Aleksander Vucic
Kosovo Protests as Serbia Mulls Changing River’s Course
Kosovo leaders express alarm after Serbian President floats plan to change course of a key river as revenge for Prishtina's alleged mistreatment of Kosovo Serbs.
Kosovo’s Acting President, Albulena Haxhiu, protested on Monday after the Serbian President announced that Belgrade may change the course of the Iber/Ibar river. Deeming the plan a “serious concern”, Haxhiu said the issue should be addressed with the international community.
“As you know, the Iber Lepenc and Ujman [Gazivoda] lake are part of a strategic system for the water supply, energy, agriculture and the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens of Kosovo,” Haxhiu told the Conference of Ambassadors in Pristina.
“A unilateral intervention in transboundary water flows would have consequences far beyond a technical issue, as it would affect the water, energy, environmental and human security of our republic,” she added.
Haxhiu spoke out the day after President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia hinted at the initiative in what he described as justified retaliation against the Kosovo government’s policies towards Serbs in Kosovo.
“Since they are harassing our people so much, let’s see, we have various reasons for changing the course of the Ibar, so we’ll see what the Albanians will do and how they will behave,” Vucic said.
On Monday, Vucic doubled down on the statement, adding that he was simply “addressing the waterways within the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with domestic law”. Serbia regards Kosovo as part of its territory and refuses to recognise its independence.
Vucic insisted that he was not threatening anyone. “We will simply deal with our own problems. We have our own interests, and we are taking care of our own interests,” he said.
This is not the first time Vucic has mentioned the idea of moving the course of the Ibar, which originates in Montenegro, passes through the south-western tip of Serbia and then flows through northern Kosovo and then back into Serbia.
After an explosion on the Ibar-Lepenac canal, which supplies several towns through Lake Ujman/Gazivode, in November 2024, Vucic said that the idea of changing the course of the Ibar had existed since 1985. “We can divert the course of the Ibar, and they would be left without Gazivode. Then there would be no lake anymore,” Vucic 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 were supplying them with electricity,” he said.
On Sunday, Kosovo’s Minister of Environment, Fitore Pacolli, called Vucic’s statements unacceptable.
“According to the Helsinki Convention, states have an obligation to cooperate for the fair and rational use of transboundary waters, to prevent transboundary damage and to protect aquatic ecosystems. Water resources cannot be used as an instrument of threat, pressure or destabilisation against another state,” Pacolli said.
