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

MACEDONIA: UNHCR ASKS WEST TO TAKE KOSOVANS 22 Apr. 99 - UNHCR is calling on western governments to airlift thousands of refugees out of Macedonia, as the country struggles to cope with the influx of Kosovans, reports BBC News. UNHCR said it had made it clear to donor and refugee host countries that it wanted larger numbers of people taken out of Macedonia, which is currently hosting some 130,000 refugees. Spokesman Kris Janowski said: "It's an exodus which is potentially destabilising for the region and huge international solidarity and co-operation is needed to deal with it and keep a lid on it." European countries have offered to take in 70,000 Kosovo refugees, while so far only around 17,000 have been flown out of Macedonia. "We're not asking for offers, we're saying more people have to be taken out," said Janowski. However, large-scale evacuations from the small airport in Skopje were not easy because of the heavy numbers of relief flights, and host countries might have to use bigger aircraft to intensify the evacuation, he said. UN sources report as many as 50,000 more refugees could be on their way to Macedonia. AFP and Deutsche Presse-Agentur report UNHCR said yesterday it has appealed to European countries to take in more Kosovan refugees from Macedonia. [UN calls for emergency airlifts - http://news.bbc.co.uk; UNHCR appeals to European countries to take up Kosovar refugee quotas - www.afp.com; UNHCR urges west Europeans to accept more Kosovar refugees - www.dpa.com]

MACEDONIA: IN MALINA, KOSOVANS DENIED AID 22 Apr. 99 - Macedonia left some 7,000 refugees stranded in a snowbound hamlet without food yesterday when it denied UN relief groups permission to take them aid, reports Reuters. "There was no access given again to aid agencies," said WFP's Lindsey Davis. "WFP is gravely concerned about the condition of thousands of refugees stranded in Malina." Macedonian police manning a frontier post on a steep muddy track three km below the village have blocked UN trucks laden with essential supplies, saying the route was restricted because it passed through 50m of Yugoslav territory. Davis said WFP was worried that more than 10,000 refugees could be en route to the tiny village which is bursting at the seams. UN officials said the situation was frustrating. "We're supposed to be able to go in now because the government asked us to take people out," said UNHCR's Ron Redmond. [Macedonia leaves snowbound refugees stranded - www.reuters.com]

MACEDONIA: KOSOVANS ALLOWED IN, AFTER DAYS 22 Apr. 99 - Some 3,000 Kosovan refugees have been allowed into Macedonia through the Lojane border point after being stuck in a no-man's land for two days, UNHCR said yesterday, reports AFP in Geneva. The group, which arrived at the unofficial border crossing on Monday, spent the night in the open because Macedonian authorities refused them entry. "It took some time to persuade Macedonian authorities to let them in. They agreed last night," said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski. The refugees were taken by bus from Lojane to three camps, with 800 taken to Blace and the rest distributed between the two main Stenkovac camps. AP at Brazda camp quotes a 76-year-old as saying: "Cold, such cold . . . It took all my strength away," describing how he and his family of 12 slept on muddy ground during their stay at the border near Lojane. [Macedonia lets in 3,000 refugees from no-man's land: UNHCR - www.afp.com; Refugees reach Macedonia only to endure ordeal in no man's land - www.ap.org]

