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

KOSOVO: NATO CAUSED EXODUS, SAYS MILOSEVIC 24 May 99 – Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic said Friday the NATO bombing campaign was to blame for the exodus of Kosovo Albanian refugees, the state news agency Tanjug reported, reports AFP in Belgrade. Milosevic said accusations that Belgrade was to blame for the ethnic Albanians exodus from Kosovo was "another big crime of the NATO aggressor" against Yugoslavia, the agency said, quoting a presidency statement issued after a meeting with a Greek parliamentary delegation. "It is well-known that the movements of Albanians and all other residents from Kosovo was caused by the bombing," Milosevic said. AFP also reports Albania's Prime Minister Pandeli Majko said Friday that Milosevic is trying to create regional chaos by forcing nearly a million Kosovans out of Kosovo. "He wants to include Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro in the chaos and then go on to Italy and Greece," the prime minister said at a NATO press conference. "If we didn't face our responsibilities (to take in Kosovar refugees) we would be faced with the regional chaos which Milosevic has caused as part of his strategy," Majko said. [Milosevic blames Kosovo refugee exodus on NATO + Milosevic trying to create regional chaos: Albanian PM – www.afp.com] 

MACEDONIA: 14,000 EXPELLED IN 'FINAL EFFORT' 24 May 99 – Bringing new accounts of atrocities and worsening conditions inside Kosovo, more than 14,000 ethnic Albanians have surged across the border at Blace over the last three days, with possibly thousands more behind them, reports the New York Times. Yesterday, 7,000 people fled into Macedonia, continuing the largest exodus in more than two weeks. The refugees told of mass expulsions, random killings, and men separated from their families. They said that robbery was being carried out systematically by Serb forces and that food supplies in Kosovo were dwindling. The refugees also said Serbian forces continued going door to door yesterday in neighbourhoods in Pristina and in Urosevac, ordering Albanians to leave. The reasons for the new round of expulsions were not clear. Refugees arriving over the last several days said they had received no explanation from soldiers and police officers who ordered them out. "This may be the final effort to clear some neighbourhoods" in Pristina, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. Refugees arrived yesterday on about 20 buses as well as a train that had originated just south of Pristina. The Daily Telegraph reports 14,000 refugees crossed in just 48 hours, fuelling speculation that Yugoslav authorities may be working themselves up to a final effort to rid Kosovo of its remaining ethnic Albanians. [Refugee Flow Speeds Up as New Reports of Evictions Surface – www.nytimes.com; Exodus may be sign of final purge by Serbs – www.telegraph.co.uk] 

MACEDONIA: UNHCR PREVENTS FORCED MOVE 24 May 1999 – UNHCR workers early today persuaded Macedonian government officials to allow more than 3,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees to enter the country after an hours-long stand-off at the border, reports AP. Macedonian officials had loaded at least three buses with about 200 refugees each for the trip to Albania, when UNHCR workers blocked one bus with a white, UN sedan. Another 3,000-4,000 refugees stood or sat in driving rain between the border crossings of Macedonia and Yugoslavia. UN envoy Dennis McNamara, speaking with Macedonian officials at the border, arranged an end to the standoff. By 3 am, the buses had entered the country and driven to a refugee camp near the border. McNamara said he was assured that 3,000 remaining also would be allowed in. Earlier, McNamara, complained the Macedonians were acting in violation of an agreement on allowing refugees to enter the country and remain unless they asked to be taken somewhere else. "I am very displeased," he fumed after UNHCR discovered the apparent attempt to hustle the refugees to Albania. McNamara said it was the third time he had rushed to the border "in the middle of the night" to prevent authorities transporting Kosovo Albanians out of the country. BBC News reports the Macedonian authorities said they would bus the refugees straight to Albania, but backed down after protests from UNHCR. [Macedonians allow refugees to enter after UN intercedes – www.ap.org; Refugees face 'final push' – http://news.bbc.co.uk] 

MACEDONIA: LOCAL GROUP'S CRUCIAL ROLE 24 May 1999 – Unlike the numerous international aid agencies working in Macedonia, the relief organisation known as El Hilal has no rich donors, no fancy vehicles and no well-paid professionals. But what it lacks in material wealth it makes up for with the passionate commitment and tireless devotion of its people, reports the Los Angeles Times. El Hilal's network of more than 500 regular volunteers reaches almost every community with an ethnic Albanian resident in Macedonia. Whether its volunteers are settling refugees with local host families, supplying them with food or offering them information on the whereabouts of loved ones, they have played an invaluable role in helping Macedonia deal with an influx of people displaced from Kosovo. El Hilal's success comes from the extraordinary willingness of the ethnic Albanian Macedonians to help their ethnic brothers and sisters from Kosovo, even when that means sacrificing their own bedrooms or the means of their livelihoods. Without El Hilal's efforts, particularly at a few crucial moments over the past month, there would have been a "disaster" in Macedonia, said Sasho Klekovski, director of the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation. Long before the first tent was pitched for a refugee camp at Tetovo, El Hilal had mobilised Macedonia's Albanian minority to host refugees in their homes. Many refugees say their only source of aid has been El Hilal. [Local Volunteers Key Relief Effort – www.latimes.com] 

