http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=01&dd=30&nav_id=56794
Serb schools deprived of water, power 30 January 2009 | 11:25 | Source: B92 BELGRADE -- Serb schools in the northern parts of Gnjilane will be closed due to five-day electricity and water shortages. Predrag Stojković, the director of the Kosovo Ministry’s office in Kosovsko Pomoravlje, announced the school closures. Representatives of the Serb villages of Gornje Kusce, Straža, Stanišor, Gornji Makreš, Melinci and Draganac have formed a crisis headquarters and announced a blockade of the Gnjilane-Kusce road. Kosovsko Pomoravlje District President Dragan Nikolić told B92 that local residents could not meet the conditions that the Kosovo Energy Corporation was setting to turn the electricity back on. “They want payment of bills from years ago and for meters in homes to be read. That’s been coming round in cycles for years now, and everyone knows that the Serbs in Kosovo are unemployed and live on social welfare,” said Nikolić. “They want them to fulfill all of these conditions, which are maybe normal for normal circumstances, but we, as a people, live in abnormal circumstances, so that all of this is impossible for us,” he said. Nikolić believes the lack of electricity and water is another manifestation of pressure on Serbs in Kosovo. They have turned to the Serbian Kosovo Ministry, as well as UNMIK, KFOR and OSCE, in order to help solve the problem, he says.
