AT A GLANCE
- UNHCR and other U.N. agencies continue intense planning for
the return of refugees and internally displaced people despite the breakdown of talks
between NATO and the Yugoslav military on the implementation of the peace agreement on
Kosovo.
- A trickle of refugees enter Albania and the FYR of
Macedonia as Kosovars await the outcome of last week’s peace agreement and fighting
continues between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army.
- In the lowest number of departures so far, 323 refugees
left from the FYR of Macedonia over the weekend under the humanitarian evacuation program
of UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration.
- The estimated total of refugees and displaced people in the
region stands at 782,300, including 21,700 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 69,400 in
Montenegro, 247,400 in the FYR of Macedonia and 443,800 in Albania.
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Despite the breakdown early today of talks between NATO
and the Yugoslav army on the military implementation of the peace agreement, intense
planning for the return of refugees and internally displaced people continues.
UNHCR is meeting today with other UN agencies and will
convene two meetings on Wednesday, one with representatives of NGOs and another with donor
countries on the return issue. UNHCR and its partners will need to go into Kosovo quickly,
as soon as security is assured, in order to assist the internally displaced and to prepare
for returns.
UNHCR is concerned about the situation of the remaining
Serbian civilian population in Kosovo, once the Yugoslav forces withdraw. UNHCR believes
that the Kosovo Serbs’ right to remain in their home areas must be safeguarded, as
the return proceeds.
Detailed planning is underway within UNHCR and with its
partners on the key sectors of shelter, food, logistics, health, and community services. A
mass information campaign will be launched in the asylum countries in an effort to provide
the refugees with information about return and assistance as well as to raise awareness of
the risks posed by land mines, unexploded ordnance and booby-traps.
In the Albanian border town of Kukes, UNHCR over the
weekend met with representatives of numerous UN agencies, NGOs, NATO and the OSCE to draw
up various contingency plans related to return, and to the possibility of refugees heading
back to Kukes from other parts of Albania.
The majority of the over 400,000 Kosovars in Albania came
through the Morini crossing in Kukes. Around 100,000 remain in the Kukes area. UNHCR has
already prepositioned supplies there to meet the needs of up to 100,000 people coming in
from other parts of Albania and repatriating through the Morini crossing.
ALBANIA
Rockets and mortar rounds fell in areas of northern
Albania as fighting between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army continued over
the weekend.
UNHCR and government trucks evacuated more than 800
refugees from Krume in northern Albania to a collective center in Puke and the others to a
camp in Shkodra to the west. Some of the evacuees were accommodated at a tented warehouse
in Kukes town.
Meanwhile, around 300 people fled into Albania from Kosovo
over the past three days. On Friday, 131 refugees crossed the Morini border. On Saturday,
just 86 refugees crossed. All were former prisoners from the Smrekovnica prison near
Kosovska Mitrovica town. They recounted beatings that they received from their Serbian
captors after the announcement of the peace agreement on Thursday before they were
released. They said all their valuables were taken away upon their imprisonment. They were
put on buses to the border on Saturday and had to walk 15 kilometers to the Morini
crossing.The only new arrivals at the Morini border crossing on Sunday were 82 men, all
released from the Smrekovnica prison. They also said they had been severely beaten by
Serbian soldiers.
Altogether more than 2,500 detainees have been released
from this prison and arrived in northern Albania over the past two weeks. Some reported
that their release was to make room for new detainees.
FYR of MACEDONIA
Around 800 people crossed into the FYR of Macedonia over
the past three days amid artillery and mortar fire heard from the Kosovo side of the
border.
The arrivals say Serbian troops were continuing a campaign
of violence in major cities in Kosovo, evicting residents from their homes at gunpoint,
looting and burning houses. Villages in the Gnjilane area were reported to be empty.
There were also a significant number of arrivals who had
no documents, particularly among the 119 people who came in through the Tabanovce border.
They said Serbian authorities in some places apparently have been allowing people to leave
even without passports, reversing a policy enforced over the past week.
In some areas, there were reports among refugees from
Pristina, Gnjilane, Kosovska Kamenica and Pec that the number of paramilitary and police
forces had even increased despite the announcement in Belgrade that as part of the peace
arrangement the military and police would withdraw from Kosovo.
In Pristina, police have been handing out new registration
papers for residents, possibly in a bid to prevent those who have left from returning.
In another development, an angry group of Kosovars at
Stenkovec I camp attacked a family belonging to the Roma ethnic group on Saturday after a
member was identified by a refugee as having allegedly been involved in the killing of his
father in Podujevo town.
Rioting broke out until UNHCR, U.S. Ambassador Christopher
Hill, and NGO staff intervened. Some staff members suffered minor injuries during the
rioting.
Meanwhile efforts continue to improve camp conditions as
summer sets in. OXFAM is installing additional taps to improve water supply at Stenkovec
I. Food distribution has also improved at Radusa camp and repairs for the collective
center there are being made.
On Saturday, 84 refugees volunteered to go to Korce in
Albania under a UNHCR program to decongest camps in the FYR of of Macedonia. So far, 835
refugees have relocated to Korce.
MONTENEGRO
Sixty seven new arrivals were reported in Montenegro on
Friday. No information is available yet on any new arrivals over the weekend.
UNHCR continues to try to improve facilities at Ulcinj
where arrivals from the Montenegrin border town of Rozaje are being moved because of
tensions prompted by increased military activity.
Preparations for a new camp site are being completed to
accommodate 600 new arrivals, including 463 people encamped at the Ulcinj bus station.
Two trailers arrived from Belgrade over the weekend,
bringing 100 cooking stoves, 1,000 mattresses, 40 rolls of plastic roofing, 20 plastic
rolls for windows and 10 boxes of forks and knives.
UNHCR-IOM HUMANITARIAN EVACUATION PROGRAM
Over the past three days, 1,460 refugees in the FYR of
Macedonia departed under the humanitarian evacuation program of UNHCR and the
International Organization for Migration. In the lowest number of departures so far, only
163 left for the United Kingdom on Saturday and 160 flew to Portugal on Sunday.
Friday’s departures totalled 1,137 to seven countries.
So far 77,935 have departed under the program in which
UNHCR has received offers for 137,000 places in 40 countries.
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Document compiled by Dr S D Stein