(ANSA) - BELGRADE, July 3 - After two days of closing in protest, the shops reopened today in northern Kosovo, a Serb-majority region, where local officials - supported by Serbia - denounce a growing shortage of basic necessities and medicines. The cause - they say - is the 100% increase in tariffs imposed last November by the authorities in Pristina on imports from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The situation prompted the Serbian authorities to speak of a threat of a genuine 'humanitarian catastrophe' in northern Kosovo. The Kosovo government rejects this version and claims that the whole thing is an act staged by Serbia in order to destabilize the situation and put the Kosovar leadership in a bad light. The Kosovo government in recent days sent trucks with foodstuffs to the north to alleviate difficulties. The representatives of the commercial and business organizations in the north, announcing the reopening of the shops, said they are hoping for renewed pressure on Kosovo and the international community to abolish anti-Serbian tariffs. Otherwise, the protests will resume. (ANSA).