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

• Ten members of DART Kosovo traveled to Pristina today including the DART Team leader, two field officers, logistics officer, health officer, water/sanitation officer, admin officer. The DART members are working with UNHCR, DFID, and ECHO to assess the humanitarian situation and needs.
• The DART accompanied USAID Deputy Administrator, Ambassador Harriet Babbitt to Pristina on June 23. Ambassador Babbitt accompanied a WFP helicopter on a delivery of flour to a village north of Podujevo. Ambassador Babbitt will also visit the Pristina hospital today.
• The Pristina hospital has been the focal point of controversy for several days as the UN and KFOR try to establish a system to allow ethnic Serb doctors to remain in their positions while promoting the inclusion of ethnic Albanians. According to UNHCR representative on June 22, all of the Serbian staff walked out of the Pristina hospital.
• Save the Children-UK and ADRA are developing a referral service at the CIMIC in Pristina to assist with humanitarian requests.
• On June 23, at a meeting chaired by the UN Interagency Coordination Unit- NGOs agreed to a standardized multi-sector assessment form for villages. In addition, NGOs posed no objections to members of the KFOR CIMICs participating in the assessments if they used the same assessment form.
• On June 23, the UN Mine Action Service hosted a mine coordination meeting in Pristina. Attendees included KFOR, UNICEF, UNHCR, DART, and agencies involved in mine clearance and awareness program.
• UNMAS announced they are setting up a Mine Action Center under the UN Mission in Kosovo to coordinate mine activities. Its primary function is to collect and disseminate information on mines to refugees and NGOs.
• UNICEF is the lead agency for mine awareness but will collaborate and coordinate closely with the UN Mine Action Center. UNICEF is distributing more posters and pamphlets this week in Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia. UNICEF also appealed to the KFOR for pictures of and information on munitions dropped by NATO planes.

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 319,100 Kosovar refugees remain in Albania. UNHCR reports that approximately 13,100 people left Albania for Kosovo on June 22.
• The GOA/EMG reports that 13,994 refugees arrived in Kukes from central and southern Albania on June 22. Since June 15, approximately 87,125 refugees have returned to Kukes from central and southern Albania. These refugees are not remaining in Kukes, but continuing on to Kosovo.
• The GOA/EMG reports that 118,140 refugees have returned to Kosovo since June 15. On June 21, 9,500 refugees crossed into Kosovo at Morini border point and 800 entered at the Qaf-e-Prushit border point.
• DART reports that 90% of refugees in Albania are expected to return to Kosovo before winter. UNHCR is using a planning figure of 50,000 refugees to develop its programs in Albania for the winter. Refugees remaining in Albania during the winter will be housed in either private accommodations or collective centers, and will continue to receive relief assistance.
• As the majority of the refugees return home, UNHCR will begin to focus activities on land reclamation, environmental issues, and addressing the stresses to Albanian infrastructure caused by the refugee population.
• On June 20, the NGO Humanitarian Information Center sponsored a Development Planning Meeting to provide an opportunity for NGOs interested in longer-term activities in Albania to discuss collaboration. Twenty-four NGOs attended, expressing interest in pursuing projects in democratization, civil society, education and rehabilitation of infrastructure.
• DART reports that heavy rainfall on June 22 flooded Camp Hope with approximately four inches of standing water. However, by the morning of June 23, the rain had stopped, the water had receded and the camp had returned to normal.
• DOD reports that 147 refugees departed Camp Hope in the last 24 hours. Current camp population is 3,050.

• The UNHCR information campaign is providing information to refugees on their repatriation options, while continuing to give information on the situation inside Kosovo. Due to the rapid return of many refugees, UNHCR plans to speed up the implementation of its organized repatriation process and has begun to inform refugees of these options.
• On June 22, UNHCR began half hour radio programs that inform refugees on conditions inside Kosovo, UNHCR's operational plans for return, and other issues that may arise.
• UNHCR and KFOR will meet on June 23 to begin to identify areas that are ready for UNHCR-facilitated refugee returns. Two initial areas that have been identified are Urosevac and Kacanik. UNHCR has yet to set a date for the organized returns to begin.
• UNHCR has developed a draft plan to consolidate refugee camps in Macedonia in the coming weeks, and phase camps out completely by October. As part of the draft plan, remaining refugees will be housed in collective centers during the winter. The plan is pending approval by the Government of Macedonia.
• Refugee camp managers in Macedonia report declining security in many camps over the past few weeks. Managers are reporting increased theft of relief commodities such as mattresses and blankets by refugees.
• UNHCR reports that the Humanitarian Evacuation Program is ongoing, however, participant countries are limiting the number of people evacuated. Priority is being given to refugees that are highly vulnerable or have medical needs.
• UNHCR reported that 800-1,000 Serbs seeking refugee status in Macedonia are now in Bitola Epachi. They are being assisted by the Macedonian Red Cross (MRC). MRC and WFP are assisting about 12,000 Serbs in Kumanovo. An additional 155 Roma and 130 Bosnian Serbs are being assisted in Radusa and Dare Bombol.
• DOD reports that 183 refugees departed Fort Dix on June 22. Another 195 are scheduled depart today. The current population of Fort Dix is 1,545. The total refugee population received in the U.S. to date is 8,386.

Refugee Camp and Collective Center Information: Macedonia
Date: June 23, 1999 8:00 am GMT

Source: UNHCR Skopje.

Montenegro

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 1,000 Kosovo Albanians returned to Kosovo from Montenegro on June 22. A total of 68,500 Kosovo Albanian refugees remain in Montenegro. There were no reports of Serb refugees crossing into Montenegro on June 22.

Pescara, Italy—Airdrops

• No airdrops were conducted on June 23. To date, 62,982 HDRs and 10,000 high-protein biscuits have been delivered.

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

Financial Support

• To date, the U.S. Government (USG) has provided over $215 million in response to the Kosovo crisis since March 1998.

USAID/BHR	$101,936,372
State/PRM	$69,779,500
DOD	$45,281,000
TOTAL	$216,996,872

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 1-202-667-8227 x106, 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 22, 44 calls were made to the public donation hotline. Since April 6, a total of 49,921 calls have been received by the hotline.