ALBANIA: UNHCR 'FORCES' KOSOVANS SOUTH 22 Apr. 99 - The evacuation of tens of thousands of refugees from northern Albania was stepped up yesterday amid fears that they would become a target for Serb rockets, reports the Daily Telegraph. UNHCR is moving between 15,000 and 20,000 Kosovan Albanians south of Kukes every day following an increase in cross-border clashes. UNHCR insists it is urging rather than forcing refugees to leave town. But yesterday 200 families cleared from a mosque and a school claimed otherwise. Nicholas Morris, a UNHCR envoy, defended the policy, saying: "The first time a shell lands in the middle of a refugee camp here the question as to what we are going to do to encourage refugees to move out becomes pretty academic . . . We certainly don't want to use force or duress but we really have to keep on moving people down." Morris admitted concerns of overcrowding were also behind the message to move on. The Guardian reports Albanian officials, backed by police, yesterday cleared several hundred Kosovans from the main mosque in Kukes where they had been sleeping for the last three weeks and urged them on to southbound buses. The Independent reports UNHCR is applying pressure for up to 110,000 Kosovans at camps in Kukes to board buses and helicopters and head south. [Kosovars `forced' to move out of range; Refugees - www.telegraph.co.uk; 22Apr1999 ALBANIA: Albania forces refugees to move south - www.guardian.co.uk; Rocket attacks force refugees to abandon Albania - www.independent.co.uk]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS RESIST RELOCATION 22 Apr. 99 - A military airlift of Kosovo refugees to sanctuary deeper inside Albania got off to a bad start yesterday when dozens refused to leave and the rest were kept waiting for hours before finally taking off, reports Reuters in Kukes. UNHCR and NATO's Albanian humanitarian force planned to use helicopters to airlift hundreds of refugees from Kukes to Burrel, around 125 km away. Encouraging the refugees to move deeper into Albania is proving to be a hard task for UNHCR which appeared yesterday to distance themselves from the NATO airlift. Nicholas Morris, UNHCR's special envoy, had said the agencies' priority was to get enough trucks and buses to carry out the task. Another UNHCR official said the airlift was "a NATO propaganda exercise, but we'll humour them." The New York Times reports many of the buses that are to carry refugees to less crowded and more secure encampments elsewhere sit half empty. Their drivers are not allowed to leave until the buses are full, so they end up sleeping one, two, three nights in their buses, waiting for enough refugees to make up their mind to leave. UN officials say the situation is turning critical, with the chance of an epidemic rising and increasing danger of a Serbian attack. "People want to stay here because they don't know where their family and relatives are," said Morris. They also are reluctant to leave behind their tractors. [Military airlift of Kosovo refugees off to bad start - www.reuters.com; Kosovars Balk at Leaving the Camps - www.nytimes.com]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS, MONTENEGRINS, ARRIVING 22 Apr. 99 - Around 2,700 Kosovo refugees reached northwest Albania by way of Montenegro yesterday, international monitors said, reports Reuters. "The figure is increasing every day," said Andrea Angeli, spokesman at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports state-run Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) said about 2,000 Kosovo refugees crossed from Montenegro yesterday, after an estimated 2,500 refugees had crossed on Tuesday. There are now about 25,000 refugees in the north Albanian city of Shkoder, the agency said. Local authorities said they were running out of supplies and could not accommodate more refugees. Meanwhile AFP reports a UNHCR official yesterday said several hundred ethnic Albanians from Montenegro have also fled across the border into Albania for fear of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces. Mubashir Ahmad, UNHCR's Shkodra head, said more than 4,500 ethnic Albanians had crossed into the Shkodra region since Tuesday. "One in three" were Montenegrin families, he said. [Some 2,700 refugees enter Albania from Montenegro - www.reuters.com; Thousands of Kosovars cross from Montenegro into Albania - www.dpa.com; Hundreds of Montenegro's Albanians flee amid fears of ethnic cleansing - www.afp.com]

MONTENEGRO: KILLINGS RAISE FEARS 22 Apr. 99 - The situation at the border between Montenegro and Kosovo was "complex, but calming down" yesterday, three days after six refugees were killed near Rozaje, local officials said, reports AFP. Rozaje mayor Nusret Kalac said Montenegro's police had regained control of the villages in the border area yesterday, as Yugoslav army units withdrew. Kalac said Montenegrin police were not able to investigate Sunday's incident, when unidentified men in uniform opened fire on a column of refugees at Kaludjerski Laz, near Rozaje. The Yugoslav 2nd Army command said one of its units had come under fire in the area from "a large group of terrorists of the Kosovo Liberation Army" and had attacked them, killing four. But UNHCR said yesterday Yugoslav army reservists, reported to be drunk, went on a rampage and killed six. UNHCR said that according to available information, those killed include both locals and displaced Kosovans. Kalac said local Albanian and Muslim populations who left the area after the incident "have not returned to their homes yet." Some 25,000 refugees from Kosovo who had sought shelter in Rozaje were frightened by the incident and have been demanding to leave the area, Kalac said. [Situation calming down after Montenegro rampage: official - www.afp.com]

ITALY: MORE KOSOVANS ARRIVE 22 Apr. 99 - After a two-week lull, Kosovan refugees have resumed showing up on Italian shores after paying smugglers to sail them across the Adriatic, reports AFP. Among the 275 clandestine immigrants stopped by Italian police patrols Wednesday, at least 64 of them were from Kosovo, officials said. The return of good weather helped spark the latest crossings in motorized rubber dinghies. [After lull, Kosovars in boats slip up to Italian shores - www.ap.org]

USA: IN POLICY SHIFT, 20,000 KOSOVANS ACCEPTED 22 Apr. 99 - The Clinton administration has decided to allow up to 20,000 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo to come to the United States - opening up the possibility they could eventually apply for political asylum, reports CNN. The decision represents a major policy shift. Until now, the administration was willing only to allow refugees to be housed at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Because the base is not considered US soil, refugees would not have had the right to apply for asylum. Vice President Al Gore, who announced the decision in a speech at Ellis Island in New York, said those refugees "with close family ties in America and those who are vulnerable" will be allowed to enter the United States." "We will have them here until they are able to return home safely," he said. Administration sources said officials from the State Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Health and Human Services will travel to the region to screen refugees. The New York Times reports the offer represents a new policy, and formal abandonment of the much-criticised earlier proposal to relocate thousands at Guantanamo Bay. The Washington Post also reports. [Up to 20,000 ethnic Albanian refugees will be allowed into the United States - http://cnn.com; U.S. Will Open Door to 20,000 Kosovars - www.nytimes.com; NATO Chief Asks Review Of Invasion Planning - www.washingtonpost.com]