MACEDONIA: 60,000 EVACUATED ABROAD 24 May 1999 – So far, 60,000 refugees have been evacuated to third countries under an international plan to ease Macedonia's refugee burden, reports AFP. If the daily rate of around 2,500 departures continues, and if there is no big influx of new refugees, the 75,000 still in Macedonian camps could be gone by the end of June. The most desired destinations are Germany and Switzerland, not least because they have large, well-established Kosovan communities. UNHCR has set basic criteria – priority to those who have been living at least a month in a refugee camp, to children, the elderly, and unaccompanied women in precarious situations. But each country can add its own requirements. Britain is soon to welcome about a thousand refugees a week who are either medical cases or who have family in the UK, said an embassy spokesman. The United States sets no time limits, but says no to anyone with the HIV virus or to "dangerous psychiatric cases," according to a UNHCR document. Portugal, Slovakia and Australia want no sick people at all. France is taking in 4,500 by the end of May, selected not from UNHCR lists but by representatives of government ministries. Those who speak French, have kin in France or find themselves in vulnerable situations are being favoured. To go abroad, refugees sign a form at their camp on which they indicate three preferred countries. Then they wait, with little information. [Criteria vary for outward-bound Kosovars – www.afp.com] 

ALBANIA: MEN RELEASED 24 May 1999 – Hundreds more men who had been given up for dead inside Kosovo have crossed the border into Albania, reports BBC News. They brought similar accounts of their mistreatment by Serb forces as a group of 500 men who completed the journey on Saturday. United Nations officials say the latest batch are in an even worse condition than those who crossed earlier, describing them as emaciated and emotionally traumatised. Both groups have said they suddenly released from prison by the Serbians, although they did not know why. Some of the men who crossed on Saturday have said they were regularly beaten and fed only bread and water. They say thousands more men are being detained. The men have talked about how they were snatched from refugee columns heading for the Albanian border as their children and wives wept. They told reporters they were verbally abused and regularly beaten in the school and prison where they were kept. When the Serbs said they were free to go and loaded them onto trucks, the men said they all prayed and cried because they thought they were going to be executed. UNHCR is now doing what it can to try and reunite some of the men with their families who may have already crossed the border. The Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, CNN and Liberation also report. [Fresh exodus from Kosovo – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Hundreds of Kosovo Men Report Abuse by Serbian Captors – www.latimes.com; Serbs Free Some Ethnic Albanian Men – www.washingtonpost.com; Kosovar refugee surge includes more missing men – http://cnn.com; Prisoners and shields – www.liberation.fr] 

ALBANIA: FORCED EVACUATION FEARED 24 May 1999 – Kosovan refugees staying in Kukes will be transferred to other locations in central and southern Albania within the next few days, said UNHCR yesterday, reports AFP in Kukes. "The new camps in the south are almost ready, and the transfers should begin within the next several days," said UNHCR spokesman Rupert Colville. Camps have been set up in Vlore in the south to house thousands of people, but they remain empty for now. Refugees have refused to budge from Kukes because they want to stay close to Kosovo or because they are afraid to move to another unknown camp. When asked whether they might force refugees to evacuate Kukes, military and humanitarian officials said it was "out of the question." But refugees say that pressure to leave the camps in Kukes is mounting, and many fear a forced evacuation. Some reported that tents are being taken down as soon as they are freed up by those who do leave. The New York Times adds that UNHCR's efforts to persuade people who settled in and around Kukes to relocate for their own safety have by and large failed. The UN policy is not to force refugees to leave, and they do not want to close the camps at Kukes because the flow of refugees continues. At the same time, the UN policy is not to keep refugees within 50 miles of a contentious border. The reluctance of the refugees to move again underscores some of the problems that have plagued relief organisations, particularly the UN. UNHCR "has not taken the leadership role that it normally would have taken in a situation like this," said a programme manager with CARE International. [Kosovar refugees at Kukes to be transferred away from border – www.afp.com; Americans Are Building a Camp but Few Kosovars Are Drawn to It – www.nytimes.com] 

