Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić’s call for war are a dangerous echo of the darkest chapters of recent history, President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani said on Saturday.
Reacting to Osmani’s call on Europe to prevent Serbia’s aggressive tactics, Vučić stated that Kosovo was only trying to seek protection from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“Everyone is really and seriously preparing for war; it’s just a question of which side someone belongs to”, the president told reporters on Friday.
In her response, the Kosovan leader chastised Vučić for not choosing the path of reconciliation, despite years of American and European engagement to create an avenue toward lasting peace.
Osmani said the Serbian government was engaging in the same “destructive fantasies” that claimed many innocent lives in the 1990s under ex-president Slobodan Milosevic.
She recalled Milosevic “chose genocidal war as last desperate instrument of power” with violence in Croatia, in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Kosovo, “with Vucic as his propaganda chief.”
According to Osmani, Milosevic’s autocracy ended in disgrace, as he was overthrown by his people, tried as a war criminal, and remembered as “the butcher of the Balkans.”
“Vučić seems to believe he can revive that same poisonous formula: stirring conflict, gambling with lives,” she said. “But history is clear and unforgiving. Milosevic failed—and so will Vučić.”
The president added that war is the last refuge of leaders who have lost legitimacy, who cannot inspire with vision, and who see no path forward except through destruction.
At the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen, Osmani labeled Serbia a threat to the Western Balkans region, accusing Belgrade of trying to replicate Moscow’s activities in Europe.
“Serbia treats neighboring states as if they don’t exist; it is a copy of Russia’s methods.
“Traditionally and for centuries, they have used a similar concept. For us, both pose a threat,” she declared.
Kosovo’s Osmani slams Serbian president over war rhetoric