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Friday June 8, 1:37 AM
Macedonian city goes thirsty with rebel hand on water taps
KUMANOVO, Macedonia, June 7 (AFP) - Vexed, resigned or just plain thirsty,
citizens of Kumanovo gathered round water tankers Thursday as the northern
city's water supply ran dry after its mountain reservoirs fell into ethnic
Albanian rebel hands.
The rebel National Liberation Army (NLA) took the two mountain reservoirs
near the village of Lipkovo a month ago, and Macedonian authorities have had
no access to regulate water levels or carry out maintenance works since then.
The government has been warning for days that the situation was deteriorating
in this city of 100,000 people, accusing the guerrillas of using the water
supply as "blackmail".
"We've had no access to the lakes since May 3," said the head of Kumanovo's
water works, Stanko Curik.
"We have to carry out regular operations to regulate the water level, to make
sure the reservoir does not overflow," he said.
Despite the absence of engineers, the water flowed normally until Wednesday
when the taps suddenly ran dry, prompting calls for emergency measures by the
mayor.
The rebels themselves denied turning off the water, instead blaming the army.
Commander Shpati, spokesman for the NLA fighters in Lipkovo, said it was "the
Macedonian forces who cut off the water and put some of the equipment out of
action" when the area fell to the guerrillas in May.
"There are lots of Albanians in Kumanovo, we would never have done that," he
said.
Curki said the lower outlet had been shut off but said he did not know who
had done it.
Deputy mayor Oliver Spasovski said there was no way of knowing what the
problem was while no inspectors could be sent to the region to have a look.
For Slav Macedonians and ethnic Serbs lining up with their bottles at one of
the 15 water trucks posted throughout Kumanovo, the culprits are easily
identified.
"It's the terrorists," said one young Serb, denouncing the "strong
psychological pressure exerted" by the guerrillas.
Mayor Slobodan Kovacevski wants a state of emergency declared to cope with
the lack of running water and called for cities in the strife-hit country to
spare whatever water they could and truck it up to Kumanovo, close to the
Yugoslav border.
In the city hospital, which like all other buildings has been deprived of
water, only 25 patients remained, while all surgical and serious cases have
been transported to the capital Skopje, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south.
Doctor Mihail Kocubovski from the capital's health institute said he feared
that hygienic conditions "will rapidly deteriorate."
He called for disinfectant to be shipped in urgently but said he was still
concerned about the possible spread of contagious diseases.
But local authorities admit they are helpless to solve the problem at source,
as the army has so far failed to battle its way back into Lipkovo.
"We have no way of solving the problem," said deputy mayor Spasovski. "We can
only try to calm people's fears, and avoid a panic," he added.
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