• For the first time since the influx into Albania began in late March, no refugees crossed the Morini border into Albania Sunday.
   
• More than 1,300 Kosovars arrived in the FYR of Macedonia over the weekend and more were reported heading toward the country after they heard radio broadcasts that the border had been reopened.
   
• The Yugoslav army set up checkpoints near the border between Montenegro and Albania on Saturday; more than 100 Kosovar men were reportedly arrested while attempting to go into Albania.
   
• Nearly 2,500 refugees left over the weekend from the FYR of Macedonia for third countries under the humanitarian evacuation program, bringing the total departures to almost 50,000.
   
• The estimated number of refugees and displaced people in the region is now 744,100, including 229,300 in the FYR of Macedonia, 433,000 in Albania and 63,300 in Montenegro.

Major Developments

ALBANIA

For the first time since the crisis began in late March, no refugees crossed the Morini border point into Albania Sunday, according to early morning field reports received on Monday. On Saturday, just 23 Kosovars entered the country.

Until recent days Morini had been the major exit point for Kosovars fleeing the conflict. The bulk of the more than 400,000 refugees currently in Albania had escaped through that mountainous crossing.

However, in the last few days the numbers had dropped off precipitously though the few people who did cross said that in the hills there were still many thousands of people who were running dangerously low on food and who were being constantly harassed by Serbian military operations.

It remained unclear whether Serbian authorities were now deliberately stopping Kosovars from reaching Albania; whether the Kosovars themselves had decided to stay where they were for the moment; or whether they were simply waiting for a better opportunity to cross into Albania. It is also possible that NATO activity in the area has been a factor.

The drop off in numbers of people crossing has coincided with an increase in NATO airstrikes in the immediate border zone. From Morini it is possible to see regular air strikes being carried out just a few miles inside Kosovo territory.

More than 5,000 refugees left Kukes over the weekend for points south, 2,972 on Saturday and another 2,157 departed Sunday. They included a few hundred persons from the various camps who responded specifically to UNHCR’s ongoing information campaign to move refugees from the Kukes area to other parts of the country for security reasons.

It was announced that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would visit Kukes for several hours on May 20, during a one-day visit to Albania. He will tour one of the camps to meet with the refugees.

UNHCR, NATO and other interested NGOs continue to work on an overall plan to move the great majority of refugees from the tented camps in Kukes — still an estimated 30,000 — to points south.

Among the refugees who arrived Saturday were 15 men who said they were forced from their villages in the Suva Reka area at the end of March by the Serbian authorities. Since then they had been moving around the region in the hills and mountains with their families, but were finally driven out of the country by continuing military activity.

As they passed through one town, Stimlje, they were separated from their families, they said, corroborating a story told by refugees who crossed in preceding days. They said that at one point they were held in a shoe factory in Urosevac, where there were around 100 people—men, women and children. The arriving refugees said everyone in the factory had been beaten. As they continued to move, first to Prizren and then to the border, they were beaten again, they said, and they did indeed bear the marks of physical abuse. They estimated there were as many as 25,000 people in the area around Stimlje who want to leave.

In another development, UNHCR last week received 64 water bladders from the Dutch government. They are to be put on flatbed trucks and will help ease water shortages in the camps. UNHCR plans to bring up the per capita water supply level to 10 liters of potable water and 10 liters for washing. Each bladder has a capacity of 10,000 liters and thus can supply 500 people per day.

FYR of MACEDONIA

The refugee flow into the FYR of Macedonia resumed this weekend. On Saturday, around 300 refugees crossed the border at Blace and 47 arrived at Tabanovce. On Sunday, 983 refugees entered Blace and another 60 came in at Tabanovce.

Most of the arrivals came by train. They said no one had gone to FYR of Macedonia over the last week because radio and television reports said the border was closed. But when they heard that some people had crossed on Friday, they decided to leave. They said many more people were in desperate condition and would try to make a break for the FYR of Macedonia.

Arrivals from Kosovo’s Vitina area east of Urosevac estimated that at least 40,000 were in the area surrounded by Serbian forces, and that they were unable to leave. Food shortages were reported. One woman told UNHCR that Albanians were only allowed to buy bread and only if it was available. Generally, Albanians were not allowed to go on the streets, she said.

There were also alarming reports of three places in Urosevac — a factory, a school and a barn — where the Serbian military kept weapons and where civilians were allegedly held as human shields. The reports could not be confirmed independently.

Elsewhere in the FYR of Macedonia, the Norwegian Red Cross has opened a field hospital at the newly established Cegrane camp. The hospital, which has 100 beds, includes a surgical suite, labor and delivery unit, and in-patient wards for men, women and children.

There have been no epidemics, but aid workers have begun preparations for setting up isolation wards in the major camps in the event of outbreaks of diseases with the approaching summer when the risk of epidemics will be high.

Conditions have improved at Radusa camp. Refugees there are getting 40 to 50 liters of water per person per day, have showers and receive three hot meals per day. There are six doctors from the Bulgarian and the Macedonian Red Cross. A UNHCR warehouse is being set up to be used as recreation center for children. A second tent will be set up as a women’s centre, and will include a library for the Albanian women’s organization.

MONTENEGRO

It has been reported that the Yugoslav army moved late on Friday to take control of the border crossing between Montenegro and Albania.

From displaced Kosovars who had been trying to cross the border, UNHCR first learned that the Yugoslav army had established a checkpoint a few kilometers before the border. They then stopped seven buses carrying Kosovars heading for the border.

The soldiers reportedly arrested 100 to 150 men, aged between 16 and 55, who were then taken back to Kosovo. Some of the other passengers, mainly women and children, crossed to Albania, while others were sent back to Ulcinj and Tuzi. As of Sunday, the Montenegro authorities had no information on the whereabouts of the arrested men.

HUMANITARIAN EVACUATION PROGRAM

Departures under the humanitarian evacuation program on Saturday were 1,212 and 1,246 on Sunday. This brought the overall total of departures from the FYR of Macedonia to third countries to more than 49,800.

The departures over the weekend were to Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Italy.

Under the program UNHCR has received offers for 135,000 places in 39 countries.
 

Information as at 17 May 1999, 06:00 GMT

Total recent displacement includes figures in Tables 1 and 2. It is emphasized that the totals in Table 1 in particular should be considered as estimates. Totals in Table 1 are rounded to the nearest hundred. 

Note:

UNHCR Skopje has today reported two Humanitarian Evacuation Program departures (to USA) on May 14 which were previously unconfirmed because of flight delays. 

The Portuguese government (National Service for Civil Protection) has notified us of a corrected total of 506 Humanitarian Evacuation Program departures for Portugal.

Table 2: Humanitarian evacuations of Kosovar refugees 
from the FYR of Macedonia from 5 April through 16 May 1999
(figures subject to daily verification)
  

This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.