AT A GLANCE
- Unknown gunmen shot and seriously wounded a UNHCR staff
member in Albania Monday night in an apparent attempt to seize his vehicle.
- UNHCR appeals for funds for its relief program for Kosovo
refugees, warns serious disruptions will take place unless cash is received immediately.
- More than 3,600 refugees crossed the Morini border into
Albania Monday, recounting stories of men being separated from their families; UNHCR began
its latest information campaign to move refugees out of the Kukes region as NATO bombs
fell close to the border.
- Trains continue to carry people from Kosovo to the FYR of
Macedonia border, but virtually no refugees are entering the country.
- In the biggest departure yet, 2,242 refugees left the FYR
of Macedonia on Monday under the humanitarian evacuation program, bringing the total who
have left for third countries to more than 38,000.
- The estimated number of refugees and displaced people in
the region is more than 747,000, including nearly 239,000 in the FYR of Macedonia, 426,000
in Albania and 64,000 in Montenegro.
Major Developments
STAFF MEMBER ATTACKED
Unknown gunmen shot and seriously wounded a UNHCR staff
member in Tirana in an apparent attempt to seize his vehicle on Monday night. Daniel Mora
Castro, UNHCR’s Senior Water Development Officer, sustained a bullet wound. The
50-year-old Costa Rican was treated at the Tirana hospital, before being airlifted this
morning to Geneva. The incident is under investigation.
FUNDING
UNHCR said on Tuesday that lack of funds could seriously
set back efforts to help more than 747,000 refugees from Kosovo.
UNHCR had appealed for $143 million for its Kosovo
operations for the first six months of this year. This was part of a series of
consolidated appeals issued by all UN agencies and the IOM. To date, UNHCR has received
just $71 million, all of which has been spent. If significant resources are not announced
immediately, UNHCR will not be able to make further essential commitments to assist the
refugees.
"The response by many donors – especially
private donors – has been good, but we need to do more. We are providing only the
most basic needs of the refugees and there is so far no end to the conflict in sight, or
to the human suffering," High Commissioner Sadako Ogata said. "We are looking to
our traditional donors to provide us with the financial means to cope with this emergency.
I appeal in particular to countries in Europe and the European Commission. This is a
European tragedy. It is essential that they bear a larger part of the burden."
She said improving camp conditions as the hot summer
approaches is a top priority.
"But we also need to prepare for new refugee flows
and to be ready to help refugees to return home as soon as that is possible. In the
meantime, winter is only a few months away and we need to prepare for that too."
ALBANIA
A total of 3,677 people crossed the Morini border into
Albania Monday. The great majority came late in the day, all of them on foot from the
Mitrovica area. They were among the most traumatized refugees to cross the border since
the crisis began. Virtually all – men, women and children – were in tears. There
were wounded among them, including young children. The refugees spoke again of men being
separated from the main group.
The Mitrovica refugees had left their homes in a series of
villages anywhere from four to six weeks ago and had been wandering on foot ever since in
a meandering odyssey. They stayed for several weeks in a village identified as Zablace in
the Istok area, but about a week ago the Serbians attacked the column. One witness said,
"They just opened fire with their weapons on us. They were shooting everywhere. They
included Serbian civilians."
The group had walked the last stretch to the border
virtually nonstop for three days. Among the wounded reaching Morini was one 5-year-old
child with a bullet wound in the back of the neck, a young baby with a bullet wound in the
foot and a boy of 12 years who had been shot in the back. One older lady had been shot in
the arm.
The refugees said as many as 200 men had been taken out of
the column before it reached the border, including some at a village identified as
Landovica near Prizren.
None of these figures or stories can be independently
verified.
A total of 4,522 people left Kukes Monday, including at
least 57 tractors. In the last two weeks more than 1,200 tractors have left Kukes.
UNHCR started its latest information campaign to try to
persuade refugees to leave the Kukes area. Information teams toured one of the tented
camps (Médecins Sans Frontières camp), reading to the refugees a joint government-UNHCR
statement on refugees in the area and responding to questions about safety and new
destinations.
UNHCR has always viewed Kukes as a transit point and not a
permanent spot for incoming refugees. The border area is very insecure. UNHCR also feels
the refugees can be better looked after in more permanent facilities in the interior of
the country and desperately needs space to house incoming flows. There are still close to
100,000 refugees in the area.
Some of the refugees arriving late Monday had to sleep in
the open on the town square because there were not enough tented facilities to house them
all – underlining the necessity to persuade many of the ‘resident’ refugees
to move on.
FYR of MACEDONIA
Virtually no refugees crossed into the FYR of Macedonia on
Monday. The last significant arrivals there were on Wednesday. On that day, 2,000 refugees
arrived in the afternoon, but another estimated 1,000 who came in the evening were not
permitted to enter.
In a bizarre twist, however, trains continue to arrive at
Blace, at the border between Kosovo and the FYR of Macedonia, carrying a few hundred
people each time. A train arrived on Sunday and again on Monday. Each day the trains let
off just a few people and then travelled back into Kosovo full. One of the handful of
people let off on Monday said that some who were sent back had to pay for the return trip.
On Monday, buses transported from the FYR of Macedonia 139
refugees who volunteered to transfer to Albania. All had family members in Albania whom
they wanted to join. The buses took them initially to a camp at Qatrum, near Korca. UNHCR
staff in the FYR of Macedonia are planning to take refugee leaders from the camps in the
FYR of Macedonia on go-and-see visits to Albania.
HUMANITARIAN EVACUATION PROGRAM
A total of 2,242 refugees departed on Monday under the
humanitarian evacuation program from the FYR of Macedonia to third countries. This
included 261 to Canada, 132 to the Czech Republic, 162 to Finland, 154 to France, 143 to
Ireland, 300 to Italy, 151 to Norway, 156 to Sweden, 156 to Switzerland, 210 to Turkey and
417 to the United States. The departures were the biggest so far in one day.
Some 38,400 refugees have departed under the program in
which UNHCR has received offers for 135,000 places in 39 countries.
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Document compiled by Dr S D Stein