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

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 442,600 refugees in Albania. On June 1, 50 refugees entered Albania from Kosovo and 103 refugees entered Albania from Macedonia.
• Throughout Albania, the GOA/EMG estimates that 81,563 refugees are in tent camps, 98,084 in collective centers, and 284,607 living with host families and in other accommodations.
• In Kukes Prefecture, the GOA/EMG estimates that there are 35,550 refugees in tent camps, and 2,324 in collective centers. UNHCR is currently conducting a registration of refugees in host families.
• In Albania, an engineering team is working on plans for winterization. The team is attached to the emergency management group headed by UNHCR in Tirana and includes representatives of various humanitarian agencies.
• Several stray rockets from Kosovo hit Krume, a town about 25 kilometers north of Kukes, on May 31. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the area, which hosts about 2,000 refugees - 1,000 in a camp, 600 in collective centers, and the rest in host families. A UNHCR team went to Krume on June 1 to look into the situation there. UNHCR transported around 50 people over the weekend from Krume to camps in the south.
• Two WFP/FAO joint missions will begin this week. A one-week long crops and food security assessment mission will begin June 3. A three-week food economy and household food security mission begins June 2.
• A WFP nutritionist arrived in Albania on June 1. This person will assess the food basket being distributed to refugees, in particular with regard to needs during the coming winter.
• Over the weekend of May 29-30, CARE, GOAL, UNHCR and NATO met in Kukes to discuss how to identify and provide support required to move families with tractors in Kukes to the south. The plan is to begin this movement on June 5. GOAL will facilitate tire changes and other minor repairs to the tractors. CARE will establish three way stations that will provide water, food and fuel to refugees. NATO will police the route. It is estimated that there are 1,800 tractors still in Kukes.
• The GOA/EMG released a winterization plan on June 2. DART/Albania and PRM will meet with the GOA/EMG and other donors on June 5 to discuss the plan in detail.
• As of 4:00 p.m. CET on June 1, Camp Hope had a registered population of 3,044. Only 20 refugees from Fier Prefecture had been processed by that time. A busload of 200 additional refugees was expected to arrive at Camp Hope in the evening of June 1 as part of UNHCR's organized relocation plan supported by NATO.
• By June 3, 9, and 15, the absorptive capacity of the camp will increase by 4,968, 3,888, and 4,320 respectively - contingent on the availability of water and sanitation services. By June 15, if these projected construction targets materialize, the camp will be able to house 17,712 refugees.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 248,900 refugees in Macedonia. Approximately 370 refugees entered Macedonia in the last 24 hours. On June 1, there were 1,026 refugees transferred by air to third countries.
• UNHCR Skopje reports that 110,300 refugees are living in camps and transit centers, and the Macedonian Red Cross estimates 138,600 refugees are registered as living with host families. The Government of Macedonia (GOM) estimates that more than 30,000 refugees are unregistered and living elsewhere in Macedonia.
• UNHCR reported that on June 1, 103 refugees left from Senokos and Cegrane camps for Korce in Albania under its Humanitarian Transfer Program (HTP). The HTP is an effort to ease pressure on Macedonia refugee camps by encouraging volunteers from the camps to relocate to Albania. More than 600 refugees have volunteered to leave for Albania since UNHCR began the campaign.
• On June 1, MCI turned over management of the Blace Reception Center to Action Against Hunger (AAH). AAH has begun developing supplemental services at Blace such as a supplementary feeding program, a breast feeding clinic, and has begun providing newspapers to refugees at the center. Previously, the refugees had no access to outside information. AAH has also begun a nutritional survey at the camp.
• WFP reports that field kitchens are to be set up in Vrapciste, a newly approved refugee camp, prior to the arrival of the camp's first refugees. The intent is to have the cooking facilities up and running at the same time refugees begin to be accepted into the camp.
• WFP reports that stoves are to be operational in Stankovac II by the end of the week. CARE and the Italian Civil Protection Group plan to provide 20,000 hot meals daily in addition to the 5,000 hot meals being served to school aged children.
• UNHCR has now set up an information services trailer at Blace, which will provide information to refugees on human rights, movements out of the reception center and out of Macedonia, and information on family reunification.
• UNHCR reports that it has placed an order for 20,000 blankets with local Macedonian companies, and is procuring other items locally. According to UNHCR, airlift flights bringing humanitarian aid to Skopje continue, including tents and plastic sheeting.
• UNHCR's contingency stocks are improving, allowing the delivery of 1,650 tents to camps in southern Albania. UNHCR reports that a shipment of 127 metric tons of soap will arrive from Egypt in the next five days, and convoys of trucks bringing relief items from the United Kingdom, Slovakia and Greece are arriving in Skopje. UNHCR reports that it is looking at space for warehousing winterization materials.
• DOD reports that 158 refugees at Fort Dix, New Jersey departed for host families throughout the United States on June 1.

Date: June 1, 1999 8:00 am GMT

Source: UNHCR Skopje. No new information was received for June 2.

Montenegro

• WFP reports that a WFP team met with the Montenegrin Minister of Trade on June 1 to try to resolve the issues surrounding the clearance of approximately 3,000 MTs of Title II navy beans that were declared unfit for human consumption by Yugoslav officials in March. A final analysis on new samples is to be carried out in a Montenegrin laboratory in order to determine the whether or not the beans are actually unfit for use.

(Source: UNHCR/Geneva)

Region

• WFP reports that FOCUS convoy #6 (which was to have included commodities for distribution in Kosovo by partners other than the Yugoslav Red Cross) was cancelled because distribution arrangements had not yet been finalized and approved by Yugoslav authorities.

Commodities

• Ten thousand MTs of USDA 416(b) wheat flour and 1,026 MTs of Title II rice, vegetable oil, corn-soy blend, and pinto beans will arrive in Thessaloniki over the next 2-3 days. These commodities, plus an additional 4,200 MT Title II commodities that will arrive in Sofia during the month, are being pre-positioned in the region to permit a rapid USG response to shifts in the refugee population, possible breaks in the food pipelines of WFP and other partners, and the eventual opening of Kosovo.

Financial Support

• To date the USG has provided over $210 million in response to the Kosovo crisis since March 1998.

USAID/BHR	$95,628,821
State/PRM	$69,779,500
DOD	$45,281,000
TOTAL	$210,689,321

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). On June 1, 77 calls were made to the public donation hotline. Since April 6, a total of 49,232 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.