AT A GLANCE
- Around 450 Kosovars arrive Wednesday in northern Albania,
including 200 men freed from a Kosovo jail.
- More than 500 refugees enter the FYR of Macedonia
Wednesday, many of them slipping through mountain paths.
- Hundreds of refugees arrive daily from Kosovo into
Montenegro as Serbian authorities allow only people with valid papers to leave.
- Departures under the humanitarian evacuation program total
1,217 on Wednesday, bringing the overall count to 75,200.
- The estimated number of refugees and displaced people in
the region is 782,100, including 68,900 in Montenegro, 248,400 in the FYR of Macedonia and
443,100 in Albania.
Major Developments
ALBANIA
An estimated 450 Kosovars arrived at the Morini border
crossing on Wednesday, including 200 men freed from a Kosovo prison. The arrivals said
there were more refugees in three to four tractor-wagons which had been stopped by police
along the route to the Albanian border. It was not known what happened to them.
The area in the Morini crossing was relatively quiet,
unlike in the previous days when bombs and rockets strayed as Serbian troops battled the
Kosovo Liberation Army along the border.
The refugees said police came to their village earlier in
the day, firing guns and prompting them to flee. They said police separated out 15 men
from the convoys of people leaving the village.
In recent days more than 2,000 detainees have been freed
from the Smrekovnica prison in the northern Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Meanwhile, UNHCR has signed agreements with 14
non-governmental organizations to carry out programs in the shelter, water and sanitation
sectors. These programs include the construction of tented camps, the rehabilitation of
public buildings for collective accommodation and camp management.
Work on two thirds of the 29 new camp sites and collective
centers has been completed. These places can hold up to 78,000 refugees, but are now
occupied by 15,000 people.
The U.S. government has announced it will support the
construction of another camp called Liberty in Fier, which will shelter 10,000 refugees.
The Czech government has handed over to UNHCR Rushkull II
camp, which can hold 1,000 refugees. In Korce, the NATO French contingent continues with
work at the former fish factory camp for 5,000 refugees. The British military also has
started to construct the Dersnik I camp in Korce for an estimated 4,000 refugees.
As summer approaches, UNHCR is improving water supplies to
refugees and locals. In Durres, water purifying plants are providing water to 10,000
refugees at the three Hamallaj camps. Water is also tapped and tankered from the public
treatment plant to augment the output and supply the two Rashkull camps occupied by 3,000
refugees. In Kukes, UNHCR is attempting to address the problem of shortages among both
refugees and locals by treating lake water.
FYR of MACEDONIA
A total of 528 refugees crossed into the FYR of Macedonia
on Wednesday — 320 at Tabanovce, 169 through the mountains at Jazince, 22 at Blace
and 17 at Lojane.
The people who slipped into Jazince were mostly young men
from Suva Reka in central Kosovo. They were intercepted by the Macedonian army and
escorted to Neprosteno camp. The arrivals at Tabanovce came by bus from Pristina, Gnjilane
and Kosovska Kamenica.
Of the 22 who entered through the main border crossing at
Blace, 17 had passports but five others did not have papers. Some of the arrivals there
said they had been hiding for a month after they were expelled from their homes by police.
Arrivals in the FYR of Macedonia have fallen dramatically
after Serb authorities reportedly decided last week to allow only people with papers to
leave. Just before that, 30,000 people were expelled to the FYR of Macedonia over a
one-week period.
MONTENEGRO
Around 500 refugees arrived on Tuesday in Montenegro. An
average of almost 500 refugees have been arriving daily in Montenegro since the Serbian
authorities last week clamped down on departures of people without papers.
In the meantime, UNHCR continues its program to move
arrivals at the border town of Rozaje to Ulcinj because of increased military activity
along the border. On Wednesday, UNHCR transported 148 Kosovars who arrived in Rozaje two
days ago.
UNHCR-IOM HUMANITARIAN EVACUATION PROGRAM
Departures under the humanitarian evacuation program of
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration on Wednesday totaled 1,217,
bringing the overall count to 75,231. Destinations were Austria, Denmark, France, Germany,
the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
UNHCR has received offers for 137,000 places 14 countries
under the program.
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Document compiled by Dr S D Stein