British Ambassador to Kosovo Nicholas Abbott has joined other representatives of EU and US in praising the government’s work with the epidemic, while calling on politician to stop trying to use this difficult situation for political gains.
Abbot specifically applauded the collaboration between authorities in the northern city of Mitrovica, regarding which big political parties and President Hashim Thaçi had accused the government of obeying Belgrade’s order to impose a lockdown.
“At this difficult time, cooperation across communities, which we saw last week between Ministers Arben Vitia and Dalibor Jevtic, and between Mayors Agim Bahtiri and Goran Rakic in Mitrovica, is to be welcomed and celebrated. As Her Majesty The Queen said yesterday, if we remain united and resolute, we will overcome this disease. There are no politics in the virus. The people of Kosovo deserve no less,” Ambassador Abbot wrote on Facebook.
This is the second time this week that the embassy makes a similar warning. It earlier called on the country’s institutions to prioritize the fight against coronavirus and avoid “political maneuvering” in favor of domestic and regional cooperation. President Thaçi was mulling his next steps then, after the ousting of the Kurti government.
On Friday, a coronavirus lockdown was imposed in two towns in the northern part of the country inhabited by Serb majority. Following the news, President Thaçi, some media and political parties (PDK, LDK, Nisma) attacked the government, accusing it that the lockdown was imposed by Serbia and that Kosovo’s government was no able to exercise any authority in those towns.
Ministers’ explanations that it had actually been the Kosovo government to order the lockdown seemed not to have convinced the opposition as allegations have continued to date.
Media allegations prompted by the lockdown decision, urged the European Federation of Journalists to release a statement, in which they accused the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia of stirring ethnic tensions between the two countries for their political gains. The EFJ called on the media not to play their game.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Abin Kurti aslo warned the people not fall for the alleged joint attempts of Presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, Hashim Thaçi and Aleksandar Vučić, to destabilize the country through ethnic tensions in north. Kurti accused them both to be behind the attacks, adding that they were trying to create inter-ethnic conflicts, hoping to make their old plan for Kosovo’s partition seem plausible.
