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

Kosovo

• UNHCR/Geneva reports that over the past 24-hour period, a total of 29,300 refugees returned to Kosovo from Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, bringing the overall count of returnees to 447,100.
• KFOR reported on June 27 that sporadic looting and violence continues in Kosovo. In the area designated as Multinational Brigade South, the intimidation of Serbs and Roma continues. (Note: KFOR is now referring to the five areas of responsibility as Multinational Brigade North, South, East, West, and Center. The French AOR in Mitrovica is now Multinational Brigade North, the Italian AOR in Pec is now Multinational Brigade West, the German AOR in Prizren is Multinational Brigade South, the American AOR in Gnjilane is Multinational Brigade East, and the British AOR in Pristina is Multinational Brigade Center.)
• Multinational Brigade West reported houses continue to burn in the city of Klina. With the intervention of KFOR, tensions are lessening near the Mitrovica hospital as ethnic Serbs are allowing some Albanians access to the facility. Representatives reported they are initiating operations to reassure ethnic Serbs and counter intimidation. Under this operation, KFOR is using local media outlets to urge restraint and guarding key areas of the city and buildings such as municipal services.
• UNHCR in coordination with KFOR has identified two initial areas, Pristina and Urosevac, that have been designated as secure environments for refugee return.
• Once NATO certifies that Gnjilane, Kacanik, and Prizren are safe environments, IOM will transport refugees to these cities. UNHCR believes that it will have to delay returns to Podujevo, Vuciturn, and Mitrovica due to concerns about land mines and unexploded ordinances.
• IOM and UNHCR will also expand the repatriation program to refugees living in host families in Macedonia. In Albania, the Danish Refugee Council will be responsible for providing buses for refugees. IOM is arranging an additional ten buses on June 29: five to Pristina and five to Urosevac.
• UNHCR reported that they are conducting assessments of health facilities within Multinational Brigrade Center to determine the level of damage to structures, equipment, and medical supplies. The assessments will also attempt to identify the number of medical staff required in each health facility to maintain a minimum level of services. The results of the UNHCR assessment are expected to be available within two weeks.
• Multinational Brigade Center patrols are also conducting assessments of primary health care facilities (ambulantas) in rural areas within their AOR.
• According to WHO, the existing epidemiological surveillance system and data collection for communicable and non-communicable diseases is barely functioning. In response, WHO has developed a survey form to be used by NGOs conducting mobile clinic examinations. WHO will be responsible for the analysis and reporting of the data that is being compiled.
• The situation at Pristina hospital remains tense with numerous reports of intimidation and violence. Two shootings were reported in the hospital on June 24 with one fatality. KFOR/Multinational Brigade Center reported seizing weapons and a grenade from hospital staff and said that they will maintain a security presence at the hospital as long as necessary.
• WHO reported that their staff conducted a rapid assessment of Pristina hospital and found it unsanitary and that essential services were not being properly managed.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 190,900 Kosovar refugees remain in Albania. UNHCR reports that approximately 17,400 people left Albania for Kosovo on June 28. According to UNHCR, approximately 263,700 Kosovar refugees have returned to Kosovo since June 15.
• Most of the returnees are coming from camps and host families in southern and central Kosovo.
• UNHCR plans to begin organized repatriation from Albania today.

Macedonia

• UNHCR/Skopje reports that they have proposed to close two of the camps, Stankovac I and Radusa refugee camp and are waiting for approval from the Macedonian government. Stankovac II and Bojane would possibly follow, according to UNHCR.
• UNHCR/IOM began organized repatriation efforts June 28th with bus service. As of June 29, 322 returnees left Macedonia for Pristina. UNHCR stated that the facilitated return is going well and they plan to transport 1,000 returnees a day.
• UNHCR reports that efforts are being targeted on remaining populations in camps including 3,000 ethnic Albanians from Serbia, a large number of Roma, 400 Muslim Serbs and other ethnic groups.
• DOD reports that 111 refugees departed Ft. Dix on June 28, leaving the refugee population at the center at 855. 154 are scheduled to depart today.

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.