Kosovo Crisis
Fact Sheet #32
April 22, 1999

Regional

• UNHCR has asked all European countries who have agreed to take in refugees to prepare to receive them.
• UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP) in Bosnia are coordinating closely and making contingency plans for a possible influx of 100,000 new refugees from Kosovo, Sandzak (in southwest Serbia) and other parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

Refugees/Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Kosovo
 

*All numbers are estimates from UNHCR Headquarters. These numbers are constantly changing and being verified.

UNHCR Humanitarian Evacuations (beginning April 6 to date)
 

** Some refugees were moved to third countries prior to April 6 by the Government of Macedonia: 10,000 were moved to Albania, 5,500 to Greece, and 1,980 to Turkey. Another 88 were sent to Croatia under a bilateral agreement between the Government of Macedonia and the Government of Croatia.

Montenegro

• UNHCR reports that an estimated 70,000 displaced people from Kosovo are now in Montenegro. According to UNHCR, security for IDPs from Kosovo just inside the Montenegrin border has worsened.
• WFP has begun delivering flour to bakeries in Podgorica and Plav so that bread is available for newly arrived IDPs. WFP is planning to begin bread production in Rozaje as well. Mercy Corps International is currently providing flour to bakeries in Ulcinj for the production of 14,500 loaves a day for newly arrived refugees and children in collective centers.

Albania

• UNHCR headquarters estimates a total of 357,000 refugees in Albania, 2000 of whom have entered from Montenegro in the last 24 hours at the Hani I Hotit crossing. 15 refugees have entered Albania from Kosovo on April 20. According to the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) the FRY border with Albania at Morina remains open. 
• Approximately 126,600 refugees remain in Albania's northern districts. The Government of Albania (GOA) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported that 6,900 refugees were transferred from the north on April 20. NATO is leading efforts to transfer refugees to locations farther south.
• The DART reports that a dual plan to continue the transfer of refugees from the north to the south, and to increase the shelter capacity in northern Albania, is underway. Poor weather conditions have hampered the ability to move refugees inside the country. Moving fewer refugees than anticipated has resulted in the increased need for shelter construction in the northern region.
• UNHCR headquarters reports that there are a total of 48 refugee campsites throughout Albania.
• The GOA has identified nine new sites for NATO-led refugee transfer efforts. These sites have a planned capacity of 22,000 refugees. Proposed sites and capacities are listed below:
• Diber -- 4,000
• Lezha -- 2,000
• Elbasan -- 2,000
• Korce -- 3,000
• Berati -- 3,000
• Fier -- 2,000
• Vlora I -- 2,000
• Vlora II -- 2,000
• Gjirokastra -- 2,000
• U.S. Government (USG) personnel from the Department of Defense (DOD), the U.S. Embassy, and the DART are coordinating with the GOA and the GOA-led Emergency Management Group (EMG) to find a location for potential U.S. campsites.
• Security in northern Albania is still a concern. Shelling by FRY forces continues in the Has District, heavy fighting was reported near Kruma, and activity from local criminal groups was reported in Kukės.
• Customs delays have hindered the offloading of humanitarian cargo at Durrės port. The GOA has reportedly agreed to help to expedite the process.
• WFP in Albania reports that trucking facilities are in place, and the commodity pipeline is beginning to take shape, its focus is on "organizing" its implementing partners. A food coordination meeting was held yesterday to discuss the need for reliable refugee and host family registration, standardized registration cards, and standard host family rations.

Macedonia

• UNHCR headquarters estimates that there are 130,000 refugees currently in Macedonia.
• 3,000 refugees were allowed into the country at the Lojane border crossing, where they had been waiting in no man's land for two days. 800 of these refugees were taken to the new transit camp at Blace, and the remaining 2,200 were taken to Stankovac I and II.
• According to UNHCR, a train from Urosevac arrived at the Blace border crossing, reportedly with 350 - 450 people aboard. Only those with valid travel documents, approximately 150, were allowed into Macedonia. The others reportedly returned to Urosevac.
• UNHCR has not been able to deliver supplies to the mountain village of Male Malina, just inside the Macedonian border with Kosovo, where some 6,000 refugees arrived over the weekend and on Monday. These refugees have not been formally admitted into Macedonia.
• Camp details: According to NATO all camps are filled to capacity. Numbers below are becoming more refined as UNHCR registration continues.
• Stankovac I (Brazda): 25,100 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Stankovac II: 12,300 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Radusa: an estimated 1,500 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Bojane: an estimated 3,200 refugees (as of 4/19).
• Neprosteno: an estimated 4,200 refugees (4/19). Lack of sanitation facilities is a serious problem.
• Senokos (15 km east of Tetovo): OSCE and MCI report 833 refugees in the camp (4/19).

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.

USG Humanitarian Assistance:

Commodities

• USAID/OFDA has provided over $3.5 million in commodities in response to humanitarian needs in Macedonia and Albania since March 24.

Financial Support

• To date the USG has provided over $178 million in response to the Kosovo crisis, beginning in March 1998.

USAID/BHR	$75,146,551
State/PRM	$55,348,671
DOD	$47,949,000
TOTAL	$178,444,222

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 does not recommend in-kind donations of clothing, food, medicines, or other goods as the handling, storage, and transport of these materials from the U.S. to the Balkans would be extremely complicated, time-consuming, and expensive.
• USAID encourages the public to contact directly those private voluntary organizations (PVOs) which are currently working in Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to provide monetary donations. Financial contributions to PVOs will allow these professional aid organizations to purchase exactly what is most needed by the victims of the conflict in Kosovo and to pay for transport and other costs associated with the distribution of relief supplies. Cash contributions allow humanitarian agencies based in the Balkans to procure food, medicine, clothing, shelter materials, and other relief goods locally and regionally, thereby greatly speeding the delivery of this assistance to those most in need.
• A list of PVOs that are currently working in, or have affiliates in, the Balkan countries may be obtained from the USAID website at www.info.usaid.gov. The list is composed of non-profit organizations 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 1-818-502-4288, 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. This hotline, which is staffed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 851 calls were received by the public donation hotline on April 20, through 12:00 a.m. EDT. A total of 38,926 calls have been received since April 6.
• Past USAID/OFDA Factsheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at the following URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov/ofda/situation.html.