{"id":426379,"date":"2024-12-03T06:42:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T06:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=426379"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Canal-blast-sparks-new-stand-off-between-Kosovo-and-Serbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Canal-blast-sparks-new-stand-off-between-Kosovo-and-Serbia\/","title":{"rendered":"Canal blast sparks new stand-off between Kosovo and Serbia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A blast on a canal vital to Kosovo’s water and power supplies has sparked a war of words with Serbia, with fears it could further escalate tensions between the two Balkan nations.<\/p>\n

The explosion late Friday punched a hole in a canal providing water to hundreds of thousands of people and the cooling systems at two coal-fired power plants that generate most of Kosovo’s electricity.<\/p>\n

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti immediately pointed the finger at arch-rival Serbia, calling the incident a “terrorist attack”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He went on to say that Belgrade was copyping the Russian “playbook” in Ukraine, trying to knock out power and heating in Kosovo during the frigid winter months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is the reason why we raise the alarm over Russia’s alliance with Serbia,” said Kurti, as he highlighted the alleged seizure of Russian and Serbian military insignia during follow-up raids.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serbia has been quick to hit back, with officials denying responsibility and saying the incident would be used as a pretext by the Pristina government to crack down on Serbs living in Kosovo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Serbia and Kosovo, which has a large ethnic Albanian majority, have been at loggerheads since the end of a war in the late 1990s between Belgrade’s forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in what was then a province of Serbia.<\/p>\n

Serbia has never recognised Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.<\/p>\n

But tensions have been particularly high over the last year, centred on the fate of Kosovo’s Serbian minority.<\/p>\n

– ‘Sophisticated’ sabotage –\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

“If an investigation concludes Serbia’s involvement, Kosovo may interpret it as an act of war, escalating tensions dramatically,” Shpetim Gashi, an independent analyst based in Pristina, told AFP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others have said that the nature of the blast in Kosovo’s restive north — home to many of its ethnic Serbs — points to a level of sophistication that would rule out amateur sabotage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Considering how much police presence and control there has been in the north, this suggests some level of sophisticated organisation,” said political analyst Agon Maliqi.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The targeting of critical infrastructure suggests awareness of large scale systemic impact,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Observers have urged caution until an investigation provides definitive evidence identifying a culprit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Hovenier, the US ambassador to Kosovo, said Monday that Washington was “not in a position to say who is behind the attack”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s early on and these things require careful investigation,” he added.<\/p>\n

The attack on the canal comes just months ahead of parliamentary elections in Kosovo, with Kurti hoping his hardline policies targeting Serbia will secure him another term.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since taking office in 2021, Kurti has overseen wide-ranging moves to dismantle the parallel system backed by Belgrade to provide social and political services to Kosovo’s Serbs — including banning Serbia’s currency, car licence plates, and closing its post offices and banks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The policies have been regularly slammed by Belgrade, but also by Kosovo’s closest diplomatic partners in the US and Europe, who have accused Kurti of recklessly escalating regional tensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This was an opportunity for [Kurti] to highlight that the north is not fully under Kosovo’s control,” said Ognjen Gogic, a Belgrade-based political scientist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He can justify deploying the Kosovo Security Force to the north.”<\/p>\n

– ‘Political boost’ –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Serbia, the explosion could be seen as a welcome distraction for those in power after a fresh wave of domestic discontent, analysts said.<\/p>\n

President Aleksandar Vucic has faced a string of protests after 15 people died when a concrete roof collapsed at Novi Sad’s train station on November 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Public outrage at the tragedy has sparked nationwide demonstrations, with many blaming the deaths on systemic corruption.<\/p>\n

With both sides potentially benefiting from a new crisis, “the immediate impact is that security tensions return to the forefront of the agenda in both Kosovo and Serbia, giving a political boost to both leaders,” said Maliqi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ih-oz-ds\/fg<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kosovo police stand next the site of a blast on a vital canal, as workers attempt to repair the damage<\/p>\n

-Armend NIMANI
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

US soldiers patrol near the scene of the canal blast in northern Kosovo<\/p>\n

-Armend NIMANI
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A blast on a canal vital to Kosovo’s water and power supplies has sparked a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}