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

KOSOVO: UNHCR CONCERNED FOR THOUSANDS MISSING 13 Apr. 99 – UNHCR said yesterday it was very concerned about the fate of thousands of Kosovan Albanians prevented from crossing into Macedonia by Serbian forces last week, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. There was still no trace of them, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva. Even refugees who had arrived since they went missing were unable to say what had happened to them, the spokesman said. None of the newcomers had seen any larger group of civilians on their trek to the border, he added. The make-shift camp in no-man's land where the refugees had been camped out for days on the border with Macedonia was found deserted last Wednesday morning; there were reports that they had been driven back in the interior of Kosovo. [UNHCR very concerned about fate of missing Kosovar refugees – www.dpa.com]

ALBANIA: THOUSANDS MORE KOSOVANS EXPELLED 13 Apr. 99 – A further 4,800 refugees were driven by Serbian forces out of Kosovo overnight, said UNHCR in Geneva today, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. It said they crossed at Morina on the Albanian border between midnight and 5 am, and were from Velika Slatina and Mala Slatina villages. Reuters reports the OSCE said more than 3,000 Kosovo refugees streamed into Albania early today across at Morina near Kukes. Reuters also reports more than 100 Kosovo refugees crossed the border yesterday bringing fresh accounts of horrors suffered at the hands of Serb forces that drove them out. The latest flow appeared to mark a Serb policy of selective expulsion. Le Monde reports on 1,500 villagers from Vragoli in Kosovo, whom it says were forced out on April 9. Meanwhile Liberation reports Albanians have welcomed their ethnic brethren from Kosovo with few questions. Some 80,000 Kosovans, out of 310,000 refugees, are thought to be housed by families. How long can Albanians withstand the impact? The Washington Post reports on the lawless area of northern Albania near Kukes where refugees have arrived. [Another 4,800 are driven out of Kosovo, says UNHCR – www.dpa.com; Over 3,000 Kosovo refugees enter Albania – OSCE – www.reuters.com; 1,500 villagers from Vragoli expelled to Albanian border – www.lemonde.fr; Tirana, open door to refugees – www.liberation.fr; Refugees Migrate From Wilderness To Wild Frontier – www.washingtonpost.com]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS ARRIVE, VIA MONTENEGRO 13 Apr. 99 – Around 1,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees crossed into Albania from Montenegro in the Yugoslav federation yesterday, said observers, reports AFP. OSCE spokesman Andrea Angeli said the latest arrivals from Montenegro was higher than the normal daily tally of a few hundred refugees. They arrived from the border post of Hani-i-Hotit, he said, without explaining the increase in numbers. [1,000 more Kosovo refugees enter Albania from Montenegro – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: NATO HUMANITARIAN HELPERS ARRIVE 13 Apr. 99 – French and US helicopters and troops arrived in Albania yesterday, the vanguard of NATO's 8,000-strong Allied Harbour mission to help aid agencies cope with the influx of 300,000 Kosovo refugees, reports Reuters. "We will provide security and humanitarian operations from Tirana to different refugee camps," a French spokesman said. But the International Herald Tribune reports the conflicting claims of warfare and relief are already affecting allied battle plans. "The political leaders don't seem to grasp the fact that the war's outcome will be measured by the yardstick of humanitarian commitment that they have brandished," a French official said. In a letter to the New York Times, Joelle Tanguy of Doctors without Borders, says the international community is endangering Kosovo refugees by putting them under the coordination of NATO rather than the protection of a neutral agency. It remains UNHCR's mandate to provide and coordinate assistance and protection, says the letter. [NATO sends first troops for Albania refugee relief – www.reuters.com; NATO's 2 Fronts: Fighting the Serbs and Sustaining the Refugees – www.iht.com; Aid Groups Do Best – www.nytimes.com]

MACEDONIA: HUNDREDS MORE KOSOVANS AT BORDER 13 Apr. 99 – Hundreds of ethnic Albanian refugees streamed from Kosovo into the Blace no-man's land at the border with Yugoslavia today, reports Reuters. A correspondent saw the refugees, carrying children and belongings, walking along the railway track from Serbia and then going into the field partially cleared of garbage left behind by tens of thousands of Kosovan refugees last week. Reuters adds the number of refugees swelled to about 2,000 and then the influx appeared to slow. The first were directed by police to climb up a slope out of the no-man's land to the border control point. Meanwhile the New York Times reports 200 more Albanian refugees from Kosovo crossed into Macedonia yesterday, bringing fresh accounts of an apparent Yugoslav effort to force Albanians out of an area near Kosovo's border with Macedonia. Yugoslav forces have been expelling Kosovan Albanians and taking up defensive positions on a far larger scale along the border with Albania. [Hundreds of Kosovars cross into Macedonia no-man's land – www.reuters.com; More Reports of Villages at Border Being Vacated – www.nytimes.com]

