AT A GLANCE
- Refugees found in desperate condition in mountain village
near Malina Mala, in the border area between the FYR of Macedonia and Kosovo.
- Another train from Urosevac deposited around 1,000 refugees
near the border with the FYR of Macedonia on Friday, while 192 straggled into northern
Albania. 12 busloads of Kosovars left Montenegro for Albania.
- The estimated total numbers of refugees in the region are
363,000 in Albania, and 133,700 in the FYR of Macedonia. An additional 65,700 displaced
Kosovars remain in Montenegro.
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
ALBANIA
A total of 192 refugees crossed the border at Morini on
Friday. Most came on foot, though a few arrived by car. In a puzzling turn of events, one
group of 60 refugees consisted only of men. They said that they and their families had
been rounded up in their village of Petrova, near Prizren, by military authorities. In an
account which cannot be independently verified, they told UNHCR staff that the women and
children had been separated from the men, who were then put on a bus and driven to the
border. The women and children remained behind.
UNHCR continued its efforts to transfer refugees away from
the border area near Kukes. On Friday an estimated 3,000 refugees left Kukes for other
prefectures on buses provided by the authorities and UNHCR.
Contingency planning by UNHCR and its partners for another
large influx into the Kukes area is continuing. The availability of shelter remains the
principal concern. The Emergency Management Group in Kukes, the main coordinating body,
has agreed on action to tackle this problem: 49 buildings have been identified by local
authorities, which, with some minor repair, can serve as collective centers. Meanwhile a
team of Albanian, NATO and DFID (UK) officials will today begin an assessment of seven
sites. If found suitable, UNHCR would ask NATO to set up emergency camps on those sites.
Problems of land ownership and the high water table remain factors which complicate
efforts to construct new camps.
The early provision of assistance to host families has
also been identified as an essential element of contingency planning. If host families are
to continue to accommodate refugees and to take in new arrivals, the international
community must provide them with more support.
Over the past two days, a total of 41 planes carrying
relief supplies arrived in Tirana. The ICRC has begun daily flights to ferry relief
supplies to Bajram Curri, an area in northern Albania which has been plagued by insecurity
and banditry. The ICRC will provide assistance to approximately 2,300 Kosovar refugees
living there. An estimated 5,000 internally displaced Albanians are also believed to be in
Bajram Curri, after having left their villages near the border with Kosovo.
Kosovars continue to cross into Albania from Montenegro on
a daily basis. Many find temporary accommodation in and around Shkodra. Several thousand
have continued onward to other parts of Albania. In addition, an unknown number of
Montenegrins of Albanian origin have crossed into the Shkodra area.
Accommodation in Shkodra is severely limited and is
quickly being filled with new arrivals. In one case, nearly 4,000 refugees are crowding
into a tobacco factory with a capacity for less than half this amount. Sanitation in the
factory is very poor. UNHCR is working to identify alternative sites to house refugees and
is sending additional staff and relief supplies to the town. Basic food items are being
distributed by UNHCR to refugees living in and around Shkodra and WFP is working to
strengthen the supply chain between Tirana and Shkodra.
FYR of MACEDONIA
UNHCR staff had been trying all week to get access to the
mountainous region between the Blace and Lojane, where refugees had begun to arrive nearly
one week ago. Finally on Thursday a small UNHCR aid convoy was allowed into the area, and
on Friday a team headed there to assess the needs of the refugees. They found that most of
the refugees had dispersed after having arrived at the small village of Malina Mala. They
found approximately 500 exhausted refugees, many staying in a mosque at the village of
Lipkova, an 8 to 10 hour trek on foot from Malina Mala.
The refugees had arrived earlier Friday morning, many
suffering from serious dehydration and in need of urgent medical care. Some of the
children appeared to be unconscious, others were too exhausted to talk or even to eat. The
refugees said that seven children and two elderly persons had died during their walk from
Kosovo to Malina Mala a week ago. Snow and cold winds have aggravated an already bad
situation. UNHCR urgently requested Médecins du Monde to dispatch a medical team. The
refugees have reported that a further group of several hundred refugees are thought to be
on their way to the village. A UNHCR team is returning to the area today to try to locate
the other refugees believed to be in the vicinity.
Another train carrying approximately 1,000 refugees
arrived at the border at Blace yesterday. They were taken to the Stankovac II camp. Other
border crossings were reported to be quiet throughout the day. Heavy rains have worsened
the conditions in the refugee camps, giving a new urgency to the humanitarian evacuation
program.
MONTENEGRO
The border crossing between Montenegro and Croatia has
reopened and the previous visa regime has been re-established. Some aid agency staff and a
few journalists who crossed into Montenegro on Friday reported no problems in doing so.
However, the situation in the Rozaje area, on the border with Kosovo and opposite the
Rugova valley, remains very tense ever since the establishment of a Yugoslav army presence
in several locations around Rozaje town a week ago and violent incidents which took place
in that area on 18/19 April. An unknown number of Montenegrin Muslims are reported to have
left that area, apparently headed for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On Friday morning, 12 buses departed from Rozaje heading
for Albania. There are still around 5,000 displaced persons in collective centres in
Rozaje, of whom 2,000 in factories, 1,700 in tents and 1,300 in mosques. There were few
new arrivals during Thursday and Friday, with exact numbers still to be confirmed.
A meeting on food distribution and logistics was held on
Friday in Podgorica, chaired by the Montenegro Red Cross and the IFRC. A co-ordination
meeting was also held in Ulcinj for the growing number of agencies active there.
HUMANITARIAN EVACUATION PROGRAM
On Friday 23 April, just 280 refugees were flown out of
Skopje to Norway, and for the first time, to Sweden. Flights to Austria, France, the
Netherlands and Turkey are scheduled for today. The first flights to the UK and Spain are
planned for Sunday, along with additional departures to France, Turkey and the
Netherlands. UNHCR has reiterated its appeal to receiving countries to simplify and
accelerate their procedures to the maximum extent possible.
Government delegations from the Netherlands and Spain are
in Skopje working with UNHCR on preparations for departures to their countries. A Danish
team is expected on the weekend. UNHCR remains very grateful to the Australian and
Canadian teams which have been providing invaluable assistance to UNHCR in the
implementation of the evacuation program.
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Document compiled by Dr S D Stein