ALBANIA: AID AGENCIES 'COPING' 24 May 1999 – Aid agencies in Albania are concerned about the new flood of Kosovar refugees but are coping with the situation, they said Saturday, reports AFP. "We are able to cope with this sort of influx, although we are obviously concerned by their arrival," said Melita Sunjic, UNHCR's Tirana-based spokeswoman. "We have the supply lines in place and we have enough people there to cope with the situation. Although the numbers seem large, they are smaller than what we experienced at the start" of the Kosovo crisis, Sunjic added. A WFP spokesman, Jeff Rowland, said: "We are in excellent condition as far as the food is concerned and Kukes is probably in the best shape, because we first directed our efforts there and it is a major port of entry." OXFAM's spokesman in Tirana, Toby Porter, said that camps in the Kukes region should have more than adequate water supplies to cope with the new refugees. Reuters reports Kosovo Albanian Radio 21 said some 200 Kosovo refugees at Librazhde camp are in hospital with food poisoning after eating imported Ukrainian salami that was 11 years past its expiry date. AP reports Xinhua News Agency said yesterday China will give Albania US$610,000 in aid to help it cope with the flood of refugees from Kosovo. [Aid agencies in Albania "concerned" but "coping" – www.afp.com; Ancient salami puts 200 refugees in hospital – www.reuters.com; Report: China to provide refugee aid to Albania – www.ap.org] 

KOSOVANS: NATO AID PROCEDURES DENOUNCED 24 May 99 – Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday blamed NATO for the Kosovo refugee tragedy and denounced what it said were attempts by the Western alliance to control the flow of humanitarian aid, reports Reuters. It said NATO had been distributing "recommendations" asking UNHCR and other humanitarian groups to inform it of any aid convoys destined for Yugoslavia. It said the NATO instructions amounted to an attempt to evade responsibility for the "ever increasing numbers of 'mistakes' in hitting schools, hospitals and convoys of refugees." "NATO cynically cites reducing risks to humanitarian workers as the reason for such concerns*,'' the Foreign Ministry said. Xinhua reports the Russian Foreign Ministry has sharply criticised procedures UNHCR will use. [Russia denounces NATO on humanitarian aid – www.reuters.com; Russia Criticizes UNHCR on Humanitarian Mission Procedures – www.xinhua.org] 

KOSOVANS: TROOPS NEEDED FOR RETURNS 24 May 1999 – The United States urged swift dispatch of more ground forces to the Balkans to secure the return of refugees Friday, reports the Washington Post. Signaling a sense of urgency for the first time about the ground troops, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon stressed the need to build up NATO forces in Macedonia in case of a peace settlement or in case NATO decides not to wait for one and tries to get the ethnic Albanian refugees home to Kosovo before next winter even without a final agreement. The Los Angeles Times reports Bacon stressed that a rapid deployment of up to 50,000 NATO troops is needed, saying: "NATO ... plans to do this so the refugees can return home as quickly as possible after a peace agreement is signed." The International Herald Tribune reports the refugees' return has become the central NATO war aim, and the result by which the alliance's performance seems likely to be judged. The Economist says to oblige the Serbs to halt the violence, and get the refugees back home, NATO needs either a workable peace agreement soon or the resolve to enforce a settlement using troops of its own. [US Pushes for Buildup of Balkans Ground Forces – www.washingtonpost.com; NATO Attacks Reach Feverish Pitch – www.latimes.com; Calendar Presses NATO Into a Strategy Decision – www.iht.com; One way or another, combat troops are needed to end this war – www.economist.com] 

KOSOVANS: RETURNS LATER, OR SOONER? 24 May 1999 – The head of Nato's humanitarian force in Albania has warned it could take up to two years to return all refugees to Kosovo, reports BBC News. Lt-Gen. John Reith said it could take that time to repair the devastation caused by Serb forces. He said: "When the Serbs evicted the people from Kosovo they did tremendous damage, particularly to the outlying villages and have gutted most of the homes." "That will take time to repair and my experience from Bosnia was that even two years later, many of the houses had not been repaired. There's a huge logistical problem there in getting the materials in and getting the expertise to do that work." But Reuters reports Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko on Saturday promised Kosovo Albanian refugees they would return to their homes Kosovo soon. Reuters also reports Britain yesterday said Kosovo Albanian refugees could start returning to their homes soon after a Serb withdrawal from Kosovo, but full repatriation would take time. International Development Secretary Clare Short said: "The whole process will take some years but the beginnings of people coming home will start very quickly," adding that one problem would be determining how badly mined the province was. ['Refugees face two-year wait' – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Albania promises swift refugee return to Kosovo + Britain says Kosovo refugees' return will be prompt – www.reuters.com] 

