KOSOVO: MISSION GETS FEW DETAILS 21 May 1999 – A United Nations mission, accompanied by two foreign journalists, arrived in Pristina yesterday to investigate what Kosovo's humanitarian needs will be after the Nato bombing and the expulsion of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians by Serb forces, reports the Guardian. The UN team is visiting Kosovo to determine what is required to enable the return of the refugees whose homes, businesses and farms have been destroyed. Although the UN team had seen a lot of damage to civilian targets in Serbia caused by Nato bombs, it has been given little detailed information that might help it fulfil its mission to assess what humanitarian aid might be needed. Meanwhile the Washington Post reports a week after its bombs killed scores of ethnic Albanian refugees in Korisa, NATO yesterday announced it would not release photographs and radio transmissions to back up its claim that the site was a "legitimate military target." [UN aid team in Kosovo – www.guardian.co.uk; NATO Won't Release Korisa Evidence – www.washingtonpost.com]

MACEDONIA: THOUSANDS MORE CROSS BORDER 21 May 1999 – Between 2,000 and 3,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees crossed into Macedonia at the Blace border crossing-point yesterday, UNHCR said, reports AFP. Some of the refugees reached the frontier by a four-carriage train from Kosovo Polje in the suburbs of Pristina. Another four carriages were added at Urosevac, in southern Kosovo, UNHCR said. The refugees, mostly women and children, were "in good condition," a UNHCR spokesman said. He said some appeared to have left Kosovo of their own accord while others said Serb forces had ordered them out. [At least 2,000 Kosovo refugees cross into Macedonia – www.afp.com]

MACEDONIA: VISITS URGE MOVE TO ALBANIA 21 May 99 – Representatives of Kosovo Albanian refugees in Macedonia have gone to Albania to inspect refugee camps there, in a bid to encourage more Kosovans to agree to move across the border, UNHCR said yesterday, reports AFP. It is hoped the familiarisation trip will breathe life into an international plan to transfer 60,000 refugees out of Macedonia and into Albania, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. While the refugee camp population in Macedonia is 75,400 and falling, Albania has said it could host up to one million Kosovars. It already shelters 433,000 refugees. Most of the refugees in Macedonia want to go to Germany and other wealthy countries with large Kosovo Albanian communities. So far only 200 or so have agreed to move to Albania, Redmond said. Some 2,748 refugees were to fly out to third countries yesterday, the biggest number for a single day, said Anki Eriksson, a UNHCR official. The Times reports embarrassed officials concede that they might have to abandon the plan to transfer 5,000 refugees from Macedonia to "Camp Hope" in Albania as thousands wait in queues for an evacuation flight to Europe but noone lines up for Albania. Le Monde also reports. [Fresh bid underway to lure Macedonia's Kosovars to Albania – www.afp.com; British refugee camp is failing – www.the-times.co.uk; Most refugees in Macedonia want to go to Germany – www.lemonde.fr]

MACEDONIA: FUNDS FROZEN OVER MISTREATMENT 21 May 1999 – US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday urged Congress to release more than US$13m in aid for Macedonia it has been withholding over concerns that Skopje's security forces are mistreating Kosovar refugees, reports AFP. "I think that by withholding the funds we are not improving the situation," Albright told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. She made a personal appeal to Republican subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell to unfreeze the money, which he put on hold after the Macedonian government closed its borders several times to refugees and after hearing reports that its forces were abusing ethnic Albanians fleeing repression in Kosovo. AFP also reports Macedonian Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov yesterday rejected accusations by Amnesty International that Macedonia has mistreated Kosovo refugees. "The Amnesty International criticism does not reflect the real situation on the ground," he said, adding the accusations were "untrue" and not based on "real facts and information." Meanwhile the Financial Times reports Boris Stojmenov, minister of finance, estimates the presence of more than 230,000 Kosovan Albanian refugees has so far cost the country US$110m. [Albright urges Congress to release funds for Macedonia + Macedonia rejects Amnesty International charges – www.afp.com; Macedonia economy feels the pain of war – www.ft.com]

