Kosovo raids Serbia-linked municipal offices in north

(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADE, AUG 31 - Kosovo authorities on Friday raided five municipal offices linked to the Belgrade government in ethnic Serb areas near its northern border with Serbia on Friday. The move is the latest in a series of operations and legal manoeuvres aimed at dismantling the so-called parallel system of social services and political offices backed by the Serbian government inside Kosovo. "The parallel illegal institutions of local self-government, which operated under the directives of Serbia, violating the constitutionality and laws of the Republic of Kosovo, have been closed," said Elbert Krasniqi, Kosovo's minister of local administration, in a statement. "There is no place for illegal operation and parallel services in any space of our republic." Kosovo Police also confirmed the raids, saying the offices were issuing forged documents. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have been simmering for months, following the introduction of a rule earlier this year that made the euro the only legal currency in Kosovo, effectively outlawing the use of the Serbian dinar.
    Earlier this month, Kosovo authorities raided Serbian post office branches in ethnic Serb communities across the north.
    Serbian post offices in Kosovo have long been used to receive funds, including pensions, and transfer money to financial institutions in Serbia. The moves have angered Belgrade, which continues to finance health, education and social security systems for the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo. Kosovo authorities have also been hinting that they are considering reopening a bridge in the divided city of Mitrovica that has long separated Serbs and ethnic Albanians. The NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR maintains a strong presence in Mitrovica and patrols the area around the bridge that has been closed to car traffic for years and was the scene of frequent clashes. The spike in tensions comes after EU- and US-backed negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia all but collapsed last year. Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
    Kosovo later declared independence in 2008, a move that Serbia has refused to acknowledge. (ANSA-AFP).