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

Kosovo

• UNHCR/Geneva reports that over a three-day period, June 25-27, a total of 116,500 refugees returned spontaneously to Kosovo from Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, bringing the overall count of returnees to 415,900.
• On June 24, the first agricultural sector meeting was held in the Kosovo capital of Pristina. The DART Field Officer and several NGOs discussed the possible distribution of vegetable seeds through the newly reconstructed distribution systems as well as the need to plan for the planting of wheat in October.
• On June 24, five members of the DART visited the town of Malisevo, 30 km. Southwest of Pristina. In the town market, there was a great quantity and variety of food items from Macedonia, including tomatoes, peppers, onions, cabbage, potatoes, cooking oil and powdered soup mixes.
• On June 24, the DART visited the city of Djakovica in western Kosovo and observed a World Food Program/War Child bread distribution. 10,000 loaves of bread were baked in mobile bakeries in Kukes by the NGO War Child and transported to Djakovica, Prizren and Pec. The city had suffered significant damage, particularly in the old ethnic Albanian portion of town where most of the buildings were destroyed.
• On June 24, the DART visited the western city of Pec and met with representatives of Mercy Corps International (MCI). MCI is distributing large quantities of food and non-food items, including USAID/OFDA-funded ready to eat packages and USAID/OFDA-provided beans.
• According to Mother Theresa Society (MTS) officials in Pristina, MTS is operating in 90% of Kosovo and has a presence in all areas of the province. This statement was confirmed by MCI representatives in Pec. They report that although many MTS warehouses have been damaged and there is a shortage of fuel and spare parts for tractors, the MTS system is very active in western Kosovo.
• MCI is implementing a UNHCR-funded MTS rebuilding/capacity building program throughout all of Kosovo.
• During a tour of Pec, the DART observed the looting and burning of homes, as well as the movement of tractor carts loaded with furniture, appliances and clothes along the road heading south to Djakovica.
• On June 26, the DART traveled by WFP helicopter to the area of Sferka e Gashit near Orahovac to conduct a rapid assessment of the health and food situation. The people interviewed and those observed by the team showed a high degree of vulnerability, including a prevalence of diarrhea, acute resipiratory illnes and fever, as well as a lack of clothing and shelter.
• NATO/KFOR announced that they had declassified the locations where NATO planes had dropped cluster munitions. The CIMIC in Pristina announced they would make maps available detaining what areas the cluster munitions were dropped.
• The estimated number of Kosovar refugees and displaced people in the region has dropped to 342,400, including 45,900 in Montenegro, 67,200 in the FYR of Macedonia, 208,300 in Albania and 21,000 in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 208,300 Kosovar refugees remain in Albania. UNHCR reports that approximately 22,300 and 18,400 people left Albania for Kosovo on June 26 and 27, respectively. According to UNHCR, approximately 236,300 Kosovar refugees have returned to Kosovo since June 15.
• UNHCR is making preparations for the start of the return plan. The commencement is contingent on whether or not KFOR grants security clearance for refugees to return to Kosovo, the absorptive capacity of the infrastructure within Kosovo, and the progress that UNHCR has made in establishing field offices. UNHCR's sequence for transporting refugees to Kosovo will be as follows: those in Kukes will move first; those needing assistance with private transport will move second; those in camps and collective centers will move third; and those staying with host families will move fourth.
• On June 26, UNHCR and Joint Task Force Shining Hope signed a memorandum of understanding which officially marked the transfer of camp assets (worth approximately USD 8 million) to UNHCR. UNHCR, NATO, and the Emergency Management Group are working together to plan for the transfer of all refugees from Camp Hope to Kukes by July 1.
• With the exodus of refugees from Kukes, the road to Morini is open for refugees from other parts of Albania to return to Kosovo.
• More mine incidents are occurring near the Albanian border. Albanian military forces are actively clearing Has District of mines as a first priority to ensure the safety of 10,000-15,000 internally displaced persons in this location. Additional Albanian soldiers will soon complement current demining activities by focusing efforts in other border areas.
• DOD reports that Camp Hope was turned over to UNHCR on June 26, and U.S. Forces departed on June 27. CARE contract guards have assumed Camp security. As of June 26, 1,452 refugees remain in Camp Hope.

Macedonia

• UNHCR/Geneva estimates that on June 26th. 13,100 refugees returned to Kosovo from Macedonia and on June 27th. 11,000 returned, bringing the total number of returnees to 155,100. 67,200 refugees remain in Macedonia.
• On June 28, the UNHCR organized return commenced from the refugee camps in Macedonia. The first 330 people departed for Pristina at 8:00 a.m. UNHCR plans on returning people who have family or shelter in areas deemed safe by NATO/KFOR.
• DART/Macedonia continues to assist the remaining refugees in Macedonia while also assisting the local population. Thus far, OFDA has provided USD 1.3 million for procurement of 20,000 kitchen sets, 30,00 baby packs, 300 shading tents, 90 tons of aluminum sulfate and 100,000 family vegetable seed packs.
• OFDA has also stockpiled 84,000 family food parcels, 75,000 border packs, 400,000 emergency food packs in Macedonia in anticipation of refugee returns to Kosovo.
• On June 26, PRM refugee officers visited three camps in Cegrane, Senokos and Stenkovec I. In Cegrane CARE reported 17,000 refugees are receiving food distribution. UNHCR estimates that 14,000 refugees were in the camps on June 26, down from 43,000 in early June. Officers observed lots of garbage and discarded blankets, but that food distribution and other basic camp operations are going well.
• In Senokos camp, MCI reported that the population is decreasing by about 1,000 refugees every two days since the outflow began.
• CARE reports that there are 5,000 refugees remaining in Stenkovec I as of June 28. Camp services have not been reduced, although many CARE staff have left.
• UNICEF is conducting mine awareness activities in schools and three CARE mine experts are conducting awareness and education to benefit adults.

Refugee Camp and Collective Center Information: Macedonia
Date: June 28, 1999 0:00 am GMT

Source: UNHCR Skopje.

Montenegro

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 5,600 Kosovo Albanians returned to Kosovo from Montenegro on June 26 and 5,100 returned on June 27. The cumulative number of returns to Kosovo from Montenegro is 23,800. A total of 45,900 Kosovo Albanian refugees remain in Montenegro.
• Kosovo Serbs continue to arrive in Montenegro with 234 having entered on June 24. From June 9 -24, approximately 19,000 Serbs in Kosovo fled to Montenegro. About half of the number proceeded to Serbia.

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 $222 million in response to the Kosovo crisis since March 1998.

USAID/BHR	$107,560,393
State/PRM	$69,779,500
DOD	$45,281,000
TOTAL	$222,620,893

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 28, a total of 28 calls were received by the Kosovo Donations Coordination Center. Since April 6, a total of 50,010 calls have been received by the hotline.