Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, says President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic is luring politicians in Pristina to consider giving Serbia northern part of Kosovo populated mainly by Serbs, in exchange of recognition of country’s independence, Gazeta Express reported.

Haradinaj in an interview with T7 television on Monday said that Serbia’s plan is to take over control of northern part of the country rich in mineral resources. He is convinced that Serbia wants partition of Kosovo, adding that Serbia’s President Vucic is behind the ‘land swap’ scenario promoted recently also by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci. “I know for fact that this is Vucic’s idea, and in order to implement it Serbia is looking for allies in Kosovo,” Haradinaj said. The Prime Minister confirmed that he also got offers from Serbia to consider this idea. “There were initiatives directly from Belgrade to solve this issue.

They want a part of the northern Kosovo,” Haradinaj said noting that the same offer was made also to President Hashim Thaci who “most likely agreed to Serbia’s terms.” He went further saying that Serbia has continuously tried to “sell” the idea to every politician in Kosovo who was in any decision-making position. Haradinaj urged the President of Kosovo to give up promoting the idea on trading northern part of the country with parts of Presheva Valley (southern Serbia) with an Albanian majority. The Prime Minister believes that Thaci’s rhetoric is about countering Serbia’s territorial pretentions in Kosovo by asking unification of the Presheva Valley with Kosovo.

Asked what the ‘adjustment of border’ plan is about and what are Serbia’s territorial pretentions in Kosovo, Haradinaj said that according to the plan, Serbia will not take over control of the artificial Gazivoda Lake, which is key for supplying water to some Kosovo municipalities including parts of the capital Pristina. During a visit to Kosovo in September, Serbian President Vucic chose symbolically the dam of this lake to address journalists steering reactions in Kosovo. He also said that the Trepca mine which is part of once metallurgic giant of Kosovo will remain under Kosovo’s authority, noting however that most of the unexploited minerals are in northern part of the country claimed by Serbia. The Trepca complex of lead, zinc and silver mines once employed 20,000 people and accounted for the majority of the former Yugoslavia's mineral wealth.

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