MACEDONIA: FLEEING KOSOVANS DIE OF COLD? 13 Apr. 99 – A girl of 14 told how her mother lay screaming in her lap before she died in a mountain-top blizzard while fleeing Serb gunmen, reports the Daily Telegraph. Shejnore Koxja's flight illustrates the extremes of suffering that Kosovan Albanians have been forced to endure to escape terror in Kosovo. Blinding snow and heavy winds split a group of 31 fleeing refugees in two as they made their way up to a mountain pass which led into Macedonia on Friday night. Eleven people from the group, including Shejnore's father, two sisters and a brother, are still missing and are believed by refugees to have frozen to death in the mountains. Meanwhile Reuters reports Macedonian border guards yesterday turned back a mother and five children at Tabanovce, the northern border crossing with Yugoslavia, saying they had orders to bar ethnic Albanians who did not come from Kosovo. Tabanovce borders Serbia proper. [My mother died screaming in my lap as we fled across icy mountains – www.telegraph.co.uk; Macedonian border police turn back Albanian family – www.reuters.com]

MACEDONIA: KOSOVANS SUFFER IN CAMP 13 Apr. 99 – The ordeal of ethnic Albanians driven out of Kosovo is continuing in camps in Macedonia, where refugees and monitors claim guards keep order with barbed wire and occasional clubbings and often harass women, reports AP. Complaints persist from Radusa, the only one nine refugee camps set up and run entirely by Macedonians. Outside aid agencies were admitted only Saturday. William Walker, the OSCE Kosovo mission chief, likened it to "a concentration camp." The New York Times reports international aid workers said conditions in the camp are far below those of the other camps. The Radusa camp is the latest example, they said, of the Macedonian government's callous treatment of 130,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo. Aid workers accuse the government of mistreating refugees as part of an effort to get them to resettle in camps in Albania. Aid groups say they were blocked from entering the camp and that facilities there must improve. "Some of the conditions are unacceptable . . . We are currently negotiating with the government of Macedonia to take it over," said UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini. Six latrines serve 3,000 people, a single trash container overflows with refuse, and there is no running water. An MSF doctor said he feared the spread of disease. [Macedonia's refugees complain of harassment, abuse at camps – www.ap.org; Macedonia Mistreating Refugees, Aides Say – www.nytimes.com]

KOSOVANS: UNHCR STRONGLY CRITICISED FOR 'FAILING' DUTIES 13 Apr. 99 – UNHCR has been criticised for not doing enough to help Kosovan refugees in Albania and Macedonia, reports Le Monde. The strongest criticism came from Médecins sans Frontières on April 9, when the group called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, to "ensure that UNHCR fulfils its protection mandate as well as ensuring appropriate assistance and protection for refugees." Some government officials have been astonished at UNHCR's failure to identify and register the refugees. The Daily Telegraph reports Franco Barbieri, junior minister for Italy's civil protection, has attacked the UN and other countries for "doing nothing" or failing to keep their promises. UNHCR had undertaken to set up a camp for 12,000 in Kukes, but had still "not put up a single tent," Barbieri said. Meanwhile the Observer reported that UNHCR staff were confined to the frontier post in Macedonia last Tuesday night while a valley below seething with refugees was cleared by armed soldiers and police. Under the very noses of the international organisation set up to help them, more than 10,000 people were bussed or flown to other countries with no effort made to ensure families remained united. For UNHCR, there is no mystery and no scandal. "We've got zero leverage with governments in situations like this when they believe their national security is at stake," said Nicholas Morris, UNHCR's special envoy for former Yugoslavia. Yet behind the scenes, many of his UN colleagues argued such explanations were complacent and ingenuous, says the piece. [UNHCR accused of failing in its mission – www.lemonde.fr; Appeal supplies stuck in hangars Britain – www.telegraph.co.uk; Powerless UN looks on as refugee crisis grows – www.newsunlimited.co.uk]

KOSOVANS: MORE AID SOUGHT 13 Apr. 99 – France urged the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank yesterday to hold a special ministerial meeting on helping Balkan countries hosting Kosovo refugees during their semi-annual meeting late this month, reports Reuters. Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn also proposed that other bodies such as UNHCR be invited to join the talks in Washington on April 27-28. Meanwhile the Christian Science Monitor reports the question is: Will anyone care about the Albanians from Kosovo now that they are rarer on page 1, deported from Macedonia, or made refugees of indefinite status in this country? Officials with governments and international organisations are cynical. [France urges IMF, World Bank to help Kosovo neighbours – www.reuters.com; Qualified mercy for war's refugees – www.csmonitor.com]

