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

Kosovo

• The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva reports that over the past 24-hour period, a total of 25,000 refugees returned to Kosovo from Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, bringing the overall count of returnees to 280,300.
• According to UNHCR, since the crisis began, a total of 71,400 ethnic Serbs have departed Kosovo. Of these, 21,400 ethnic Serbs have departed Kosovo for Montenegro (8,700 eventually moved on to Serbia), and 50,000 departed directly to Serbia. UNHCR reported that it is continuing to receive reports of Serbs and other minority groups forced to leave their homes.
• UNHCR reports that it and its implementing partners have opened eight food distribution centers in urban and rural Pristina and surrounding areas, Pec, Prizren, Urosevac, Djakovica, Gnjilane, Vucitrn, and the Kosovska Mitrovica area. More than 60 secondary distribution points have been opened as well.
• In Pristina, UNHCR's main partner Action Against Hunger will fund the Mother Teresa Society (MTS) to open an additional 10 micro-distribution points for two months.
• According to UNHCR, some 90 percent of MTS branches are reportedly back in operation.
• UNHCR and its partners are planning to provide each returnee from Macedonia with food assistance on arrival. The World Food Program (WFP) will provide the assistance. Also included will be blankets, mattresses, hygiene kits, jerry cans, candles and plastic sheeting. Returnees from Albania will be given aid before departure.
• According to UNHCR, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) reports that since June 23 it has distributed 234 metric tons of food in 38 villages and towns with around 85,000 people. CRS also distributed UNHCR items including 11,804 hygienic packs, 5,500 blankets, 690 mattresses and 140 tents. CRS is UNHCR's main partner in the Prizren region.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that 171,700 Kosovar refugees remain in Albania. They report that approximately 14,300 people left Albania for Kosovo on June 29. According to UNHCR, approximately 272,900 Kosovar refugees have returned to Kosovo since June 15.
• The Government of Albania's Emergency Management Group stated that of the refugees remaining in Albania, 100,410 are staying in collective centers and camps.
• UNHCR is working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors to identify shelters for winter use. NATO is examining state-owned and other buildings with holding capacities of 1,000 to winterize.
• UNHCR has begun to consolidate refugee camps for security reasons and to facilitate the organized return plan. They are conducting a host family survey to determine the number of remaining refugees and the willingness of the host families to house refugees for the winter.
• The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) is visiting host families to find out the number of refugees planing on returning. They are supplying one month of food rations to refugees staying with host families.
• UNHCR is identifying refugees that want to return to Prizren, Pristina and Urosevac, the only declared safe places within Kosovo. To facilitate the repatriation, Kukes prefecture will be used as a collective center for returnees before they return to Kosovo.
• UNHCR and CARE have begun to close Camp Hope, transporting 1,000 refugees to Kukes. The 610 that remain will leave today, June 29.
• Within a week UNHCR will begin dismantling Camp Hope. The tents will be sent to Kosovo. Some may be given to the Albanian Military civil regimen that is in charge of disaster response.

Macedonia

• UNHCR reported that a second group of about 320 refugees returned to Kosovo on June 29th with the assistance of UNHCR and the International Organization of Migration. (IOM).
• UNHCR will close Stankovac I on July 3 and stated that if there are any residual refugees they will be sent to Neprosteno consolidation camp. CRS stated that refugees were packing belongings and preparing to return home.
• The Department of Defense (DOD) reports that 144 refugees departed the Fort Dix reception center on June 29, leaving the current population at 711. 129 refugees are scheduled to leave today.

Refugee Camp and Collective Center Information: Macedonia
Date: June 30, 1999 0:00 am GMT

Source: UNHCR Skopje.

Montenegro

• UNHCR reports that a total of 3,400 Kosovars returned home from Montenegro on June 29, bringing the total number of returnees over the past two weeks to 33,600.
• UNHCR reported that Serbs and other non-Albanians from Kosovo continued to arrive in Montenegro, with 70 entering on June 29.

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 25, 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.