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

KOSOVANS: MASS DEPORTATIONS 'ACHIEVABLE' 5 May 1999 – A key NATO general conceded there is not much the allies can do to stop Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from emptying Kosovo of its ethnic Albanian population, reports the Los Angeles Times. "President Milosevic's mass deportation campaign appears achievable," said Gen. Klaus Naumann, a German who heads NATO's military committee. "I think if he really wants to get them out, he may have a chance to do this." NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said that during the past year about 90% of Kosovo's 1.8 million ethnic Albanians have been driven from their homes, either into refugee camps in neighbouring countries or into a precarious existence as displaced people unable to escape Kosovo. The New York Times in Brussels reports allied leaders are beginning to face the prospect of housing half a million refugees through the bitter Balkan winter, with no consensus on ground troops for Kosovo and no sign that Milosevic is wavering. Winterising the camps would be necessary if the bombing fails. [NATO General Concedes Kosovo Cleansing `Appears Achievable' – www.latimes.com; Confident in Their Bombs, Allies Still Plan for Winter – www.nytimes.com]

KOSOVO: UN TEAM TO ASSESS NEEDS? 5 May 1999 – Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced yesterday he intended to send a mission to Yugoslavia to assess relief needs, reports the New York Times. Annan said the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Sergio Vieira de Mello, yesterday wrote to Yugoslavia's UN representative to request permission for the team to enter the country. Such a mission, Annan said, would enable the UN to "prepare the ground for the refugees to go back to Kosovo" after there is an agreement. But American and Russian officials complained they had not had a chance to study the proposal and blocked Security Council endorsement. Annan said he felt there was general agreement on the basic issues: the "withdrawal of Yugoslav forces," from Kosovo and the need for the refugees to be able to return "in a secure environment assured by a presence of international force." Still at issue, he added, is "how do we get there," "the composition, nature and strength" of an international force and the extent of the Serbian withdrawal from Kosovo. UN officials said a team representing at least 10 agencies could leave by Saturday. The International Herald Tribune reports the International Committee of the Red Cross has won approval to resume operations in Kosovo and will return "to help an uprooted people" when it receives security guarantees from ''all parties in the conflict.'' [Annan Plans Relief Mission for Yugoslavia – www.nytimes.com; Red Cross Prepares to Resume Its Operations in Kosovo – www.iht.com]

ALBANIA: THOUSANDS ARRIVE IN SHOCK 5 May 1999 – About 6,800 refugees from Kosovo crossed into Albania yesterday, Albanian state radio said, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The refugees came through the border crossing at Morina, marking a new refugee influx into Albania. On Monday, only about 800 refugees crossed into Albania. The newly-arrived refugees, mostly women, old people and children, came mainly from western Kosovo. They brought fresh stories of Serb violence against ethnic Albanians. The refugees said Serb soldiers had rounded up men and led them to unknown destinations. Many women said the Serbs had robbed them of their jewellery and money, before allowing them to cross into Albania. Reuters reports thousands of refugees, some shaking with fear and shock, others wailing uncontrollably, made their way into Albania yesterday, many telling of new massacres of ethnic Albanian civilians by Serb forces. AFP adds refugees arriving yesterday said at least 30 ethnic Albanian Kosovans were killed by Serb forces near Vucitrn. Liberation reports refugees arriving in Albania have been describing terrifying scenes. [6,800 Kosovo refugees enter Albania on Tuesday – www.dpa.com; Traumatised refugees tell of more killings in Kosovo – www.reuters.com; Kosovars charge Serbs executed more ethnic Albanians – www.afp.com; 'Corpses had eyes gouged out' – www.liberation.fr]

