Albanian PM warns cooling relations with Serbia over arrest of Kosovo police

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that if the three Kosovo policemen apprehended by Serbia last week are not released this week, bilateral relations between Albania and Serbia will deteriorate.

“The longer these three men are kept in Serbia – even if they have crossed the border line, they have not committed any crime – the less it will be possible for our bilateral relations not to take many steps back! This will be the week of the return of the ice between us if they are not released,” he said in a press conference on Monday.

Last week, three Kosovo policemen were reportedly arrested within Kosovo by Serbian forces and taken into custody in Serbia. Belgrade, however, denies Kosovo’s claim that the officers were kidnapped “deep within Kosovo”.

Serbia, which does not recognise Kosovo’s border and instead calls it an “administrative line”, denies the kidnapping and says the officers were apprehended in Serbia.

The policemen remain in Serbian custody despite calls from the US, UK and other stakeholders to release them unconditionally. If they were captured within the territory of Kosovo, this would violate the Kumanovo agreement, which marked the end of the 1998-1999 war between Kosovo and Serbia.

“On the other hand, if de-escalation does not happen, the big loser will be Kosovo – because Serbia may not be able to live without re-isolation,” he added.

He called on Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti not to continue self-isolating himself and risk losing the country’s north.

His comments come days after hundreds of Albanians rallied in the centre of Tirana, calling for a harsher stance on Serbia from the Albanian government and the international community and more solidarity with Kosovo.

In recent years, Serbia and Albania, particularly Rama and Vucic, have developed a closer relationship politically and in terms of trade and cooperation. This reached a pinnacle with establishing of the Open Balkan initiative- an economic and political zone including Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia to increase trade and cooperation and improve bilateral relations.

Kosovo has refused to be part of the initiative, stating, “The Open Balkan initiative is a harmful regional initiative with no vision. Kosovo does not want to join in because Serbia is not treating it as an equal side and independent country.”

(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)