A digest of the latest refugee news,
as reported by the world's media.  

KOSOVANS: AID WORKERS OPTIMISTIC 9 Apr. 99 – International aid agencies made plans to build new camps for nearly 500,000 refugees in Macedonia and Albania and a temporary runway for airlifting supplies, reports the Washington Post. The agencies appeared to be gaining control over the chaotic refugee situation in both countries, and some aid officials began to speak optimistically for the first time since Serb forces started expelling hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo two weeks ago. US officials have even begun questioning whether there will be a need to relocate 20,000 refugees to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay following the abrupt end to the exodus. The article also list agencies accepting contributions to assist the refugees. AP adds that a UNHCR spokesman yesterday said UN agencies trying to help refugees from Kosovo have received pledges from numerous countries for the US$138.4m sought earlier this week. UNHCR has registered cash and supplies from more than 30 countries, and more still have given money to other humanitarian agencies. [Aid Groups Gaining Control of Refugee Crisis – www.washingtonpost.com; Worldwide, countries send aid to the refugees from Kosovo – www.ap.org]

KOSOVANS: MORE AID 9 Apr. 99 – European foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg have agreed to give an extra US$270m of aid to Kosovo Albanian refugees, reports BBC News. The money will be put towards setting up refugee camps in Albania. Funds will also go to Macedonia. In addition to the funds from Europe, the World Bank has reportedly agreed a US$40m loan to Macedonia. Reuters adds that IMF is mulling how to help neighbouring countries deal with the financial fallout of the Kosovo crisis. A spokeswoman said grants might be more useful than loans. AP reports UN officials yesterday said so much aid is pouring into Albania to help refugees that the main airport can't handle it all and some planes aren't being allowed to land. Meanwhile Xinhua reports the Finnish government yesterday pledged to provide an emergency aid of around US$10m to help Kosovo refugees in Albania and Macedonia. [Europe promises hundreds of dollars of aid for Kosovo refugees – http://news.bbc.co.uk; IMF looking at response to Kosovo crisis – www.reuters.com; Kosovo aid can't get to Albania because of airport congestion – www.ap.org; Finland to Grant 10 Million U.S. Dollars to Kosovo Refugees – www.xinhua.org]

MACEDONIA: KOSOVANS ARRIVE VIA SERBIA 9 Apr. 99 – About 800 Kosovo refugees entered Macedonia today through the border crossing of Kumanovo, saying Serbian police had stripped them of their possessions and documents before letting them through, reports Reuters. The refugees were taken by bus to the Stankovic refugee camp in the Blazhda area, just before UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata was due to visit. [800 Kosovo refugees reach Macedonia through Serbia – www.reuters.com]

MACEDONIA: KOSOVANS DESPAIR 9 Apr. 99 – Aid agencies struggled yesterday with refugees lost in the confusion of the exodus from Kosovo as Red Cross ambulances retrieved two dozen or more old people left at Blace, the no-man's land on Macedonia's border, reports AP. Reuters reports hundreds of desperate men and women clung yesterday to the fence of Radusa camp's wire fence, shouting to police and journalists for help in finding their loved ones. Armed policemen guarded the perimeter for possible escapes. The DailyTelegraph reports Macedonian authorities are holding 2,000 refugees in a crowded hillside compound at Radusa in conditions closer to a prisoner of war camp. Meanwhile the Washington Post reports aid organisations have begun "tracing" efforts. At Brazde, the Children's Defence Fund has a table where people can go to give information about their missing children. The Red Cross has begun a similar effort at several camps, including Brazde, where refugees are lined up to talk to workers who are taking down the names of the missing, descriptions, and circumstances in which they became separated. Those reports will be matched against reports taken in other camps in Macedonia and any other site around the world. Of the estimated 125,000 refugees thought to be in Macedonia, only 28,000 have been officially documented, says UNHCR spokesperson Paula Ghedini. [By handful, by thousands, refugees lost in confusion of exodus – www.ap.org; Kosovo refugees despair in Macedonian camp – www.reuters.com; Kosovars trapped in `concentration camp' say Macedonians are worse than Serbs – www.telegraph.co.uk; In Macedonia, Refugees Seek Family Members – www.washingtonpost.com]

