a protest as Serbia considers the possibility of changing the course of a river

Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, protested on Monday after the president of Serbia announced that Belgrade could alter the course of the Iber/Ibar River. Calling the plan “a serious concern,” Haxhiu said the matter should be addressed with the international community, UNN reports, citing Balkaninsight.

“As you know, Lake Iber-Lepenc and Ujman [Gazivoda] are part of a strategic system of water supply, energy, agriculture, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens of Kosovo,” Haxhiu said at the Ambassadors’ Conference in Pristina.

“Unilateral interference in transboundary water flows will have consequences that go far beyond a technical problem, as it will affect the water, energy, environmental, and human security of our republic,” she added.

Haxhiu spoke the day after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić hinted at the initiative, calling it justified retaliation for the Kosovo government’s policy toward Serbs in Kosovo.

“Since they are persecuting our people so intensely, let’s see—we have various reasons for changing the course of the Ibar, so we will see what the Albanians will do and how they will behave,” Vučić said.

We should add

On Monday, Vučić confirmed the statement, adding that he was simply “addressing waterways on the territory of the Republic of Serbia in accordance with domestic legislation.” Serbia considers Kosovo part of its territory and refuses to recognize its independence.

Vučić insisted that he was not threatening anyone. “We will simply solve our own problems. We have our own interests, and we take care of our own interests,” he said.

The publication notes that this is not the first time Vučić has mentioned the idea of changing the course of the Ibar, which originates in Montenegro, passes through the southwestern edge of Serbia, then flows through northern Kosovo before returning to Serbia.

After the explosion on the Ibar-Lepenc canal, which supplies water to several cities through Lake Ujman/Gazivoda, in November 2024 Vučić said that the idea of changing the course of the Ibar had existed since 1985. “We can change the course of the Ibar, and they will be left without Gazivoda. Then there will be no lake anymore,” Vučić said at the time.

He added that he had always opposed the idea. “I did not want us to use nature for political purposes. After all, we supplied them with electricity,” he said.

On Sunday, Kosovo’s Minister of Environment Fitore Pacolli called Vučić’s statements unacceptable.

“Under the Helsinki Convention, states are required to cooperate for the equitable and reasonable use of transboundary waters, the prevention of transboundary harm, and the protection of aquatic ecosystems. Water resources cannot be used as an instrument of threat, pressure, or destabilization against another state,” Pacolli said.