Serbia has "mobilised all of our people and resources" and is speaking to international envoys to reach a compromise with Kosovo, Serbia's president said on Tuesday (December 27) after Serbs in northern Kosovo erected more roadblocks in the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, Reuters reports.
President Aleksandar Vucic said however it was not certain a compromise would be reached, saying Kosovo's government did not want to talk.
"The discussions with the international representatives — (European Union envoy) Miroslav Lajcak, (U.S. envoy) Gabriel Escobar, and everyone else — are ongoing as we work and communicate with them. In an effort to maintain peace, promote peace, and arrive at a compromise solution, as His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije stated, we have mobilised all of our people and resources."
Serbia's defence ministry said on Monday (December 26) President Aleksandar Vucic had ordered Serbia's army and police to be put on the highest alert given Belgrade's belief that Kosovo was preparing to attack Serbs and forcefully remove the barricades.
Vucic met with Porfirije, the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who said he appealed to "people" who could influence Pristina to reverse a decision not to allow him to visit Kosovo, without specifying which people he meant.
Serbs and their church regard Kosovo as the cradle of their Orthodox Christianity and it is home to some of their most important religious sites.
Kosovo's government said in a statement the barricades should be removed and freedom of movement should be restored.
It added police had the capacity and readiness to act but were waiting for NATO's KFOR Kosovo peace-keeping force, which maintains a neutral role, to respond to their request to remove the barricades.
Around 50,000 Serbs live in the northern part of Albanian-majority Kosovo and refuse to recognize the Pristina government or the state. They see Belgrade as their capital and are backed by Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in 2008.
