Kosovo Update April 13, 1999

Overall Situation

According to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) officials, Serb soldiers have crossed into Albania and occupied the Kamenica border post in the Tropoje district. 

Albania

Some 4,800 Kosovars crossed into Albania between midnight and 5.00 AM Tuesday. Most were stripped of their money and identity documents. About 80 percent of the refugees in Albania are receiving accommodations from local families. 

UNICEF has launched a measles vaccination campaign in Kukes, northern Albania.

Yesterday, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy and Albanian First Lady Lidra Meidani visited a refugee camp in Tirana, where a team of social workers and teachers – who were trained by UNICEF – has launched psycho-social and

A man carrying plastic sheeting, blankets, and other belongings — and followed by other Kosovar refugees — walks towards a refugee settlement in the northern town of Kukes, Albania. © UNICEF/HQ99-0007/Mia Brandt

educational programs for traumatized children. While visiting the camp, Bellamy met the 35 members of the Misini family. Sixteen family members are children. The Misinis are taking care of the only unaccompanied child officially registered in the Tirana camp. She is a girl, estimated to be only 18 months old. She is extremely traumatized and doctors and psycho-social workers from the UNICEF-trained team are assisting her. She is able to say just three words: “mama,” “uck,” and “camion” (truck). She cries and trembles every time she approaches a vehicle or a man in uniform. She is now cared for by a young couple from the Misini family, who have three children but say they are willing to keep her if it proves impossible to trace her family. They call her Atdhetare, which translates to “love of the homeland.” Local police are trying to locate her family.
 
 

UNICEF Skopje Update April 12, 1999

On April 10 and 11, 26,000 doses of tetanus vaccines, 157,600 doses of tuberculosis vaccines, and 28,000 doses of DTP (a vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough) arrived by air from UNICEF Copenhagen.

UNICEF met with a team of experts from the Institute of Psychology in order to plan the implementation of emergency psycho-social activities for refugee children. 

A school for refugee children was spontaneously organized in the Neprosteno camp. Refugee teachers are organizing outdoor classes with school activities focused on mathematics, language, music, and art. UNICEF will provide desks and notebooks and is initiating education activities in other camps.

El Hilal, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) assisting host families, is developing an electronic data base on the refugee population in Macedonia. According El Hilal’s Skopje bureau, 90,000 refugees are living with host families.