KFOR Commander Erhard Buehler said Thursday that certain criminal structures in the Kosovo north were preventing the Kosovo police from doing their job properly.

General Buehler added, however, that it was most important that the crisis had been prevented from developing.

Crime in the north is strong and the citizens know that. The police in the north has been intimidated by some criminal structures, and hence its members cannot do their job properly, said Buehler, quoted on the website of the broadcaster Most, based in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo.

In an interview for the television, the German general said it was most important that Belgrade, Pristina, KFOR and the people of Kosovo had prevented the crisis in northern Kosovo from developing.

There are those who want to cause harm to me and ( head of the Belgrade negotiating team) Borislav Stefanovic and do not believe in the agreements reached, said Buehler and, summarizing the results achieved on the expiry of his mandate, he said his greatest success had been the process of reconciliation between communities in Kosovo in the postwar period