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Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti: He supports the name proposal, which originally came from the US special envoy Richard Grenell
Photo: Francisco Seco / AP
A reservoir controversial between Kosovo and Serbia could soon bear the name of US President Donald Trump: As Kosovar Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti wrote on Twitter, he supports a proposal by US diplomat Richard Grenell to name Lake Ujman after Trump.
In Serbia, the body of water lying at an altitude of almost 700 meters is called Gazivoda Lake.
The renaming is intended to honor Trump's role in brokering a "historic agreement between the Republic of Kosovo and Serbia," wrote Hoti.
According to the AFP news agency, a banner with the words "Trump Lake" hung on the Kosovar side of the reservoir on Thursday.
A banner on the Serbian side thanked the US president for bringing "peace" to the region.
The Serbian government has so far not officially commented on the possible renaming.
Initially, the suggested name was apparently just a joke
With the mediation of the US special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, Grenell, an agreement on economic rapprochement was recently reached, which was signed in the White House in early September.
It also provides for a feasibility study to "divide" the disputed lake to which both Kosovo and Serbia are claiming.
Grenell recently said on a US talk show that his suggestion to name the lake after Trump was originally a joke.
"There was this incredible argument about the name (of the lake), which is why I jokingly said, 'I'll just talk about Trump Lake,'" said the former US ambassador in Berlin.
However, the Serbian and Kosovar heads of government immediately jumped on it and declared that they were in agreement with such a renaming.
There has been a dispute over the reservoir for years.
Three quarters of the water is in Kosovar territory and is an important drinking water reservoir for around a third of the Kosovar population.
Most of the cooling water for the Kosovar coal-fired power plants is also taken from the lake.
Serbia, on the other hand, regards the lake as its state property.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 2008.
The government in Belgrade still does not recognize the independence of its former province.
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