Andric Rakic: Incidents in northern Kosovo are the last thing Belgrade and Pristina need

Milica Andric Rakic, Program Manager at the NGO New Social Initiative, stated that incidents in northern Kosovo, such as the explosion in the Ibar-Lepenac canal, are the last thing Belgrade and Pristina need, as they could lead to serious ethnic unrest and interethnic violence across Kosovo.

“There are various actors who could be responsible for incidents in northern Kosovo. I actually think that official Belgrade and Pristina are at the bottom of the list of suspects for whom such incidents would be beneficial. Pristina might prefer controlled tension, while Belgrade does not benefit from tensions, especially not ones of this scale that could trigger significant ethnic unrest and interethnic violence in Kosovo,” Andric Rakic told Kosovo Online.

She suggested that a "third actor" or factions within Belgrade and Pristina more radical than the officials themselves might be involved.

“But at this moment, that is entirely irrelevant. This is something that should have and could have been prevented. It happened because for three years we have been living in a constant atmosphere of crisis, fear, and intolerance. This has created perfect conditions for anyone with destructive intentions to exert malign influence and harm the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people,” Andric Rakic emphasized.

She described the sabotage of the Ibar-Lepenac canal as not only highly irresponsible but also extremely dangerous.

“It remains dangerous. In Kosovo, there is no awareness that the crisis is not over and that we haven’t even begun work on fully repairing the damage caused. For me, the greatest responsibility lies with all those who could have de-escalated the situation long ago but failed to do so, leaving Kosovo vulnerable to such acts of sabotage and disruption by anyone seeking to provoke incidents or unrest in the region,” she explained.

Although Kosovo’s prime minister has blamed Serbia for the incident, Andric Rakic said she sees no logical interest for Belgrade in endangering the electricity and water supply for hundreds of thousands of people.

“I think Kosovo's institutions are not being sufficiently transparent with their citizens about the potential impact of this sabotage on their quality of life. This will affect interethnic relations in the coming weeks and could lead to greater incidents, hopefully not to the scale of something like 2004. From that perspective, I really do not see how this could benefit Belgrade,” Andric Rakic concluded.