"They are trying to set fire to Kosovo from within"/ The Foreign Minister of Kosovo raises the alarm and criticizes the international

For the Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, there is no doubt that the attack on September 24 in Banjska in Zveçan was an act committed by Serbia.

The head of Kosovo's diplomacy says that Serbia has shown that it does not want progress in the dialogue for the normalization of relations between the parties, but for Kosovo, dialogue remains the only solution.

"Serbia is not at all interested in being active in the dialogue process in Brussels. They are pretending to be interested and at the same time they are preventing any progress in this process so that they can continue with their other plans. I hope that Sunday's events have made it clear to everyone that the one-sided pressure on Kosovo and the understanding that Serbia is not capable of being positive in this process must and will end. Kosovo has no interest in starting a war with anyone. The only answer is dialogue", says Gërvalla.

According to minister Gërvalla, Serbia insists on creating the Association of Serbian Municipalities, not to help the citizens in the north, but to further destabilize Kosovo.

"Sunday proved exactly what Serbia wants to do in Kosovo. It does not want something that coordinates the needs of the Serbs, but something that makes Kosovo explode from within. That's not going to happen!” she says.

The Foreign Minister called the Banjska attack not a surprise, while she did not hesitate to criticize the internationals for not listening to the earlier alarms raised by Kosovo about arms smuggling in the north.

"We have been telling our partners and allies for months. We have had police actions where vehicles loaded with weapons have been stopped. But we felt that they were not ready to listen to us. We think that they wanted to interpret this as a way for Kosovo to get out of the dialogue process and they did not see that we are the only party interested in finding a solution", says the Foreign Minister of Kosovo.

Gërvalla repeated the criticism of the European Union envoy for dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, as incapable of mediating Kosovo's dialogue with Serbia.

“Nuk jam unë personi që duhet t’i tregoj BE, Brukselit dhe vendeve anëtare se kush i përfaqëson ata në këtë proces, por kjo nuk është hera e parë që Lajçak ka treguar se nuk ka një strategji apo plan sesi ta udhëheqë dhe ndërmjetësojë dialogun. Besoj që shtetet anëtare do ta konsiderojnë këtë gjë dhe uroj të kemi një proces dialogu që mund të sjellë progres”, shprehet Gërvalla.

Megjithatë, për shefen e diplomacisë kosovare, vendi nuk ka alternativë tjetër veç anëtarësimit në NATO dhe BE.

Ndërkohë, idenë e Kryeministrit të Shqipërisë, Edi Rama, për ngritjen e dialogut në një nivel konference, Gërvalla e cilësoi të rrezikshme.

"I get scared when I listen to conferences, because I remember what happened in the 90s. Conference after conference, while people in Bosnia died. This is a very dangerous proposition. We do not need international conferences, we are sovereign states. We need an honest process that opens real doors for Kosovo and Serbia so that they can normalize relations", says the head of diplomacy in Kosovo.