| OCR Text |
Show TheSalt Lake ibune WORLD Al7 Friday, December 29, 2000 Serbs Fuming Over Power Outages; Official Blames Milosevic THEASSOCIATED PRESS " BELGRADE, Yugi With traffic lights finetiasa foods thawing in grocery stores and people struggling to keep jwarm, Yugoslavia’s worst-ever energy crisis is prompting many people to question whether the new democratic leadership can’t at Teast keep the lights on. Officials of the new government appealed Wednesday for patience with eight- to 10-hour blackouts — common in neighboring Albania or the province of Kosovo,but preyiously unheard of in Serbia, Yugoslavia’s main republic. , At a clinic for paraplegics on Mount Gucevo in western Serbia, nurses piled up blankets trying to keep their 70 patients warm, the independent Beta news agency reported. Only one of four water boilers was working, chief nurse Vida Ivanovicsaid. Covic, NATO Attempt to Defuse Kosovo-Border Tensions By evening, dozens of angry Belgrade. residents overturned garbage containers across tram lines, blocking a main road oppo- site the well-lit Hyatt hotel. The crowdthenstood in silentprotest. jome Yugoslavs grumbled that things were better under autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic, who was ousted after a contested election in September andriots in Belgradeon Oct. 5. THI SOCIATED PRESS BUJANOVAC,Yugoslavia —A top Serbofficial and a NATO emissary met Thursdaywith ethnic Albanians Thursdayin an attempt to negotiate a peaceful solution to escalating tensions in a predominantly Albanian region of Serbia along its boundary with Kosovo. Serbia’s deputy prime minister, Nebojsa Covic, and Shawn Sullivan, a political adviser to the top NATO official in the southern Serb province of Ko- “I knew that we couldn't expect sovo, met with ethnic Albanian representatives a fast improvement after Oct. 5,” from the three-mile-wide buffer zone between said Milovan Radisic,57, a retired factory worker. “But I didn’t expect things would get worse.” The interior ministry appealed Wednesdayfor motorists to take extra care because many traffic lights were not working. Extra policemen werecalled outto keep order on streets wheretraffic signals hadfailed. Kosovo andtherestof Serbia. “We madesignificant steps forward in our efforts for a peaceful solution . . . butthere still is fear ofuncontrollableacts by parties or groups who seek to profit from conflicts and{bloodshed,” Covic told reporters after his toy Covic said Sullivan Te t separately with ethnic Albaniansmilitants in the rebel-controlled village of Trnovac,inside the zone. Hesaid Serbia was open to discussing the situation in the zone,butinsisted “it is and will remain part of Serbia and no paramilitaries, killing or bloodshed would be tolerated.” Serbia's deputy prime minister, Nebojsa Covic,tried to cast blame Covic told Belgrade radio and television stations that the on the Milosevic’s regime, which was in powerfor13 years. Milosevic government had failed to maintain the power grid and E | Selection varies by store. Limited to stock on hand. Basic, nen-seasonal merchandise is not included. Sorry, we cannot accept phone or mail orders on clearance merchandise. Tuesday-Saturday 10-9 and Sunday 12-6 at all Dillard's locations. In Salt Lake City: Fashion Place and South Towne Center. In Ogden: Newgate Mall. Wewelcome your Dillard's Credit Card, The American Express* Card, Diners Club international, Mastercard? Visa® and The Discover Card. keep up repairs on powerstations. That was due in large part to the effects of years of( international economic sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia because of Belgrade’s role in fomenting ethnic wars in the Balkans. Those sanctions made it difficult for the goyernment to purchase spare es.m8 or Covic admitted. “The whole system is.extremely worn out.” crackdown .on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. To make matters worse, a droughtin the Balkans that began this summer has reduced water levels in the Danube,the Sava and other majorrivers, severely limiting hydroelectric output. |
