For the residents of this rural part of northern Kosovo, the renaming of the local lake in honor of US President Donald Trump came as an unwelcome surprise.

“We saw the news on Facebook.... No one living here was aware of this,” said Savo Dasic, 65, a former agricultural worker who lives in a wooden hut in the shade of a bridge over the lake.

As he writes Politico, Telegraph reports, the lake lies in the territories of Kosovo and Serbia, which, even after the 1998-99 war, still have not reached a permanent peaceful solution.

The two governments have refused to share the lake and they also use different names for it - the Kosovar side calls it Ujman while the Serbian side calls it Gazivode.

And the “slogan” suddenly appeared with the new name late last month — a possible byproduct of a push by the Trump administration to encourage economic cooperation between the two sides, dismissed by many Balkan political analysts as impressive.

"I do not accept that I live under the Trump Bridge, no matter what the banner on the bridge may say," Dashic said.

For critics of the Trump administration's efforts, the renaming of the lake is symbolic of the latest US engagement.

The banners - placed in the dark by unknown people, according to locals - did not stay there for long.

By the time Politico visited the site a few days later, the bridge banner was gone and another on a dam across the lake had been split in half.

Analysts have described the agreement as weak and not suitable for such a high-profile ceremony.

As for the lake, the agreement does not resolve the name issue or determine how its waters should be used.

The two sides simply signed a "feasibility study for the purposes of 'separating' Gazivode/Ujman", to be conducted by the US Department of Energy.

In the writing of the medium in question, the lake was once considered a jewel in the "crown" of socialist industry, when Kosovo and Serbia were part of Yugoslavia. It "feeds" a hydroelectric power plant that received significant funding from the World Bank.

But the hydro plant's capacity has since declined significantly, in large part due to unresolved political issues between Serbia and Kosovo.

Richard Grenell, Trump's special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, said it was "a joke" of him, referring to naming the lake as "Trump Lake" during heated conversations with officials from both sides "so that I wouldn't have to choose one side or the other."

While Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that the locals in the north of Kosovo, dominated by Serbs, heard this and put up banners themselves.

"The people there suffered the greatest hardships during some of the previous US administrations," he said.

Vučić added that locals in northern Kosovo saw that Trump had "brought a new wind to the sails of the relationship between Serbia and America."

However, according to Politico, the banners looked extremely professional for a spontaneous initiative by local people.

One even proclaimed in English: "President Trump, the Serbs of Kosovo thank you for bringing peace." /Telegrafi/

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