NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
| |
Returns to
Kosovo |
Remaining
in country |
| July 12-13 |
Cumulative
|
| Montenegro |
800 |
48,300 |
32,200 |
| FYR of Macedonia (1) |
700 |
212,800
|
30,300 |
| Albania (2) |
6,200 |
389,100
|
38,300 |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina |
na |
4,400 |
16,600 |
| TOTAL |
7,700 |
654,600
|
117,400
|
(1) FYR of Macedonia: return figures henceforth comprise "green
card" and UNHCR card holders only; remaining population figure revised to take
account of recount of refugees staying with host families (current estimate 21,000, figure
expected to rise as Green Cards continue to be revalidated).
(2) Albania: cumulative totals adjusted in line with latest UNHCR Tirana
figures.
RETURNS
Returns to Kosovo of refugees and displaced people from
neighboring territories have steadily dropped as the vast majority of the refugees have
already gone home. Over the past two days, 7,700 returned to Kosovo — 3,300 on Monday
and 4,400 on Tuesday.
The count includes 1,531 Kosovars who went on convoys
organized by UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration, NGOs and NATO troops in
Albania and Kosovo.
From Montenegro, 600 Kosovars went home on Monday and 200
on Tuesday. The figures include 182 Kosovars who went on UNHCR’s convoys.
Departures from the FYR of Macedonia totaled 200 on Monday
and 467 on Tuesday. Returns from Albania were 2,500 on Monday and 3,700 on Tuesday.
The highest recorded returns since the massive
repatriation movement began were on 24 June, when more than 50,000 Kosovars went back
spontaneously — 26,700 from Albania, 19,000 from the FYR of Macedonia and 4,500 from
Montenegro.
KOSOVO
One month after resuming operations in Kosovo, UNHCR has
put together distribution infrastructures across Kosovo and is now encouraging people to
return to their homes and begin repairs.
Seven offices have been established since UNHCR resumed
operations in Kosovo on 13 June. The organization is now focussing on its shelter program
in the days ahead, before the onset of winter.
Initial surveys conducted by UNHCR and its partners
indicate that 40,000-50,000 homes across Kosovo are uninhabitable. However, UNHCR is
urging returnees to start emergency repairs wherever this is feasible. This will be
supported over the next two-three months with UNHCR’s basic, dry shelter kits —
plastic, wood strips, nails, tools. Thereafter, the focus will be on making houses
winter-proof. UNHCR is urging other agencies to begin immediate reconstruction of homes,
apartment buildings and damaged infrastructure.
There are now 12 NGOs active in the water and sanitation
sector. They are initially cleaning contaminated wells. For example in Decane alone, 39 of
44 villages are reported to have wells contaminated by corpses. Some work is also being
done on public water supply systems, including the provision of chlorine and tools,
additional storage capacity and minor repairs. An assessment of the public water supply
systems is now in progress. The collection of solid waste from the towns is of growing
concern. In Pristina, this is being done with the support of the British KFOR.
Food is provided in Kosovo by the World Food Program and
the U.S. Food for Peace through the seven distribution hubs where UNHCR has offices —
Pristina, Pec, Prizren, Urosevac, Gnjilane, Djakovica and Kosovska Mitrovica.
The implementing partners are the Norwegian Refugee
Council, Catholic Relief Services, International Rescue Committee, CARE, Action Against
Hunger, Children’s Aid Direct, Solidarité and Mercy Corps International. These
partners supervise distribution from the seven hubs to the local level, where the Albanian
charity Mother Teresa Society distributes the food directly to the beneficiaries.
The Mother Teresa Society has traditionally carried out
the bulk of final distribution in Kosovo. Although its assets were hard-hit during the
conflict, it is still the main distribution channel for both food and non-food items,
handing out more than 75 percent of aid on the local level. ICRC is also providing food in
some areas through the Yugoslav Red Cross.
Basic commodities distributed include 12 kilograms of
wheat flour, one kilogram each of oil, pulses and sugar per month per person. No rice,
salt or canned food is available in any quantities in Kosovo. Bread is distributed in
Prizren and Mitrovica. A bread project is planned to focus over two-three months on the 10
main urban areas. Ration cards have been prepared in three languages (Albanian, English,
Serb) and will be used on a pilot project basis in Pec through Mercy Corps International.
The aim is to distribute food to 1.1 million people for an
initial 90 days. However, it is still difficult to produce an accurate figure for persons
actually receiving food. WFP reports an estimated beneficiary caseload of some 750,000 and
puts the amount of total food distributed so far at some 6,000 metric tons.
