The German Ambassador to Kosovo, Jorn Rohde, stated that following the numerous incidents in the north, the presence of police must be increased in order to prevent further occurrences.
He mentioned the case of Banjska and other incidents where hand grenades were thrown, emphasizing that it is normal to increase police presence when something happens in the north.
“If there has been a terrorist attack, there have been incidents, hand grenades have been thrown, and it’s important to note that Banjska was also affected. Yes, police presence should be increased; police presence should be adequate, and as far as I know, the presence of police has already decreased. Another point I would like to address is to go back a bit and criticize the NGOs that comment on police presence. For me, it is normal to send the police when something happens. The second thing we need is for the Kosovo Police to reflect the ethnic diversity. Therefore, we need to recruit police officers from minority communities in Kosovo, because as far as I know, we have 150 who are currently being trained and have previously been on the streets. We need encouragement for such people because this is important for the Serb population, for political representatives, for non-governmental organizations. Please encourage your people to join the institutions because they are from your community, and this is the first point. The second point is, as you know, it wasn’t the Kosovo government that boycotted the elections. We had a situation where the majority in the north did not represent the institutions, so boycotting the elections is not the way forward, nor is boycotting the parliament,” Rohde said.
He further stated that Serbs in Kosovo need to accept the state in which they live and should cooperate and integrate where they live, instead of boycotting.
“I think the minorities, the Serbs in Kosovo, should accept that this is Kosovo and cooperate, integrate into the country where they live, and then they will have the opportunity to influence decisions made, not by boycotting. Not everything is fine, we need to focus more on the minorities, and we need a different approach to help minorities accept living in Kosovo. You know, yes, we support Kosovo as an independent state, and we need a multiethnic and democratic society,” Rohde stated.
