The British Ambassador to Kosovo, Ruairi O’Connell, said on Wednesday that the issue of border demarcation is a bilateral issue between Kosovo and Montenegro and that it is right that the Kosovo Assembly will decide whether to ratify the agreement. “No-one has asked Kosovo to change border with Montenegro. No-one has forced Kosovo to give up land. The agreement confirms the current border; demarcation is about setting out where the border is, not where it ‘should be’. But Kosovo is a Sovereign, Independent State, It is your responsibility. I hope that the debate, protest and vote tomorrow can take place in a spirit of openness, and leave aside the violence that has characterised this issue so far,” O’Connell wrote on his Facebook profile. He added that by accusing neighbours of trying to take your land, will leave Kosovo without friends. “Political violence will also destroy the state. I am sure that Kosovans remember better than I do the political violence and killings after the war, and the chaos and fear that it bred in Kosovo. Declaring people traitors or enemies of the state because they disagree with you will undermine political discourse. It will erode the freedoms for which Kosovo fought for so long. Threatening and using violence will take Kosovo back to the dark days of political assassinations,” he said.
O’Connell also mentioned corruption and nepotism, saying these two issues are a cancer eating away at Kosovo. According to him, a culture of impunity still lets senior politicians get away with crime.