Regional: Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Kosovo
 

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

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 395,600 refugees in Albania, 3,100 of whom entered from Kosovo and 300 of whom entered from Montenegro over the last 24 hours.
• The GOA reports that 6,720 refugees moved from Kukės prefecture to the southern and central regions of the country on May 2. Many of those who left drove in a fleet of 362 private vehicles. Others were transported by UNHCR to the train station in Mjeta via NATO-donated trucks. From Mjeta, the refugees traveled by train to Elbasan. To date, an estimated total of 295,000 refugees have been relocated from Kukės.
• The Emergency Management Group (EMG) reports that there are currently 70 collective centers and 26 tent camps housing refugees. In total, there are 85,000 refugees living in tents and 80,000-90,000 living with host families. 
• The EMG reports that relief agencies are planning to increase the number of tent camps by 13 and the number of collective centers by 42. These additional shelter facilities and those already in existence will accommodate a total of 284,000 refugees. 
• Relief agencies have identified a number of new sites in Albania for the construction of new camps, including a 31-hectare plot of land in Delvina. Other sites under consideration are in Gjirokaster, Korce, and Elbasan.
• The final planning meeting for Camp Hope between Joint Task Force-Shining Hope and NGOs is scheduled for today. Readiness Management Support (RMS) erected the first eight tents at the camp yesterday, and continues to build infrastructure today.
• WFP confirms that the first manufacturing bread line is up and running in Shkodėr, with capacity for the production of 10,000 loaves of bread per day. Four more production lines are to be added by May 7, with an estimated production of 50,000 loaves a day.
• WHO reports that it has launched a communicable disease surveillance tool—the Refugee Crisis Health Information System. The system includes reporting forms and case definitions. All NGOs will use the system to transmit data to the WHO Humanitarian Assistance Project Office in Tirana.
• Facilities are being readied at Fort Dix, New Jersey for the first of 20,000 refugees who will begin arriving in the U.S. on May 5.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are currently 193,220 refugees in Macedonia. About 3,900 refugees entered Macedonia, via the Blace and Jazince border crossing, in the last 24 hours. On May 3, 323 refugees departed Macedonia for third countries.
• There are 86,700 refugees in camps in Macedonia, 93,370 refugees registered by Macedonian authorities for refugee status and staying in host families or private accommodations, and 3,700 are gathered in border communities (Straza, Vaksince, Kumanovo), according to UNHCR.
• Germany announced that it will double the number of Kosovar Albanian refugees it is willing to accept to 20,000. To date, Germany has already accepted approximately 10,000 refugees.
• WFP delivered food parcels to refugees in the mountain village of Male Malina on April 30. 4 people were medivaced with the returning WFP trucks.

** Some refugees were moved to third countries by the GOM w/o UNHCR/IOM involvement: 10,000 to Albania, 5,500 to Greece, 2,243 to Turkey, and 88 to Croatia.

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 67,700 refugees in Montenegro. In the past 24 hours 300 refugees have left Montenegro for Albania.

Commodities

• No new information.

Financial Support

• To date the USG has provided over $188 million in response to the Kosovo crisis, beginning in March 1998. 

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.

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 encourages the public to contact directly those private voluntary organizations (PVOs) currently working in the region to provide monetary donations. A list of those PVOs may be obtained from the USAID website at www.info.usaid.gov. The list is composed of PVOs 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, which is staffed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Since the hotline was established on April 6, FEMA has received a total of 43,631 calls.
• Past USAID/OFDA Factsheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at the following URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/situation.html.