Kosovo Crisis
Fact Sheet #31
April 21, 1999

Regional

• Montenegro: UNHCR reports that over 72,000 displaced people from Kosovo are now in Montenegro.
• WFP staff in Montenegro report general shortages of staple commodities in Montenegrin markets. They also indicate that flour, vegetable oil and sugar prices have doubled as compared to prices pre-March 24.
• Quantities of Title II and other donor wheat flour, pulses, and vegetable oil are sufficient to meet the requirements of 100,000 IDPs in Montenegro for more than six months.
• U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata called for refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania to be placed far from those countries' tense frontiers with Kosovo, saying that the conflict had started to spread beyond the borders of Kosovo, which adds to the insecurity for refugees in those areas.
• The final flight of humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) from Travis Air Force Base to Thessaloniki and on to Skopje arrived on April 19. This completes the UNHCR original request for 1.1 million HDRs.

Refugees/IDPs Displaced from Kosovo
 

*All numbers are estimates from UNHCR Headquarters. These numbers are constantly changing and being verified.

UNHCR Humanitarian Evacuations (beginning April 6 to date)
 

** Some refugees were moved to third countries prior to April 6 by the Government of Macedonia: 10,000 were moved to Albania, 5,500 to Greece, and 1,980 to Turkey. Another 88 were sent to Croatia under a bilateral agreement between the Government of Macedonia and the Government of Croatia.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates a total of 355,000 refugees in Albania, with fewer than 50 entries in the last 24 hours at the Morina border with Kosovo. UNHCR estimates that 1,300 people crossed from Montenegro into Albania on April 19.
• According to the Government of Albania (GOA) and the OSCE, the Morina border crossing from Kosovo reopened at 1200 hours local time, but very few refugees were waiting to cross into Albania. Since the border reopened on April 19, only 164 refugees had crossed from Kosovo, according to the GOA. The Morina border remains insecure with cross-border fighting occurring. 
• According to the DART, the Kruma border crossing still remains closed. The Albania-Montenegro border crossing at Han i Hotit remains open. The border crossing with Macedonia is also reported to be open but very few refugees are crossing into Albania.
• The GOA and the OSCE also reported that 8,000 refugees were relocated from the northern Kukės prefecture to other areas within Albania on April 19. According to UNHCR, a total of 191,000 refugees have been moved from the Kukės area. The refugee population within the Kukės prefecture is 126,616. 
• On April 19, 39 helicopter sorties moved food and clothes to the Kukės prefecture. According to the DART, the empty helicopters returning to Tirana are being used to evacuate sick and wounded refugees. 
• WFP confirms the arrival of 2 rubhalls (temporary storage facilities), with 3 more to arrive April 22. Two of the rubhalls will be set up in Kukės, two at the Tirana airport, and the location of the remaining rubhall has not yet been determined.
• The Joint Chiefs of Staff is finalizing the guidance message to United States Commander-in-Chief Europe (USCINCEUR) regarding the construction of a 20,000 person refugee camp in Albania. Site selection is in progress with a final site recommendation expected not later than April 21.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 127,500 refugees currently in Macedonia, 400 of whom have entered the country in the last 24 hours.
• USAID Administrator J. Brian Atwood arrived in Skopje yesterday to assess the humanitarian situation. He met with NGOs last night, who expressed to Atwood their opinion that there should be a broader economic assistance package to the Macedonian government. Atwood also announced the reestablishment of the Radio 21 network in Macedonia, an Albanian-language radio station funded by the USG in Kosovo.
• The Government of Macedonia (GOM) announced it would allow development of at least one new refugee campsite, at Cegrane, and the expansion of current sites. The new camp is initially expected to accommodate between 10,000 and 12,000, and possibly up to 20,000. The GOM and UNHCR will use local contractors to build Cegrane.
• The GOM has also decided to create more room for refugees at Radusa by either expanding the current camp and/or developing a new site at that location. The government believes a new site will hold 4,000 refugees, but expressed concern about resistance to the expansion by the local residents of Radusa. 
• According to a representative of the Turkish Red Crescent, the camp at Bojane can expand to accommodate an additional 1,000 refugees. 
• The GOM believes a new processing center at Blace can hold 2,000 refugees for up to two days.
• Camp details: According to NATO all camps are filled to capacity. Numbers below are becoming more refined as UNHCR registration continues.
• Stankovac I (Brazda): 25,100 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Stankovac II: 12,300 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Radusa: an estimated 1,500 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Bojane: an estimated 3,200 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Neprosteno: and estimated 4,200 refugees (4/19). Lack of sanitation facilities is a serious problem.
• Senokos (15 km east of Tetovo): OSCE and MCI report 833 refugees in the camp (4/19).
• WFP increased its bread production on April 19 from 10,000 to 15,000 loaves. Production is expected to increase to 18,000 loaves on April 20. WFP is attempting to identify additional local bakeries to further increase daily bread production. Currently WFP distributes 750 loaves to the Senokos camp, 3000 to Neprosteno, 8000 to Stankovac II, and the remainder to Stankovac I.

