Vučić threatened to divert the Ibar, Serbian engineers: Stupidity, has nothing to do with common sense

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has threatened that Belgrade may interfere with the flow of the Ibar River, following the demolition of several buildings without a construction permit in the Ujman area.

Vucic said that Serbian authorities have already engaged experts to examine the possibility of changing the course of the Ibar.

"We have already invited the experts who deal with this, the construction sector, engineers and others. When they are already harassing our people so much, let's see. We have different reasons for changing the flow of the Ibar water, so we will see what the Albanians will do and how they will behave," Vučić told reporters.

His statement has sparked reactions and questions about whether such an intervention is technically feasible and what consequences it would have for water supply, energy, and the population along the river's course.

Civil engineer and professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Jovan Despotović, has described the idea as meaningless from a hydrotechnical point of view.

"This would be absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of European Union water law at the level of the Danube basin, to which the Ibri belongs. It has nothing to do with common sense. Whatever can be said is little, as it is meaningless in a hydrotechnical or water management sense," Despotović told "Vreme".

According to him, such a project would be an extremely complex engineering undertaking with far-reaching consequences.

Despotović assessed that Vučić's statement may have been made metaphorically, as part of political rhetoric and reaction to developments in Kosovo.

The Ibri originates in Montenegro, flows through Serbia and then enters the territory of Kosovo. In the northern part of Kosovo, the river is blocked by a dam, which has created the artificial lake of Ujman.

The lake and its associated infrastructure are of strategic importance for Kosovo's water supply and energy system.

The Ibër-Lepenc system supplies water to a significant portion of Kosovo's population and economy, while the hydropower infrastructure in the Ujman area is an important part of the water and energy system.

For this reason, any major intervention in the flow of the Ibar could have consequences beyond a specific area and would affect various communities that depend on these water resources.

"The decision to shift the river's course would inevitably affect the entire indigenous population in Kosovo, not just Albanians," Despotović said.

He emphasized that Serbia faces other problems in the water and energy sectors that, according to him, would require more serious investments and planning.

Legal obstacles

In addition to technical difficulties, changing the course of a transboundary river would also face restrictions and obligations under international law.

The Ibri is a transboundary river and its flow touches the territory of several countries.

Serbia and Montenegro are parties to the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, which sets out principles for the rational use of transboundary waters and cooperation between states.

Interventions that would significantly alter the water flow regime would require impact assessment and consideration of the consequences for downstream territories and communities.

However, Vučić has not provided concrete details on where, how, and in what form such an intervention could be carried out.

Pristina has described Vučić's statements as disturbing and unacceptable.

Vučić's statement on changing the course of the Ibar is not the first time such an idea has been mentioned by the Serbian president. He had raised the issue in 2024, but later distanced himself from the idea, saying he did not want nature to be used for political purposes.

This time, however, Vučić said that experts have already been engaged to examine the issue, without providing details on any specific project.

For experts, such an intervention not only presents an extraordinary technical challenge, but would have the potential to cause serious consequences for water management and cross-border relations.

The GeoPost