KOSOVANS: MINES THREAT 24 May 1999 – With Yugoslavia's border guards periodically restricting departures of refugees and its soldiers burying mines in anticipation of a ground invasion, UN officials fear more refugees may trigger the weapons as they flee Kosovo through illegal, unmarked border crossings, reports the Los Angeles Times. Already, at least a dozen refugees have been killed in mine blasts, according to Macedonian figures and news reports. UN officials said they are expecting the toll to mount. "We know that a substantial number of refugees are coming across unofficial crossings," said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond. A land mine incident "could very well happen again." Some of those fighting to ban land mines worldwide allege that Yugoslav troops are using the weapons not only to defend against invasion but to channel refugees toward the borders with Albania and Macedonia and to stop refugees from returning to Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia. Marissa Vitagliano, coordinator for the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, said the group has received reports that Yugoslav military units have forced refugees to lay the mines. "The Serbian army is using mines as a weapon of terror," Vitagliano said. "They don't have any military purpose. They're being used to control refugees." [Land Mines an Increasing Threat to Refugees – www.latimes.com] 

ITALY: ARRIVING BY FERRY 24 May 1999 – Tired of waiting for smugglers to transport them across the Adriatic from Albania to Italy, refugees from Kosovo have hit on a new idea – take the ferry, reports AP. The Italian news agency AGI, reporting from Brindisi in southeastern Italy, said 205 refugees, most of them groups of large families, arrived Saturday after buying tickets for regular ferry runs. The refugees apparently used purchased false passports to get by the customs controls when they embarked, AGI said. Most refugees trying to illegally reach Italy pay smugglers to sail them on motorised rubber dinghies across the sea. After the ferries docked in Italy, authorities began to try to identify the refugees. While clandestine arrivals by boat from other countries are ordered to leave if they can't prove they have a job or family waiting for them here, refugees from Kosovo have been allowed to stay in Italy during the war in their homeland. More than 130 people, more than half of them Kosovans, reached the coast near Brindisi in smugglers' dinghies in a 24-hour-period ending Saturday morning, authorities said. [Refugees use regular ferries to illegally enter Italy – www.ap.org] 

GERMANY: STATES REJECT MORE EVACUEES 24 May 1999 – Three German states have said they want no more Kosovo refugees since there is room for them in Albania and Turkey, the Bavarian interior ministry said yesterday, reports AFP. "There is enough room free in refugee camps in Albania and Turkey," an interior ministry spokesman said, adding that it was better to house the refugees in their region than to evacuate them farther away. He said Bavarian Interior Minister Guenther Beckstein, accompanied by interior ministers Klaus Hardraht from Saxony and Richard Dewes from Thuringia, had made this determination on a recent two-day trip to Macedonia and Albania. The spokesman said that in Albania certain camps were empty and that Turkey could still welcome several thousand more. Germany has taken in 10,000 refugees from Kosovo since NATO air raids began and is set to accept 5,000 more. Le Monde in an editorial commends Germany for its generosity in taking in the refugees. [Three German states want to turn away Kosovo refugees – www.afp.com; Generous Germany – www.lemonde.fr] 

USA: OVER 4,000 TAKEN IN, SMOTHERED 24 May 1999 – A planeload of 483 ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo arrived in New Jersey from Macedonia on Friday, bringing the total in the United States to 4,198, the State Department said, reports Reuters. American relatives have taken in 693 of the refugees and the remainder, more than 3,500 people, are at Fort Dix, New Jersey, awaiting relocation to US communities, it said. The Los Angeles Times reports authorities have begun resettling refugees in cities across the country, the next phase of their almost surreal transition from being ethnically cleansed to smothered with affection. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Times reports resettlement agencies say the grass-roots interest in the ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo is unmatched since the fall of South Vietnam two decades ago. There has been such an outpouring of offers for food, clothing and logo-laden products that Fort Dix officials asked people last week to stop donating things. [Kosovo refugees in United States passes 4,000 mark – www.reuters.com; Resettlement Agencies Compete for Kosovo Refugees + Kosovo Refugees Get Royal Welcome in U.S. – www.latimes.com] 

NOTES 24 May 99 – The Daily Telegraph reports President Clinton has signed a presidential order authorising the CIA to train Kosovan refugees recruited from camps in Albania and Macedonia to act as saboteurs behind Serb lines, according to reports in Washington. Reuters reports the financing arm of the European Union said Friday it was donating US$633,500 in emergency aid to help deal with the Kosovo refugee crisis in Albania and Macedonia through six humanitarian agencies based in Luxembourg. 

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