EUROPE: TAKE KOSOVANS, GERMANY URGES 22 Apr. 99 - Germany urged other European Union states to join it in fulfilling pledges to take in Kosovo refugees from the Yugoslav province, saying it would admit no more until other countries did too, reports Reuters. Interior Minister Otto Schily said Germany would not give asylum to any more Kosovo Albanians after already taking in its agreed quota of 10,000 refugees. "We have taken in the most refugees. It doesn't make any sense to talk about how many more refugees will come to Germany," Schily said, bemoaning the lack of similar efforts elsewhere in the EU. Among EU countries only Belgium, France and Austria have also airlifted people out of camps in the Balkans, but have so far managed less than 1,000 refugees between them. Germany has said EU countries had originally pledged to take in as many as 44,000 refugees. AFP reports a group of 160 refugees from Kosovo will arrive in southern Sweden tomorrow, with permits to stay for 11 months, official sources said. Sweden has offered to receive some 5,000 refugees. The Guardian reports that according to UNHCR figures, 16,911 Kosovans had been evacuated by yesterday to the following countries: Austria 324; Belgium 517; Croatia 88; France 348; Germany 9,974; Iceland 23; Israel 106; Norway 1,104; Poland 545; Switzerland 33; Turkey 3,849. [Germany asks EU states to share refugee load - www.reuters.com; 160 Kosovo refugees to Sweden on Friday - www.afp.com]

KOSOVO: NATO BOMBS 'KILL' CROATIANS 22 Apr. 99 - Half a mile up the road from where NATO pilots accidentally bombed Kosovo Albanian refugees last week, warplanes yesterday pounded a Croatian Serb refugee camp, reports the Los Angeles Times at Majino Naselje. Four Serbs, including a young boy, died during a heavy airstrike as most of the refugees were asleep around 3 am, survivors said in interviews at the scene. The attack damaged at least two apartment buildings housing Croatian Serb refugees. Residents said the site should have been familiar to the West: U.S. diplomat William Walker had toured the camp three times. AFP reports local police and witnesses yesterday said four people were killed and 20 injured in the refugee camp during the NATO air raids. The reporter saw three dead people and a number of buildings destroyed in the attack. Yugoslav news agency Tanjug, quoting Serbian police, said at least 10 people were killed and 16 injured. Aleksandar Rajevic, a judge, said four people were killed and 20 injured, some of them seriously. The camp housed more than 200 Serb refugees who had fled Croatia in 1995. The Financial Times and Deutsche Presse-Agentur also report. [Warplanes Bomb Serbian Refugee Camp - www.latimes.com; Four dead, 20 injured in NATO air raid on refugee camp: Serb sources - www.afp.com; Nato strikes at president's HQ - www.ft.com; NATO wrecks Serb broadcast facilities and bridges - www.dpa.com]

KOSOVANS: MORE AID PLEDGED 22 Apr. 99 - Albania will receive US$66m and Montenegro US$14m of the up to US$106m package of economic aid agreed by the European Commission for Kosovo's neighbours, EU officials said yesterday, reports Reuters. The officials said Macedonia's share had yet to be decided. The economic aid is intended to help reduce damage to economies from the Kosovo refugee crisis. Kyodo reports Japanese Foreign Ministry sources yesterday said Japan plans to double its aid to ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing Kosovo and grant tens of millions of dollars to help Albania and Macedonia take in those refugees. AFP reports the German public has pledged more than US$64m to an appeal for Kosovo refugees, said the organisers yesterday. BBC News reports charities in Britain have together raised US$32m in two weeks to help Kosovo refugees. Meanwhile Reuters reports Gulf Arab states are sending cash and supplies to Kosovo refugees. It was not clear how much aid Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have sent to the refugees. In Saudi Arabia alone, up to US$20m was donated in the past week, besides medical and food supplies being flown into the region. [EU earmarks aid for Albania, Montenegro + Gulf states rush to help Kosovo Albanian refugees - www.reuters.com; Japan to double aid for Kosovo refugees - www.kyodo.co.jp; German public digs deep to help Kosovo refugees - www.afp.com; Kosovo appeal tops £20m - http://news.bbc.co.uk]

KOSOVO NOTES 22 Apr. 99 - Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports UNICEF yesterday said dozens of children among the Kosovan Albanian refugees in camps are so profoundly traumatised by the nightmares they lived through that they no longer speak.

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