ALBANIA: ANNAN WARMLY RECEIVED? 21 May 1999 – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan received a warm welcome yesterday when he toured two refugee camps near Kukes, Albania, where nearly 100,000 Kosovo refugees have streamed across the border, reports CNN. "I have heard heartbreaking stories about Kosovars who have been uprooted from their homes and who are anxious to go back again," he said. Annan said despite the difficult situation, he found conditions in the camps reasonably good. "It shows the tenacity of the human spirit," he said. AP reports Annan, encircled by cheering refugees, yesterday said the UN should play a key role in resolving the Kosovo crisis and resettling hundreds of thousands of displaced people. "We are all doing our best to get them home before the winter," Annan said. "I hope we succeed." Reuters reports Annan brought a message of hope to Kosovan Albanian refugees yesterday that peace would soon return to their shattered province. But Liberation reports refugees in camps around Kukes were disappointed by Annan's visit yesterday, making his visit look like an embarrassing farce. Whenever Annan tried to talk "peace," the refugees responded talking "war." [UN's Annan tours refugee camps, as appeal made for more aid – http://cnn.com; Annan tells refugees UN should help solve Kosovo conflict – www.ap.org; Annan offers Kosovo refugees hope of peace – www.reuters.com; "We'd prefer Kofi Apache – www.liberation.fr 

ALBANIA: MSF INSISTS ON UNHCR LEAD 21 May 1999 – The relief organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) yesterday questioned whether NATO should be playing a humanitarian role in Albania and insisted the United Nations lead the effort, reports AFP. "The fact that one of the parties in the conflict, NATO, is also acting as a humanitarian agency, constitutes a serious threat to the vital neutrality of the humanitarian operations," said MSF in a statement. "It is crucial that the international community support the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and allow it to fulfil its role as an independent agency in the coordination of aid," it said. [MSF questions NATO's humanitarian role in Albania – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: GENEROSITY EXHAUSTED 21 May 1999 – Albania has been hailed by Western countries for sheltering the majority of those expelled from besieged Kosovo, but that praise is proving too little to stoke the sympathies of Albanians who have nothing left to give, reports the Los Angeles Times. Increasingly, those with space to offer are demanding payment. More than half the refugees waiting in Albania for peace to return to their homeland are living in private homes as opposed to the teeming refugee camps, but the network of food, clothing and medical aid has failed to stretch to those staying with host families. International aid agencies working in Albania have plans to help the private hosts and thus encourage them to keep the Kosovars in their homes, but the care packages and monthly payments of about US$10 per guest have yet to become a reality. Some of the hosts have had to turn out their Kosovars because they simply couldn't afford to keep them longer. [Albanian Generosity Is Being Exhausted – www.latimes.com]

MONTENEGRO: MEN RECOUNT ORDEAL 21 May 1999 – Kosovo Albanian men abducted by Yugoslav soldiers have returned to their refugee camps in Ulcinj, amazed to be alive but shaken by an ordeal which included beatings and sexual humiliation, reports Reuters. Soldiers rounded up around 100 men as they tried to leave Montenegro for Albania on Saturday, bussing them across country to Serbia and then back to Kosovo before unexpectedly returning them and freeing them on Monday. During their three-day ordeal, the refugees, aged between 15 and 55, said they were beaten, robbed and, in some cases, forced to strip naked and perform oral sex on each other. After their release most of the men have been brought to campsites in Montenegro's Adriatic coastal resort of Ulcinj, home to some 30,000 Kosovo refugees. All said they now wanted a police escort out of the country. "We won't feel safe until we have left Yugoslavia," said one. [Abducted Kosovo men tell of ordeal by Serb army – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVANS: UNHCR STILL NEEDS CASH, SAYS OGATA 21 May 99 – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees yesterday said she was still strapped for cash to deal with the Kosovo refugee crisis and said the bill would get much bigger as winter approaches, reports Reuters. Sadako Ogata said in an interview a desperate appeal by UNHCR for funds to keep the refugee effort going last week had netted around US$50m in new donations but said it was not enough. When making the appeal last week the agency said it had only received half of the minimum US$140m needed for its relief effort for the first six months of the year. "There will be a new appeal and a new plan to cover the rest of the year, which will be quite large and especially if the refugees stay in Albania and Macedonia," Ogata said. "And we need to plan for winter which is very costly in money terms and also in terms of engineering and logistics because Balkan winters are very cold." The Washington Post reports the US congress completed work yesterday on a US$15bn emergency package to fund the war in Yugoslavia and provide a wide range of humanitarian and disaster relief for refugees. [UNHCR chief says still needs Kosovo cash – www.reuters.com; Senate Approves $15 Billion Emergency Bill – www.washingtonpost.com]

