Havenier: There are foreign actors who want to undermine Kosovo's democracy by exploiting ethnic divisions

“We cannot allow this to happen” said Hovenier in Pristina on Tuesday at a conference on information integrity. D I SICON, organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with headquarters in Washington.

He added that dezinformation could always have direct consequences, especially during the election period, in which Kosovo currently stands ahead of the February 9th elections.

He reminded the audience of a false conversation published on social networks several years ago, which included a false conversation between him and Prime Minister Kurti, which had for “intention of sowing distrust within the Kosovo Serb community”.

Unfortunately, not many people took it seriously... But, the fact that an actor wrote a scenario, prepared a scenario, created a completely designed record designed to sow distrust and concern in the Serb community and published it on social networks, is an indication of this problem”, the American ambassador stressed.

Hüvenier, who is ending his mandate in Kosovo in late December and is retiring, stressed that the US remains committed to Kosovo as a diverse country and in support of independent media, including those run by minorities.

And we are very aware of the media that provide impartial and accurate information. We are aware that there are some who try to exploit this claim to do something entirely else to deliver a message aimed at very, very different purposes from informing the community. This should be denounced and we have to support independent media”, Havenier said.

He said our “work together is out of the bottom”.

“In fact, you might argue that [work] on this issue has just begun and we are really willing to engage with all of you to find new ways to help protect your democracy”, the American ambassador in Pristina said. /Radio Europe Free