Kosovo Crisis
Fact Sheet #35
April 24, 1999

Regional

• On April 23, the Department of Defense delegated the authority to approve transportation of non-DOD personnel on military aircraft in direct support of Operation Sustain Hope to the United States Commander-in-Chief Europe (USCINCEUR).

Refugees/IDPs 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)

Albania

• As of April 24, UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 363,000 refugees in Albania. UNHCR reports that 800 refugees entered Albania from Montenegro on April 23, and 200 entered from Kosovo.
• As of April 23, all border crossings remained open, except for the Qaf e Prushit border crossing which was closed due to shelling.
• On April 23, approximately 3,000 people were moved away from the border area on GOA and UNHCR buses to points further south in Albania.
• Shelter remains a primary concern in the Kukės area. Local authorities have identified 49 buildings that could serve as potential shelters, some needing minor repairs. The Emergency Management Group in Kukės is working on this issue.
• WFP reports that the health status of refugees in Kukės is deteriorating rapidly, with increases in the number of respiratory infections, intestinal infections and diarrhea.
• Joint Task Force - Shining Hope (JTF-SH) has identified and recommended a potential location for the construction of a 20,000-person refugee camp in Albania. The U.S. Ambassador to Albania is assisting to obtain Government of Albania approval. The contract for camp construction was awarded to Readiness Management Support (RMS).
• On April 23, the German-funded Qatromi camp in Korce district opened up to 700 refugees. At full capacity, this camp will house 5,000.
• The USAID/OFDA Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) food officer reports that congestion in the port of Durrės is already a serious problem. CRS/Bosnia has indicated that it has been unable to transship commodities from Ploce, Bosnia to Albania because of the backlog of ships currently waiting to berth and discharge in Durrės. 13 vessels are still waiting to be discharged at Durrės, but progress has been made in customs procedures. WFP announced it has enough food supplies in country for one week with 4,000 MT left to be discharged.
• WFP reports that the EMG will push for government legislation to decentralize and speed up the customs clearance of humanitarian supplies.
• WFP is pre-positioning food stocks at its extended distribution points (EDPs). As of April 23, WFP had transported 580 MT of vegetable oil, canned meat, canned fish, sugar, and wheat flour to the EDPs. WFP will dispatch mixed commodities to the EDPs in the next 48 hours.
• WFP reports that it will adopt a broader food basket consisting of: 12 kg wheatflour, 3 kg rice, 2 kg pulses, 1 kg oil, 1 kg sugar, and .30 kg salt
• The Emergency Management Group (EMG) reports that hospitals in Albania currently lack laboratory examination supplies, and some medicines.
• UNHCR will provide funding to the Institute of Study and Project of Water Supply and Construction (ISPWSC) for the survey of 49 buildings in the prefectures of Tirana, Durrės, Elbasan, Fier, and Vlore that have been identified by the GOA as possible transit facilities or longer-term refugee shelters. The survey mission will be completed within the next ten days.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 133,700 refugees currently in Macedonia, 1,000 of who have entered at the Blace border crossing in the last 24 hours. The 1,000 new arrivals have been transferred to Stankovac II. Approximately 52,000 of the refugees in Macedonia are in camps and 84,000 are with host families.
• Some 1,500 refugees from the Pristina area of Kosovo are waiting at the Blace border to cross into Macedonia. These refugees must first register, and then they will be housed temporarily at a reception center before being transferred to camps. The reception center, which holds 2,200 refugees, is currently housing 800. 100 USAID/OFDA tents have been erected at the Blace reception area.
• 900 refugees were transferred from the Blace reception center to Senokos today. The Swiss have erected additional tents at Senokos to accommodate the new arrivals.
• On April 23, UNHCR was allowed to travel to the mountainous region between Blace and Lojane, where several thousand refugees arrived nearly one week ago. UNHCR found that most of the refugees had dispersed after having arrived at the small village of Malina Mala. UNHCR found 500 refugees staying in a mosque at the village of Lipkova, an 8-10 hour foot trek from Malina Mala. These refugees reported that another several hundred refugees were on their way to Lipkova. UNHCR will try to locate the refugees that are en route today.
• WFP reports distributing 7.5 MT of HDRs to refugees in Malina Mala on April 22, after having been denied access for three days. 1,000 refugees were present at the time of the food delivery and up to 10,000 more were reportedly making their way towards the border crossing near the village.
• A food coordination meeting was held on April 23 to program the May food distributions to refugees living with host families in Macedonia. Planning was based on an estimate of 80,000 refugees hosted by 10,000 families. WFP will provide the rations for the refugees, with MCI and CRS delivering the rations to host families.
• WFP reports that its bread production is averaging 10,000-15,000 loaves per day. Production depends upon requests made from individual camp management on a daily basis.
• The Cegrane camp is being built on approximately 43 hectares of land, and will house approximately 30,000 refugees. Tents for 5,000-6,000 people will be ready for use by Sunday; however, the camp will not open until next week due to the gap in availability of water and sanitation facilities. UNHCR has requested 500 USAID/OFDA tents to be erected at the Cegrane camp.
• In light of food distribution problems in Stankovac I (Brazda) camp, the number of distribution points is expanding from three to four or five, food ration cards for families are being distributed allowing one family member to receive food for the entire family, and 22 kitchens are being brought in to supply hot meals.
• UNHCR reports that heavy rains have worsened camp conditions, giving a new urgency to the humanitarian evacuation program.
• Camp details: According to NATO all camps are filled to capacity. The following numbers are reported by UNHCR, as of April 23.
  • Stankovac I (Brazda): 26,200 refugees
  • Stankovac II: 14,200 refugees
  • Radusa: 1,500 refugees
  • Bojane: 3,200 refugees
  • Neprosteno: 6,000 refugees
  • Senokos: 850 refugees
  • Radusa Collective Center: 400 refugees

Montenegro

• On April 23, 12 buses departed from Rozaje heading for Albania. UNHCR reports that there are still 5,000 IDPs in collective centers in Rozaje. 2,000 of these refugees are living in a factory, 1,700 in tents, and 1,300 in mosques.
• The Montenegrin Red Cross and IFRC chaired a food distribution and logistics meeting in Podgorica on April 23. A coordination meeting was also held in Ulcinj for the growing number of agencies active there.
• The border crossing between Montenegro and Croatia has reopened.
• WFP reports that as of April 22, a series of clearances are required prior to the arrival of any ship berthing in Bar, Montenegro, for the purpose of transshipment of food commodities out of Bar. Clearances must be obtained from Military Headquarters in Podgorica; the Federal Ministry of Health, Works, and Social Welfare; and the Montenegrin Ministry of Commerce.
• CRS reports that Montenegrin authorities are in the process of clearing beans previously declared "unfit for human consumption". Approximately 3,000 MT of U.S. Title II navy beans shipped to Bar had been declared "unfit" in February and March by Serbian authorities.

Commodities

• No new information to report.

Financial Support

• On April 22, USAID/OFDA provided $500,000 to WFP to fund an air bridge that will make daily flights carrying relief workers from Rome -Tirana - Skopje - Tirana - Rome.
• To date the USG has provided over $182 million in response to the Kosovo crisis, beginning in March 1998.

  USAID/BHR	$75,655,282
  Department of State/Population Refugees and Migration (PRM)	$58,648,600
  DOD	$47,949,000
  TOTAL	$182,252,882

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.

• 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 http://www.info.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/http. 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. 643 calls were received by the public donation hotline on April 23, through 12:00 a.m. EDT. A total of 41,119 calls have been received since April 6.
• Past USAID/OFDA Factsheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at the following URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/situation.html.