Background:

• In late February 1998, following an unprecedented series of clashes in Kosovo between Serbian police forces and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Serbian police raided villages in Kosovo's Drenica region, a KLA stronghold. The police reportedly burned homes and killed dozens of ethnic Albanians in these raids. Thousands of ethnic Albanians in Pristina protested Serb police actions, and were subsequently attacked by the police with tear gas, water cannons, and clubs.
• As a result of the fighting, thousands of Kosovar Albanians were displaced from their homes, many taking refuge with host families, while a smaller proportion (several thousand) took to the hills and forests.
• On February 19, USAID/OFDA's DART in Kosovo moved from Pristina to Skopje, Macedonia. The team is comprised of a Team Leader, a Program Officer, two Field Officers, a Food for Peace Officer, an Administrative Officer, a Military Liaison Officer, an Information Officer, and a Communications Specialist.

USG Humanitarian Assistance:

Commodities

• USAID/OFDA has provided over $3.5 million in commodities in response to humanitarian needs in Macedonia and Albania since March 24.

Financial Support

• On March 31, President Clinton announced a package of $50 million in aid to address the urgent humanitarian needs of those affected by the conflict in Kosovo. Of this amount $25 million will come from the Emergency Refugee and Migration Account (ERMA) and is to be disbursed to UNHCR and other international entities involved in the relief effort. The other $25 million will be comprised of supplies and services from the DOD, including relief materials, shelter, and food.
• Since the beginning of the crisis in March 1998, the USG has provided at least $175,780,550 in response to the Kosovo crisis. This figure does not include the latest funding updates from State/PRM or DOD.

Public Donation Information

• In the interest of effective coordination of such public response, we encourage concerned citizens to provide monetary donations to appropriate organizations. USAID does not recommend in-kind donations of clothing, food, medicines, or other goods as the handling, storage, and transport of these materials from the U.S. to the Balkans would be extremely complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. 
• USAID encourages the public to contact directly those private voluntary organizations (PVOs) which are currently working in Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to provide monetary donations. Financial contributions to PVOs will allow these professional aid organizations to purchase exactly what is most needed by the victims of the conflict in Kosovo and to pay for transport and other costs associated with the distribution of relief supplies. Cash contributions allow humanitarian agencies based in the Balkans to procure food, medicine, clothing, shelter materials, and other relief goods locally and regionally, thereby greatly speeding the delivery of this assistance to those most in need.
• A list of PVOs that are currently working in, or have affiliates in, the Balkan countries may be obtained from the USAID website at www.info.usaid.gov. The list is composed of non-profit organizations that are registered with USAID and/or listed by InterAction, a coalition of voluntary humanitarian and development organizations that work overseas; InterAction can be contacted at 1-818-502-4288, or via the Internet at www.interaction.org. Those interested in providing specific technical relief services or commodities should contact Volunteers in Technical Assistance's (VITA) Disaster Information Center for information and guidelines (703) 276-1914.
• For more information, please contact the public donations hotline at 1-800-USAID-RELIEF. This hotline, which is staffed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 
• Past USAID/OFDA Factsheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at the following URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/situation.html.