MACEDONIA: MISSING KOSOVANS LOCATED, MOSTLY 9 Apr. 99 – Aid workers have traced thousands of Kosovo refugees previously unaccounted for after a mass evacuation from the Macedonian border, reports BBC News. UNHCR and the US State Department say the 10,000 missing refugees are either in Albania or on their way there. It means Albania has now accepted about 20,000 of 40,000 refugees moved out of Blace by the Macedonian authorities. Others were moved into Macedonia or transferred to Greece. But fears are growing for other refugees who have reportedly been forced back into Kosovo as they tried to leave. UNHCR says most of the Kosovo Albanians who were moved in the middle of the night from Blace have been traced. And State Department spokesman James Rubin said only a small minority were still unaccounted for. Aid workers are furious over the operation at Blace. They say many families have been split up and may never be reunited. The Guardian reports the mystery of what happened to thousands of missing Kosovan refugees was still not solved last night, more than 36 hours after they disappeared. Several thousand spent all night at a stadium in Albania without food or water, a Red Cross spokesman said. Others had been traced to a disused military barracks. Reuters adds UNHCR today said the 10,000 missing refugees have been traced to Macedonia and Albania. [Missing refugees traced – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Refugees still 'missing' – www.guardian.co.uk; UNHCR says 10,000 missing Kosovo refugees traced ]

MACEDONIA: KOSOVANS' TREATMENT DEFENDED 9 Apr. 99 – Macedonia yesterday rejected international criticism of the way it handled refugees from Kosovo and blamed NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia for triggering the mass exodus of ethnic Albanians, reports Reuters. It dismissed claims by relief agencies that refugees were unaccounted for and attacked European Union humanitarian aid commissioner Emma Bonino for accusing Macedonia of helping Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic by expelling refugees. Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Trajkovski told a news conference yesterday that UNHCR had "a problem with numbers." But he said the government was in contact with foreign embassies to explain that all refugees were accounted for. He also said that paperwork would start in all refugee camps to allow Albanians to have some documents. Correspondents said some of the camps, like German-run Neprostino, were in good condition and the refugees offered no serious complaints. But in others, such as Macedonian-run Radusa, refugees faced appalling conditions amid heavy-handed police treatment. Reuters in Albania reports Kosovan refugees who endured days of misery at Blace accused Macedonian police yesterday of terrorising them when they herded them onto buses to Albania. AFP reports UNHCR chief Sadako Ogata arrived yesterday for talks with agency representatives in Skopje and to visit refugee camps. She will also meet Macedonian government leaders. [Macedonia defends refugee policy amid complaints + Kosovo refugees accuse Macedonia of abuse – www.reuters.com; UNHCR chief arrives in Macedonia – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: 'OPERATION ALLIED HARBOUR' 9 Apr. 99 – NATO is sending 8,000 ground troops to assist with aid efforts in Albania: Operation Allied Harbour will begin by the end of next week, said spokesman Jamie Shea. The Financial Times reports 14 NATO countries will take part in the operation. NATO stressed the operation was humanitarian but there was speculation that the troops could later form part of the planned NATO-led security force to protect refugees returning to Kosovo. The Daily Telegraph reports NATO authorised the deployment of 8,000 ground troops to Albania yesterday to deal with the worsening Kosovar refugee crisis, amid growing calls for the use of Western soldiers to force the Serb authorities to allow displaced ethnic Albanians to go home. The Guardian reports the decision, presented yesterday as a humanitarian move to ease the refugee crisis, could mark the next step towards sending a ground force into Kosovo. Meanwhile Xinhua reports the Swedish government yesterday said it could not send troops to join NATO's operation for the refugee crisis as it was not internationally authorised by the UN and OSCE. [Ground troops to Albania – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Nato in threat to destroy Serb 'propaganda' media – www.ft.com; Nato sends 8,000 troops to Albania – Invasion of Kosovo on the agenda – www.telegraph.co.uk; Nato builds up troop force – www.guardian.co.uk; Sweden Rejects NATO's Request for Troops – www.xinhua.org]

MONTENEGRO: KOSOVANS STILL ARRIVING 9 Apr. 99 – Ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo continued to pour into Montenegro yesterday, swelling the total to some 40,000 in the past two weeks, said UNHCR, reports Reuters. While Kosovo border crossings into Macedonia and Albania were closed earlier this week, mountain passes remained open into Montenegro, Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation. Around 1,000 men, women and children walked over the beaten paths into northeast Montenegro during the day, bringing with them fresh tales of Serb brutality. UNHCR said some 1,000 refugees had arrived in the area on Wednesday. [Kosovo refugees still flowing into Montenegro – www.reuters.com]

