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

Source: UNHCR Geneva.

* Also includes previously unreported returns via Qaf-I-Prushit on June 22.

Kosovo

• WFP helicopters continue to deliver Humanitarian Daily Rations (HDRs) at a rate of 1,000/flight on eight daily flights. WFP's goal is to limit the flights to four per day and is switching from HDRs to wheat flour upon requests from refugees. The WFP flights are mainly in northern Kosovo (zone three) where NATO is still consolidating its position.
• The WFP flight delivered one ton of flour on June 23 to the town of Kacandol five km northwest of Podujevo.
• The DART Leader reported numerous category 3, 4, & 5 houses in the area around Podujevo and several houses were seen burning. Large numbers of people are moving back into the ruins of destroyed houses.
• The DART reported targeted damage in certain areas of the town of Mitrovica, while other areas of the city looked untouched. However, the town of Bradas (2 km north of Mitrovica) was leveled.
• The DART observed few animals and little agricultural activity in or around Podujevo and Mitrovica.
• On June 24 the DART Leader, two field officers, health officers and public affairs officer travel to Pec to assess the humanitarian needs in the area. The DART will meet with representatives of MCI, UNHCR and KFOR.
• Eight UNHCR vehicles were stopped on the night of June 23 by armed ethnic Serb civilians near Lipljan and there have been some minor skirmishes with civilians; however UNCHR reports the overall security situation as calm.
• Scattered mine strikes continue. There have been 39 mine strikes alone in the German sector according to KFOR in Pristina.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 294,500 Kosovar refugees remain in Albania. UNHCR reports that approximately 16,500 people left Albania for Kosovo on June 23.
• The Albanian Ministry of Local Government reports that 19,270 refugees arrived in Kukes from central and southern Albania on June 23. Since June 15, approximately 106,395 refugees have traveled to Kukes from central and southern Albania. These refugees are not remaining in Kukes, but continuing on to Kosovo.
• The GOA/EMG reports that 140,000 refugees have returned to Kosovo since June 15. On June 23, the GOA/EMG reports, 22,600 refugees returned to Kosovo, 21,000 at the Morini border point and 1,600 at the Qaf-e-Prushit border point.
• The GOA/EMG reports that the road from Kukes to Morini is packed with queues of cars and tractors. The roads from Tirana to Kukes and Skhoder to Kukes are also congested with vehicles carrying refugees from central and southern Albania.
• DART/Albania reports that with recent looting incidents in emptied refugee camps in Kukes and the imminent departure of refugees from camps elsewhere in Albania, the EMG (with assistance from UNHCR, NATO, and the OSCE) is examining ways to ensure camp security. Because assets from many camps in Albania will be transferred to Kosovo, minimizing the loss of commodities is essential to being able to provide for the Kosovar refugees once they return home.
• Of the 2,700 refugees in tent camps, 30,000 refugees in collective centers, and 90,000 refugees in private accommodations in Kukes prefecture two weeks ago, all have returned to Kosovo except for an estimated 5% of the refugee population living with host families.
• The refugee population at Camp Hope peaked at 3,473 on June 12. The Camp Hope population was reported by CARE to be 2,511 as of 1600 CET on June 23. UNHCR will not relocate refugees from Camp Hope until the start of its organized return plan on July 1, but many refugees indicate that they will leave the camp before that date.
• UNHCR will assume responsibility for all Camp Hope assets by June 28 or 29. UNHCR indicated that it might turn some of the assets over to the Albanian government. Also by June 28 or 29, the management of Camp Hope will officially be tuned over to CARE, marking the completion of camp construction and the pull out of the U.S. military presence at the camp.
• DOD reports that 539 refugees departed Camp Hope in the last 24 hours. The current camp population is 2,511.

Macedonia

• President Clinton, accompanied by USAID Deputy Administrator Harriet Babbitt and other USG officials, met with the DART Leader, as well as UNHCR and NGO staff during a one-day visit to refugee camps in Macedonia.
• UNHCR reports 300 ethnic Serbs from Urosevac are still waiting to enter Macedonia at the Pelince border crossing point. Yugoslav authorities are preventing their entry.
• A UNHCR security officer recently arrived in Macedonia to coordinate camp security issues. A five person Swedish Security Team is expected to arrive at the end of the week to conduct a camp-by-camp assessment of security needs.
• According to DART officer, Mercy Corps International (MCI) and Doctors of the World (DOW) are assembling OFDA-funded ready-to-eat food parcels. MCI will complete 200,000 parcels consisting of water, milk, jam, dry bread and sardines for dispatch to Pec. One June 27 DOW will begin to produce 75,000 parcels consisting of water, milk, nutella, dry bread, sardines, chicken spread and baby cereal. DOW's parcels will be transported by WFP to Kosovo for onward distribution by NGOs.
• DART received unconfirmed reports that NGO staff coverage in Macedonia is declining due to the shift of NGOs' international staff from Macedonia to Kosovo, in addition to the return of a large number of Kosovar NGO staff to Kosovo. IRC assures DART that it will maintain a strong international presence in its Macedonia operation. CRS will maintain its current level of services in Stankovec I, despite a dwindling camp population.
• DOD reports that 195 refugees departed Fort Dix on June 23. It is anticipated that another 199 will depart today. The current population of Fort Dix is 1,350. 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 2,800 Kosovo Albanians returned to Kosovo from Montenegro on June 23 bringing the cumulative number of returns to Kosovo from Montenegro to 4,000. A total of 65,700 Kosovo Albanian refugees remain in Montenegro. There were no reports of Serb refugees crossing into Montenegro on June 23.

Pescara, Italy—Airdrops

• No airdrops were conducted on June 24. To date, 62,982 HDRs and 10,000 high-protein biscuits have been delivered.

Commodities

• No new information.

** 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 23, 33 calls were made to the public donation hotline. Since April 6, a total of 49,954 calls have been received by the hotline.