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

*All numbers are estimates from UNHCR Headquarters.

Albania

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters estimates that there are 433,400 refugees in Albania.
• Department of Defense (DOD) reports that the Camp Hope refugee population is 2,239. Engineers are focusing on improving grading, site draining, and access roads. 980 replacement tents are due today in Camp Hope for immediate construction that will increase camp capacity to 5,500 by May 24.
• DOD reports that Camp Eagle site (second U.S.-funded camp) identified near Fier. Lease negotiations are ongoing with local owners.
• According to DOD, 15,500 refugees are scheduled to arrive at Camp Hope between May 21-June 15.
• Findings of survey carried out by Doctors Without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) in Kukes during the latter part of April (released 18 May) indicate that while most of the refugees living with host families who were interviewed had received some form of food assistance, it was often insufficient. At the time of the interviews, 20% had received no food assistance at all. The survey highlighted the need for increased efforts to register and provide assistance to refugees housed outside of camps, as well as the need to support Albanian families providing shelter to refugees.
• The GOA/Emergency Management Group (EMG) reports that 1,506 refugees were relocated from Kukes prefecture to central and southern Albania.
• According to the EMG, 69,379 refugees are in tented camps in Albania; 90,496 are in collective centers and 305,592 are with host families.
• On May 19, a total of 13 refugees crossed into Albania; 4 entered at Morini and 9 at Hani I Hotip border points.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are currently 227,500 refugees in Macedonia, 1,600 of whom arrived on May 19. 1,874 refugees were transferred by air to third countries on May 19. UNHCR reports that 77,100 refugees are living in camps and transit centers and 120,432 refugees are living with host families (registered by the Macedonian Red Cross). UNHCR reports government estimates that 30,000 unregistered refugees are living elsewhere in Macedonia.
• UNHCR Skopje is in the process of pursuing a two-pronged strategy for refugee return and for the accommodation of refugees/internally displaced populations (IDPs) throughout the winter months. Representatives from the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), Department for International Development (DFID), World Food Program (WFP), NATO Military Force (KFOR), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), and the non-governmental organization (NGO) council attended a meeting chaired by UNHCR on May 18. UNHCR is drafting a detailed return plan, which in general terms will assume a UNHCR-led return operation of up to 115,000 refugees from Macedonia in the initial repatriation wave. UNHCR assumes that the majority of these initial returnees will be males, and that most of them will seek to return to homes in urban areas.
• According to UNHCR's draft plan, UNHCR plans to begin procurement of materials needed for a return operation to Kosovo by June 1 to ensure that stockpiles will be in place by August or September. Under the plan, among the items UNHCR will procure are up to 16,000 shelter repair kits.
• On May 20, UNHCR, in conjunction with the Office for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Danish Refugee Council, will take about forty refugee leaders, local journalists, Government of Macedonia (GOM) officials, and embassy representatives to a camp in Korce, Albania, for a short visit to assess camp conditions. The visit is an effort to promote UNHCR's Humanitarian Transfer Program (HTP), an initiative to encourage refugees in Macedonia to relocate to Albania. Only about 600 refugees in Macedonia have expressed an interest in relocating to Albania and 200 have been transferred to date. Most of those transferred are living with family members in Albania.
• Refugees continue to arrive at Stankovac I and II according to the camp management. Approximately 80 refugees arrived at Stankovac I on May 18, according to UNHCR. At Stankovac I, CRS has set up a system for the reception and processing of all refugees coming into the camp as visitors or as new refugees.
• Some 2,400 refugees arrived at Senokos on May 18 from Blace and Kumanovo and were housed in Phase III of the camp, bringing the total number of refugees housed in Phase III to more than 3,000. Senokos is expecting another 1,500 to 2,000 arrivals from Blace on May 19, according to the camp manager. Phase III has a capacity for up to 5,000 refugees. Mercy Corps International (MCI) is setting up kitchen facilities in Phase III and expects to be distributing hot food in two to three days.
• An undetermined number of refugees from Neprosteno camp have left the camp for host families or for Stankovac I or II in order to try to go to third countries under the Humanitarian Evacuation Program (HEP), according to the camp manager, IRC. On May 18, 23 refugees left the camp for reunification in host families, according to UNHCR. UNHCR also reports that 17 refugees entered the camp on that date from host families or other camp locations.
• Water provided to the Neprosteno camp via a borehole was found to have an excessively high nitrate concentration. (High nitrate concentrations block the absorption of oxygen into the blood, and is known to cause "blue baby syndrome".) Relief workers at the camp are warning refugees not to drink the water from the borehole, and an alternate water supply has been brought into the camp for drinking water. NGOs are re-sampling the water and exploring the possibility of using two wells just outside the camp, according to the DART water/sanitation officer, who visited the camp on May 18.
• The DART water/sanitation officer met with OXFAM's water/sanitation engineer and is currently reviewing plans for long term solutions to the sewage problem at Cegrane. Currently, sewage sludge from Cegrane's latrines is dumped into a nearby river.
• UNHCR is encouraging all camps to increase security for refugees, particularly women, using latrines after dark. UNHCR has received some reports of verbal harassment of women using the latrines after dark, although no security incidents have taken place.
• Since May 5, refugees have been arriving daily in Stankovac I camp with green refugee status cards, claiming to be new arrivals or there to visit family members. Refugees then go to the camp administration and are registered as camp residents. CRS and UNHCR expressed concern about this recent influx, saying it contributes to community perceptions of inequities in the camp. It is speculated that the possibility of HEP evacuation may be the motivation behind this influx. Stankovac I and II are the primary camp locations for identifying and transporting refugees through the HEP.
• DOD reports that one 70 year old refugee women died enroute to the United States on May 19. The preliminary cause of death was a heart attack. 226 refugees are scheduled to depart Ft. Dix on May 20 to live with sponsor families throughout the United States.

Montenegro

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 64,000 refugees in Montenegro.
• WFP reports that WFP/CRS/MCI distributions for the month of May are targeting 81,000 IDPs. WFP is trucking 1,091 MTs of wheat flour, beans, vegetable oil, and sugar from the port of Bar to Ulcinj for the distributions.
• CRS and MCI report that they are distributing bread and commodities to social cases, host families, and newly-arrived IDPs not yet registered with the Montenegrin Red Cross.

** Some refugees were moved to third countries by the GOM w/o UNHCR/IOM involvement: 10,000 to Albania, 5,500 to Greece, 1,980 to Turkey, and 88 to Croatia. (Source: UNHCR/Geneva)

Region

• ICRC/Macedonia reported that ICRC's assessment team completed its work inside Kosovo and Serbia on May 19. Based upon the team's findings, ICRC intends to send an operational team of 12 delegates (from non-NATO countries) into Kosovo some time next week. Although terms of that mission remain to be finalized with Serbian authorities, the team hopes to provide immediate medical and food assistance to IDP populations, as feasible.

Commodities

• No new information.

Financial Support

• To date the USG has provided nearly $200 million in response to the Kosovo crisis, beginning in March 1998. On May 18 President Clinton announced an additional $15 million toward the crisis under the Emergency Migration and Refugee Assistance account (ERMA). The $15 million ERMA funds have yet to be spent and therefore do not appear in the totals below.

USAID/BHR	$92,336,720
State/PRM	$59,779,500
DOD	$45,281,000
TOTAL	$197,397,220

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. On May 19, 87 calls were made to the public donation hotline. Since April 6, a total of 48,541 calls have been received by the hotline.
• Past USAID/OFDA Factsheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at the following URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/situation.html.