Week in Review: Creative Solutions, Great Expectations
Source: Balkan Insight
In the years after 1999, the main bridge across the Ibar river in the north Kosovo town of Mitrovica became a key flashpoint and dividing line between Serbs and Albanians in the town. Even as movement across the Ibar has become less problematic, the bridge has remained closed, primarily at the insistence of the Kosovo Serb community in the north, which saw this as a way to ensure its own safety.
Now, with elections approaching in Kosovo, the Kurti government has announced plans to reopen the bridge, unilaterally and without consultation, as has become its style. In his opinion piece for Balkan Insight, Ian Bancroft tries to think outside the usual box, making the case for turning the bridge and surrounding area into a park that would bring the two communities together, rather than dividing them.
Read more: In Kosovo’s Divided Mitrovica, Disputed Bridge Could Become a Meeting Point (July 19, 2024).
The original article: belongs to Balkan Insight .
