Biggest Refugee Exodus in Weeks
29 April 1999

In the biggest exodus in weeks, more than 16,000 new refugees poured into Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on Friday, as the United Nations High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) warned that the final cleansing of Prizen in southwestern Kosovo was under way.

By late Friday, more than 16,000 refugees had crossed the two borders and many more were reported on their way. According to UNHCR, more than 8,500 refugees crossed over into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and another 7,500 streamed into Albania at the rate of 1,000 an hour. On the Kosovo side, a line of vehicles stretched along the road to the border as far as the eye could see, said UN field officers.

The refugees were either permanent residents of Prizren or people previously displaced from other areas, according to UNHCR. Many said Serb authorities had gone from street to street and house to house, telling people to leave and searching for men, most of whom had left or were in hiding. Others said they left because conditions were continuing to deteriorate.

One doctor and six nurses told UNHCR staff that they were working at Prizren hospital when they were arrested by the police, bundled into a vehicle and driven to the border. They were given no time to pack or tell their families they were being forced into exile.

UNHCR said that Serb authorities in Prizren appeared to be on their final push to cleanse the town of the remaining ethnic Albanians.