KOSOVANS: UNHCR PUBLISHES RETURN PLAN 21 May 1999 – UNHCR yesterday published a plan for the post-conflict return of Kosovo refugees and displaced persons to their homes, while acknowledging that the prospect looks remote at the moment, reports Reuters. The document sets out a four-stage strategy to be implemented after the end of the conflict and warns that the entire population still in Kosovo could need humanitarian help. It uses planning figures of more than 600,000 people displaced inside Kosovo in addition to the more than 750,000 who have fled the Serbian province in the past two months. "We are very far away from returning refugees to Kosovo or returning displaced people within the province to their original homes because, as we speak, people are still being expelled from Kosovo," said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski. "Nonetheless, in case there is some sort of a security arrangement, some sort of a political solution to the Kosovo crisis, we have to be ready," Janowski said. The 19-page document envisages scouting missions by UN officials to assess the situation, followed by a return of UN agencies to the province, then a repatriation programme and finally measures to encourage the returnees' reintegration. Janowski said several key conditions would have to be met before the plan could go into effect. "The main conditions would be the complete pullout of Serb military, police and paramilitary forces to create some sort of secure situation on the ground and the presence of international troops," he said. [UN unveils plan for return of Kosovo refugees – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVANS: AID AGENCIES PREPARE FOR WINTER 21 May 99 – Aid agencies have stepped up preparations for the Balkans winter, signalling they have lost confidence in the ability of the international community to rehouse refugees in Kosovo by the first snowfalls of October, reports the Guardian. UNHCR this week placed a multi-million dollar order for 15,000 winter tents to replace the light summer tents housing tens of thousands of refugees in Macedonia and Albania. Two firms in Pakistan are working round the clock to have the tents ready by July. The acceleration of UNHCR's 'winterisation programme,' which is being mirrored by large charities such as Oxfam, is the most powerful signal to date that aid agencies believe the slow pace of diplomatic negotiations means the refugees will still be in the camps when winter sets in. UNHCR, which goes to great lengths to avoid political controversy, stressed yesterday its 'winterisation programme' did not mean it had lost faith with the allies' aim of returning refugees to their homes by October. In addition to the tents UNHCR plans to erect prefabricated housing which will be moved to Kosovo in the event of a peace agreement. It will today order 3,000 stoves to help refugees cope with the winter when temperatures can drop to -30ºC. [Winter plans stepped up – www.guardian.co.uk]

KOSOVANS: YUGOSLAV MINISTRY TO 'FIND SOLUTION' 21 May 1999 – The Yugoslav government yesterday set up the federal ministry for refugees, displaced persons and humanitarian issues, naming Bratislava Morina to head the office, state agency Tanjug reported, reports AFP. The government said the move was as a result of the "difficult humanitarian situation in Yugoslavia and a need to find a long-term solution," Tanjug reported. The ministry would focus on "efficient coordination of all the activities linked to the humanitarian problems and return of refugees," the statement said. It added that the Yugoslav and Serbian governments "are determined to enable the return of refugees and displaced persons in Kosovo," but warned that a "precondition" for that was an end to NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. [Yugoslav government creates ministry for refugees – www.afp.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 21 May 1999 – AFP reports Macedonian police yesterday said two Kosovo Albanian refugees are among three persons injured when a bomb exploded near the Jaja-Pasha mosque in Skopje. Xinhua reports some 377 Kosovo refugees left yesterday from the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki for Australia for temporary shelter. AFP reports Irish police yesterday said thousands of dollars in cash has been found in the pocket of a jacket donated for 100 Kosovo Albanian refugees ared for in a former Irish army barracks. Reuters reports British Telecommunications Plc yesterday said it was setting up free telephone lines for Kosovo refugees in Albania. Le Monde, in a feature article, says France has shown itself to be apprehensive and its asylum system ill-adapted after taking in 3,300 Kosovans, while French people have been unexpectedly generous with many offering to take Kosovans into their homes.

BOSNIA: AID PLEDGED, FOR RETURNS 21 May 1999 – International donors yesterday promised to provide Bosnia with US$1.05bn in aid for 1999, the final tranche of a multi-billion dollar programme to rebuild the country after its bloody civil war, reports Reuters. "The 45 countries and 30 organisations participating in the fifth donor conference on Bosnia and Herzegovina pledged US$1.05bn today in support of the 1999 programme of economic reform and reconstruction,'' the World Bank, which co-chaired the talks with the European Commission, said. Carlos Westendorp, the West's top envoy in Bosnia, said: "This is not a blind gift," adding it would be linked to the return of refugees, reform of institutions and to relations between Muslims, Croats and Serbs remaining on an even keel. World Bank country director Christiaan Poortman said he hoped donors would agree to close the remaining gap, estimated at US$50m, later in the year. "We talked about the consequences of the Kosovo crisis. Their importance is severe, on trade in the Republika Srpska, and on the budget and because of the influx of refugees (from Kosovo) which are now at some 58,000." Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports the EU earmarked US$220m for aid to Bosnia; officials said most of it would be linked to projects for the return of Bosnian refugees. [Donors agree final tranche of $5.1 bln Bosnia aid – www.reuters.com; Donors pledge new aid as Bosnia says integration into Europe is key – www.dpa.com]