KOSOVANS: SOLUTIONS? 13 Apr. 99 – An international peace force rather than NATO troops could be deployed in Kosovo to oversee the return of Kosovan Albanian refugees, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said yesterday, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Solana said the return of refugees remained NATO's top priority. AFP reports UN spokesman Fred Eckhard yesterday said NATO governments backed a peace initiative pushed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, which also provides for an international force to ensure refugees can return safely. The British prime minister, Tony Blair, in the International Herald Tribune, says NATO will not stop bombing until Milosevic agrees to: a verifiable cessation of all combat and killings in Kosovo; the withdrawal of forces; an international security force; the return of all refugees and access for humanitarian aid; and a political framework based on Rambouillet. In the Washington Post, Rod Blagojevich, a US congressman, suggests a diplomatic agreement centred on the partition of Kosovo, backed by a mini-Marshall Plan, providing resources for refugee resettlement both in Albania and Albanian Kosovo. [Solana says refugee return is top priority – www.dpa.com; Annan peace initiative for Kosovo has allies' backing: UN – www.afp.com; Why the Generation of 1968 Chose to Go to War – www.iht.com; Partition Kosovo – www.washingtonpost.com]

KOSOVANS: HARROWING TALES 13 Apr. 99 – Refugees from Kosovo towns tell harrowing tales of mass murder, house burnings, looting and rape witnessed during the forced exodus that followed the start of a NATO bombing campaign on March 24, reports Reuters in Albania. The Washington Post reports the urban expulsions represented forced ousters on an industrial scale, without precedent in Europe since the end of World War II; a meticulous, organised campaign carried out jointly by Yugoslav army, police and paramilitary units. The Washington Post also reports stories of rape are emerging from ethnic Albanian refugees. Western officials and human rights groups say scores of women have reported being raped. [Kosovo refugees tell of mass killings, atrocities – www.reuters.com; Careful Planning by Serbs Preceded Refugee Exodus + Refugees Tell of Gang Assaults by Troops – www.washingtonpost.com]

EUROPE: SAME CONDITIONS URGED 13 Apr. 99 – Belgian Defence Minister Jean-Pol Poncelet said yesterday that Belgium and its neighbours should offer identical conditions of asylum to Kosovo refugees fleeing Serb attacks, reports Reuters. Poncelet told a news conference it was important for Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to offer the same temporary rights of residence in order to prevent a huge influx into countries offering the greatest benefits. Such rights include allowing refugees to seek work and send their children to school. Poncelet said Belgian Interior Minister Luc Van Den Bossche was in contact with his counterparts in surrounding countries and an agreement "could happen rapidly." [Belgian minister urges Europe-wide refugee status – www.reuters.com]

HUNGARY: SOME SERBS ESCAPE WAR 13 Apr. 99 – For several hours on Friday, dozens of Serbian refugees waited in the United States Embassy in Budapest, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Untold thousands of Serbians – mostly women and children – are today nervously milling about in Hungary, which still grants visas to Yugoslavs. The Serbian refugees are the fortunate few whose money or connections have enabled them to escape the war. Serbian "tourists" have filled the hotels in southern Hungary and in Budapest. Serbian expatriates in Budapest have mobilised to accommodate friends and family. The Hungarian Jewish community is sheltering more than 250 Serbian Jews. And the philanthropic empire of George Soros has taken in wives and children of the independent journalists he supports in Yugoslavia. Many other Serbians are frantically e-mailing from Yugoslavia, but their government has now forbidden men age 16 to 60 from leaving the country. Since the airstrikes began March 24, Hungary has recorded some 44,000 border crossings from Yugoslavia. Of these, only 503 Yugoslav citizens – a mix of Serbians, Albanians, and ethnic Hungarians – have applied for asylum, according UNHCR. Hungary is now preparing for a refugee influx. [Serbs, too, seeking refuge; some eye Hungary and US – www.csmonitor.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 13 Apr. 99 – Reuters reports Brian Atwood of USAID yesterday said Serb forces in Kosovo are using ethnic Albanian refugees to march alongside tanks and armoured vehicles in an attempt to shield them from NATO air attacks. CNN reports planes bearing about 100 ethnic Kosovan Albanian refugees each landed yesterday in Israel and in Norway, where they were welcomed with open arms. AP reports the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens says Macedonian border guards stole US$33,000 from him as he crossed into Albania to distribute aid to refugees from Kosovo. Reuters says a report prepared for the US Congress's International Relations committee said yesterday that the flood of ethnic Albanians refugees from Kosovo could create instability in Macedonia and lead to the collapse of its economy.