SECURITY
UNHCR is alarmed at increasing reports of attacks against
the minority Serb and Roma communities in Kosovo despite repeated appeals for
reconciliation and ethnic harmony.
In Pristina on Monday, two ethnic Serb refugees — one
from Bosnia and the other from Croatia — were reported to have been kidnapped from
the Hotel Bozur, a collective accommodation facility where the refugees were living. KFOR
later evacuated 28 refugees from the facility to Kosovo Polje, where other minorities are
sheltered.
The population of Roma seeking sanctuary near the cemetery
at the Brekovac (Brekoc) area has grown to approximately 500 with new arrivals from Coloni
neighborhood east of Djakovica.
The burning of Serb houses in the Prizren area continues
daily. In the last week, 60 houses were torched in the Prizren municipality, including 10
in the main town over the weekend.
The Orthodox Church in Prizren, which is now caring for
167 displaced Serbs and Roma, has received threats of attack. KFOR troops have stepped up
patrols in the area.
UNHCR Podgorica reports that between 9 June and 4 July,
around 22,000 Serbs and Roma entered Montenegro from Kosovo. A large group of Roma has
been camping out near the port of Bar, unwilling to accept accommodation in tent sites in
Ulcinj.
KFOR, the international security force in Kosovo, and the
Kosovo Liberation Army have expressed concern about reports of criminal activities
allegedly carried out by well-armed Albanian gangs in KLA uniforms in the Djakovica area.
In the last 10 days KFOR troops have found the bodies of nine murder victims, including a
woman and a child.
RETURNS FROM THIRD COUNTRIES
Governments hosting some 92,000 Kosovo Albanians evacuated
from the FYR of Macedonia under the Humanitarian Evacuation Program have endorsed UNHCR
and IOM’s coordination role in returning the refugees on a voluntary basis.
During a three-hour meeting in Geneva on Monday (July 12)
organized jointly by UNHCR and IOM, representatives of 29 governments and the FYR of
Macedonia agreed that the return of the evacuees must be orderly.
Governments expressed support for UNHCR’s voluntary
return guidelines and generally accepted UNHCR’s position that un-coordinated
movements organized on a bilateral basis could create "chaos" and hamper rather
than foster the return operation.
It was agreed that the host governments will signal an
intended return movement to UNHCR and IOM. UNHCR and IOM will then secure a landing slot
and onward transport as well as inform the refugees about conditions on the ground. IOM
said the coordination hub will be in Skopje.
UNHCR expressed the hope that Pristina airport may become
operational for return flights "in a couple of weeks."
30 DAYS IN KOSOVO: A CHRONOLOGY
12 June: A UNHCR staff member joins initial
deployment of NATO troops.
13 June: Inter-agency convoy of 50 vehicles
carrying 250 tons of aid supplies enters Kosovo. UNHCR opens office in Pristina, the first
of seven planned in the province.
14 June: Multi-agency convoy led by UNHCR
distributes aid for 20,000 people in Glogovac town; in New York, UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan presents plan for Kosovo, including the interim civil administration, institution
building, reconstruction and humanitarian affairs — the latter to be led by UNHCR.
15 June: UNHCR establishes offices in Prizren
and Pec. Large-scale spontaneous returns begin.
16 June: Senior U.N. officials meet in Geneva on
the implementation of the civil aspects of the Kosovo peace plan and focus on the division
of labor between KFOR and U.N. agencies.
19 June: High Commissioner Sadako Ogata
discusses Kosovo on the occasion of the G8 summit in Cologne, including plans for refugee
return.
21 June: UNHCR opens office in Urosevac, begins
direct supply runs from Skopje to distribution centers in Kosovo.
22 June: UNHCR opens office in Gnjilane.
24 June: UNHCR opens office in Kosovska
Mitrovica.
28 June: UNHCR opens office in Djakovica,
seventh and last office in Kosovo, and, with IOM, begins organized repatriation from the
FYR of Macedonia.
2 July: UNHCR begins organized repatriation from
Albania.
5 July: High Commissioner Sadako Ogata makes a
two-day visit to Kosovo, her fourth since the conflict started in the spring of 1998 and
her first since UNHCR resumed operations in Kosovo.
7 July: Organized returns from Montenegro begin.
8 July: UNHCR issues first partial report of
survey conducted with help of NGOs and KFOR troops. The agency estimates that
40,000-50,000 homes were made uninhabitable during the war.
12 July: 30 countries take part in a meeting
under UNHCR and IOM auspices and agree on coordinated voluntary return of refugees they
are hosting.
|
Document compiled by Dr S D Stein