ALBANIA: RELOCATION CONSIDERED 5 May 1999 – UNHCR is looking at moving 100,000 Kosovo refugees out of camps in the Albanian border town of Kukes to new locations further from the border, a spokesman said yesterday, reports Reuters. Ray Wilkinson said he believed a decision could soon be taken on whether to close the camps in Kukes. "We have a situation where this was originally planned to be a temporary transit facility...but it has become a sort of semi-permanent place for refugees," Wilkinson said. "We are actively discussing moving the camps for their own protection." Wilkinson said UNHCR was worried the Kukes camps were within shelling range of the border and could become a target for Serb artillery. He said the move would also make it easier to provide emergency help to new refugees passing through Kukes. AP reports UNHCR and local officials were planning a new push yesterday to persuade stubborn Kosovo refugees to leave the border region. Wilkinson said authorities could eventually force people out, perhaps by declaring the area a security zone and implementing a kind of martial law. [UNHCR looks at moving frontline Albania camps – www.reuters.com; New push to move stubborn refugees out of border area – www.ap.org]

MACEDONIA: MORE TRAINLOADS TO BORDER 5 May 1999 – Two fresh trainloads of Kosovo refugees arrived at Blace border crossing into Macedonia yesterday, filling the checkpoint area as fast as aid workers could empty it and increasing pressure on crammed refugee camps, reports Reuters. UNHCR spokeswoman Paula Ghedini said the two trains had brought more than 5,000 refugees. The latest arrivals began streaming across after 15 buses ferried away the last of an earlier batch to an unfinished camp that already houses 22,000 ethnic Albanians. Reuters adds thousands of refugees queued all night in no man's land at Blace yesterday after three trainloads of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo arrived within 24 hours. Le Monde reports refugee convoys without men have begun to arrive in Macedonia. Ghedini said men had been separated as they tried to leave Kosovo. [Two more trains disgorge refugees in Macedonia + UNHCR juggles Kosovo refugees in packed camps – www.reuters.com; Convoys without men arrive in Macedonia – www.lemonde.fr]

MACEDONIA: UNHCR NOT 'CRYING WOLF' 5 May 1999 – For days now, UNHCR has been warning of a humanitarian catastrophe if ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo continue to pour into Macedonia, reports Reuters. Mercifully it has not yet come. Despite a week of dire predictions that refugee camps are way beyond full and simply cannot take any more substantial numbers of refugees, aid workers have continued to cope, even when faced with their busiest day in weeks on Monday when 11,000 refugees poured in. But they said that did not mean the danger was not real. "Most assuredly, we are not crying wolf," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news conference. "You can see the situation, smell it. You can see the sanitation. It's not good . . . People cannot live in situations like this for an extended period, even a few months," Redmond said. [UNHCR denies "crying wolf" over Macedonia refugees – www.reuters.com]

MONTENEGRO: COMPLEX POSITION FOR 'DISPLACED' 5 May 1999 – The 70,000 ethnic Albanians who came to Montenegro are distinct from other Kosovans because they are not considered refugees, reports the New York Times. They are citizens of Yugoslavia and they have moved from one part of the republic, Serbia, to another part, Montenegro. Because they were displaced within their own country, they are in a rather complex and delicate position. Because they are not, technically, refugees, relief agencies, particularly UNHCR, are limited in how they can help. Even though many of the ethnic Albanians who arrive want to continue on into Albania, the UN cannot provide the transportation, because that could be seen as encouraging them to flee their own country. "To recommend, advocate or support their becoming refugees is difficult," said Robert Breen, head of the UN office in Montenegro. "We're not in the business of creating refugees." Officially, they are considered "internally displaced persons," which allows the UN to provide a range of aid, in coordination with other relief agencies. More than 30,000 of them have been transported to the main border crossing with Albania, with the help of the government. Le Monde reports Montenegrin police have increased their presence in the border area of Rozaje, where refugees have found shelter with ethnic Albanian families, amid Yugoslav army attacks. In an editorial, the New York Times says Montenegro needs more aid to help the Kosovans. [Adrift Inside Yugoslavia, Trapped by Hunger and Red Tape + Preserving Montenegro – www.nytimes.com; Refugees in Montenegro still at mercy of Serb army – www.lemonde.fr]

