Pristina to Stop Funding for Serbs in Norther Kosovo - Report

Free Serbia` is written on a road as two Kosovo Serb women walk near a road barricade in the village of Zupce, Kosovo, 25 October 2011.

The Kosovo govermnent is developing a new plan to integrate the ethnic Serb populated northern area, reports Pristina newspaper Koha Ditore Tuesday.

According to the paper, part of the plan involves stopping funding for the so-called parallel structures of municipal authorities in Northern Kosovo.

The heads of local authorities in Serb towns have refused to recognize the independence of Kosovo and the government in Pristina.

Over the summer, they engaged in a dispute with the central Kosovar govenrment and international KFOR units over the control of the border with Serbia, denying access to checkpoints.

Kosovo and Serbia had entered into a trade dispute and imposed a mutual embargo on each other's goods.

"It is a big problems that local residents in Northern Kosovo do not understand the opportunities that the Ahtisaari Plan gives them," reads the Koha Ditore publication.

The paper, which claims it is in possession of the draft strategy, says it involves a sustained effort on the part of the Pristina government to reach out to ethnic Serbs.

This includes programs in Serbian on Kosovo Radio and TV, stimuli for local businesses, as well as local courts and police stations.

According to the report, Pristina also plans to ask EU institutions to require Serbia to also stop financing structures in Northern Kosovo before it is officially granted an applicant status for the EU.

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