Kosovo’s authorities have expressed serious concern after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić suggested that Belgrade could change the course of the Ibar River, a transboundary waterway that supplies the strategically important Ujman/Gazivoda reservoir in northern Kosovo.

Kosovo’s Acting President Albulena Haxhiu said the proposal could threaten the country’s water supply, energy security, agriculture and environment. She called for the issue to be raised with international partners.

Speaking at the Conference of Ambassadors in Pristina, Haxhiu emphasised that the Ibar-Lepenac water system and the Ujman reservoir serve hundreds of thousands of people across Kosovo.

“A unilateral intervention in transboundary water flows would have consequences far beyond a technical issue,” she said, warning that such an action could affect Kosovo’s water, energy, environmental and human security.

The dispute began after Vučić suggested that Serbia could consider redirecting the river in response to what he described as the mistreatment of Kosovo Serbs by the authorities in Pristina.

“Since they are harassing our people so much, let’s see, we have various reasons for changing the course of the Ibar,” the Serbian president said.

Vučić later rejected accusations that his comments amounted to a threat. He argued that Serbia had the right to manage waterways within what Belgrade considers its territory and said the government was acting to protect Serbian interests.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence and continues to regard it as part of its own territory. Kosovo, however, maintains that any attempt to interfere with the river’s flow would represent a unilateral action affecting a sovereign state.

The Ibar originates in Montenegro before passing through south-western Serbia and northern Kosovo. It subsequently re-enters Serbia. Its waters feed the Ujman/Gazivoda reservoir, which forms part of a wider system supplying households, agriculture and energy infrastructure in Kosovo.

Any substantial reduction in the river’s flow could therefore have consequences extending far beyond the northern municipalities. Kosovo officials fear it could disrupt water supplies, irrigation and electricity production while placing additional pressure on aquatic ecosystems.

This is not the first time Vučić has raised the possibility of diverting the Ibar. The Serbian president discussed the idea after an explosion damaged the Ibar-Lepenac canal in November 2024. The canal carries water from the reservoir to several towns and elements of Kosovo’s critical infrastructure.

At the time, Vučić claimed that proposals to alter the river’s course had existed since 1985. He said Serbia could theoretically divert the Ibar and leave Kosovo without the Gazivoda reservoir, although he also stated that he had previously opposed using natural resources as a political instrument.

Kosovo’s Environment Minister Fitore Pacolli described the renewed statements as unacceptable. She argued that transboundary waters must not be used to threaten, pressure or destabilise another country.

Pacolli referred to the Helsinki Convention, which requires states to cooperate in the equitable and reasonable use of shared water resources, prevent significant transboundary harm and protect aquatic ecosystems.

The controversy adds another potential source of tension to already strained relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Water and energy infrastructure in northern Kosovo has long carried political as well as economic significance, particularly because the area is home to a large ethnic Serb population and remains at the centre of disputes between Belgrade and Pristina.

Kosovo’s government is now expected to seek international involvement in the matter. Haxhiu’s appeal suggests that Pristina may ask its Western partners and relevant international institutions to assess both the legal implications and the potential security consequences of any attempt to interfere with the river.

Although Serbian officials have not announced a specific engineering project or timetable, Vučić’s statements have already triggered concern in Kosovo. For Pristina, even the possibility of diverting the Ibar demonstrates how control over natural resources could become another instrument in the continuing political confrontation between the two sides.