BRITAIN: 1,000-A-DAY AIRLIFT? 5 May 1999 – Britain is to accept up to 1,000 Kosovan refugees a week after the government decided yesterday to step up the airlift of victims of Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing, reports the Daily Telegraph. A planeload of refugees could soon be arriving in Britain every day. The government denied the decision was a U-turn, but officials acknowledged that it represented a "change of pace." For weeks, ministers have been insisting that it was best for the refugees to remain as close as possible to Kosovo because dispersing them to other countries would be seen as validating Milosevic's brutal methods. But Britain has faced criticism for not taking more refugees. So far, only 320 have come to the UK. The Refugee Council and local authorities in Britain will now draw on contingency plans compiled in the early days of the conflict. Those arriving will be offered one year's exceptional leave to remain and will be entitled to claim benefits. They will also be allowed to apply for full refugee status, without losing their benefits, a Home Office official said. The Financial Times reports local governments yesterday accused the government of throwing plans to accept Kosovan refugees into chaos with the decision. [Britain to take 1,000 refugees a week – www.telegraph.co.uk; Straw warned of chaos over refugee plans – www.ft.com]

ITALY: 10,000 TO BE TAKEN 5 May 1999 – Italy yesterday said it would airlift 10,000 refugees out of Macedonia, transporting at least half of them to a disused airbase on the island of Sicily, reports the Financial Times. The decision to mount the airlift was taken at a cabinet meeting in Rome in response to what ministers called the "dramatic overpopulation problem" developing in Macedonia. The Italian government said it would immediately prepare the former cruise missile base in Comiso as a temporary shelter for 5,000 people. The government did not say exactly when the airlift would take place or how the remaining 5,000 refugees would be housed. Yesterday's decision marks a shift in Italy's policy. Until now, the government's goal was to give shelter and aid to refugees on Macedonian and Albanian territory, rather than transport them. The cabinet said it had been forced to respond to the concern raised by UNHCR. [Italy plans airlift of refugees – www.ft.com]

CANADA: FIRST GROUP ARRIVES 5 May 99 – The first plane in an airlift of Kosovo refugees to countries outside Europe landed in Canada yesterday, reports Reuters. Almost 250 ethnic Albanians, mostly women, children and the elderly, flew in from Macedonia. They landed at Trenton Military Base in Ontario. Canada had been prepared to take 5,000 refugees, but it was not until Friday that UNHCR finally decided to reach beyond Europe for help in taking the exiles. [First wave of Kosovo refugees reaches Canada – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVANS: BILLIONS WILL BE NEEDED 5 May 99 – The final bill for humanitarian aid and reconstruction in the Balkans will run into billions of dollars and the West may be paying it for years to come, aid experts said yesterday, reports Reuters. Save the Children Fund, Merlin and UNICEF executives said billions of dollars would have to be found for months if not years, first to deal with floods of refugees leaving Kosovo and later for reconstruction. Steve Allen, UNICEF's special representative in former Yugoslavia, told a British parliamentary committee on international development short-term funds were not the main problem. "We are not too worried about the next one or two months but this is going to go on for months and months and months," he said, adding that support from the Western powers might have to be sustained for years. If refugees were still in Macedonia and Albania once the harsh winter set in – presupposing they could handle a scorching hot summer – permanent buildings would have to be put up. Tents would not suffice, Allen said. [Kosovo will cost West billions, aid agencies say – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 5 May 1999 – The New York Times reports Serbs and a few Albanians are trickling back to Pristina where there is no shortage of fear and wariness as NATO escalates its air campaign. AFP reports WFP yesterday said Amalia Lacroze Fortabat, an Argentine industrialist, has given US$500,000 to WFP to help refugees in Kosovo in the agency's largest single donation. Xinhua reports an international refugee official said the first group of 41 Kosovo refugees from Macedonian refugee camps arrived in the Romanian capital yesterday by air. AFP reports the Organisation of the Islamic Conference's top official, Secretary-General Ezzedine Laraki, in Tehran yesterday called on the 55 member governments to boost their aid to Kosovo refugees.
 

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