GERMANY: FIRST KOSOVANS ARRIVE 9 Apr. 99 – The first airlift of refugees from Kosovo arrived at Nuremberg airport – 60 people altogether, 50 of them women and children, many of them ill and needing to be helped from the plane, reports BBC News. Those most in need of medical help were the first to be brought in on flights from the Macedonian capital. Almost 600 more people arrived on further flights early yesterday. Germany has agreed to accept 10,000 refugees from Kosovo in total. Germany's regional governments have agreed to share the refugees between them, with the intention that the most people will go to the areas that can best afford them. The federal government has also agreed to contribute to the cost. The government has decided that the Kosovans should have a limited stay here – no longer than three months. AFP reports Austria's foreign minister yesterday said his country will accommodate twice as many refugees from Kosovo as initially planned – 10,000 instead of 5,000. [Refugees arrive in Germany – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Austria to double Kosovo refugee intake: FM – www.afp.com]

SWITZERLAND: KOSOVANS ACCEPTED 9 Apr. 99 – Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss paid a helicopter visit to Kosovo refugees in Macedonia yesterday and returned home with 20 of them, reports AP. Switzerland, which already hosts more Kosovo Albanians than any European country except Germany, also announced it would allow Kosovo refugees to remain temporarily in Switzerland without a formal asylum procedure. The only exceptions are refugees who pass through another safe country or who have a criminal record, Swiss officials said. The cabinet, or Federal Council, also agreed to UNHCR's request that Switzerland accept refugees in groups. Their numbers are to be determined. Justice Minister Arnold Koller said priority would be given to the sick and wounded, and those with relatives in Switzerland. [Swiss president checks Kosovo refugees, brings 20 home – www.ap.org]

USA: KOSOVANS' AIRLIFT SUSPENDED 9 Apr. 99 – Bowing to pressure from refugee groups and aid organisations, the Clinton administration has suspended plans for an airlift of Kosovo refugees from Macedonia to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, reports the New York Times. Instead the US will build refugee barracks for them in Albania, said US officials. However, they emphasised that the option of flying in up to 20,000 refugees will be retained. Among the chief opponents to the Guantanamo idea was UNHCR's office. "The whole idea of moving the refugees out of asylum near their homes is bad, moving out of the region is worse and Guantanomo is the worst of all," said Karen Abu Zayd, UNHCR representative in Washington. Meanwhile, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Kathleen Newland, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, say the prospect of putting 20,000 refugees behind barbed wire at the Guantanamo ought to be chilling. The US government says that temporary arrangements are necessary lest more durable protection be seen as giving in to ethnic cleansing. But a less praiseworthy motive may lie behind the decision to use Guantanamo. Refugees held there cannot apply for political asylum under US law. The US can readily absorb 20,000 refugees, says the article. [U.S. Plans Refugee Barracks in Albania and Drops Airlift – www.nytimes.com; America, Too, Should Take In Refugees From Kosovo – www.washingtonpost.com]

KOSOVANS: REMARKABLE, BUT… 9 Apr. 99 – The international, national and NGO agencies, starting with UNHCR, were handed a Sisyphean task in Kosovo, says Stephen S. Rosenfeld in the Washington Post. They are responding bravely. Not without hitches, the humanitarian gang is doing its job. This time, in Kosovo, the United States and its allies did not wait for the war to conclude before stating as a war aim to resettle the refugees and ensure their welfare in their old homes. The project in Kosovo is the right one, but uncertain. In fact, it is two projects: One is to care for people in need. The other is to prevent masses of refugees from flooding and destabilising the neighbouring countries. Hence the calls to find other locations to park the wretched people for the duration of their uprooting: NATO may be headed toward a ground intervention in Kosovo. Its objective presumably would be to reduce President Slobodan Milosevic's power and ensure Kosovan refugees and displaced persons safety in their country. This is a remarkable development: An invasion for refugees. Grave problems of effectiveness and consistency linger. People have only begun to think about what standards to apply to the separate plights of distinct refugee groups. Some measure of consistency is going to have to be achieved if a strong humanitarian policy is to emerge and endure. Meanwhile, Peter Simple in the Daily Telegraph says the propagandists for the unjust and odious war against Serbia have one almost unbeatable card to play: the sufferings of the Albanian refugees. [An Invasion For Refugees – www.washingtonpost.com; Deceit – www.telegraph.co.uk]

KOSOVO NOTES 9 Apr. 99 – AFP reports UNHCR yesterday said it would return to Kosovo only with strict guarantees from Serbian authorities of security for the civilian population. AP reports UNPF said it sent condoms, contraceptives for rape victims, and emergency equipment for delivering babies yesterday to help Kosovo refugees in Albania. Reuters reports Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Vuc Draskovic said he would do what he could to locate two Australian aid workers, Steven Pratt and Peter Wallace, who went missing more than a week ago en route to Montenegro to help Kosovan refugees. Reuters reports NATO air strikes have given a Yugoslav army deserter a second chance to apply for asylum in France.

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