Albania Voices Deep Concern Over Serbian President’s Statement on Diverting the Ibër

The Newsroom (Tirana)

Albania has expressed deep concern over the statement by Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, on the possibility of changing the course of the Ibër (Ibar) river, with Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ferit Hoxha warning that a transboundary watercourse cannot be altered unilaterally and that water cannot be used as an instrument of political pressure.

In a statement published Monday on his X account, Hoxha said Albania expresses deep concern over the Serbian president’s remarks on the possibility of changing the river’s course and over the engagement of Serbian experts and institutions in examining such a possibility.

“Changing the course of a river that forms part of a transboundary water system is not a purely internal matter, nor a decision that can be taken unilaterally,” the statement reads, “especially when its consequences directly affect the territory, the environment, water security, water supply and the lives of the citizens of another country.”

International water law, Hoxha said, is clear in this regard. He cited the principles of equitable and reasonable use of transboundary waters, the obligation to prevent, control and reduce transboundary harm, and the duties of cooperation, information exchange and consultation on measures that may have transboundary consequences, describing these as consolidated standards of international law.

The statement notes that Serbia has been a party to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes since 2010 and has also accepted its mechanisms for the settlement of disputes.

Albania expects Serbia to fully respect its international obligations and the principles of good neighborliness, Hoxha said. Any project or measure that may affect the flow, quantity or quality of waters affecting Kosovo, the statement continues, must be treated with transparency, on the basis of scientific data, with a full assessment of transboundary impact and through consultation with the affected party.

“Water cannot be used as an instrument of political pressure, nor as a means to punish another country or another population,” Hoxha wrote.

Albania strongly supports Kosovo’s right to security, sustainable development and the protection of its water resources, the statement concludes, adding that Albania firmly believes and expects that such matters will be addressed through dialogue, cooperation and European standards, not through threats, interference or unilateral actions.

Vučić raised the possibility on Sunday in Belgrade, saying Serbia had already called in experts from the construction sector and engineers. “Since they mistreat our people so much, we have various reasons to change the course of the Ibër,” the Serbian president said. “So let us see what the Albanians will do and how they will behave. We are a sovereign country, sometimes we have these interests, sometimes those, and we will act accordingly.”

Speaking to journalists in Prijepolje on Monday, he rejected the reading of his remarks as a threat. “I am not threatening, why would I threaten anyone. I am resolving watercourses on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with Serbia’s internal law,” he said.

The Ibër rises in Montenegro and crosses Serbian territory upstream of the Ujman (Gazivode) reservoir before flowing through Kosovo and re-entering Serbia. The reservoir feeds the Ibër-Lepenc canal system, which supplies drinking water, the energy sector and agriculture in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s institutions reacted on Sunday and Monday. The acting environment minister, Fitore Pacolli, called the statements deeply concerning and unacceptable, invoked the Helsinki Convention on transboundary waters, described Ujman (Gazivode) and the Ibër-Lepenc system as critical strategic infrastructure of the Republic of Kosovo, and called on the European Union, the United States and the United Nations to react. Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, addressing the Ambassadors’ Conference in Prishtina, called the statements a serious concern and instructed Kosovo’s diplomats to brief the governments of their host countries on the consequences of intervention in transboundary watercourses.