KOSOVANS: UNPREDICTABLE FLOW 21 Apr. 99 – Only a few refugees trickled through official border crossings from Kosovo yesterday while thousands more crossed at other points, reports the New York Times. About 3,000 refugees, reporting attacks around Gnjilane, walked into the tiny mountain village of Malina Mala in Macedonia yesterday, said UNHCR officials. The group joined 3,000 refugees who had already fled to the remote village. A second group of up to 3,000 refugees from Gnjilane appeared in Lojan last night. In contrast, roughly 100 people crossed into Kukes, Albania, and about 150 entered Blace, Macedonia. The International Herald Tribune reports refugee officials struggled to handle the unpredictable flow of refugees. Thousands flooded toward Macedonia, but many were stranded just outside the border by the Macedonian government. In Albania, borders were open, but only a few refugees crossed, apparently blocked by Serbian forces or by fighting. CNN reports relief workers yesterday said the flow of refugees had slowed tremendously, but they were preparing for the possibility of more large waves of refugees. NATO spokesman Jamie Shea yesterday said Serb security forces were conducting what he called a "safari operation" against ethnic Albanians, first chasing them from their homes, pushing them south toward the border and then turning them around again before they can cross. [Fearing Attacks at Border Posts, Refugees Cross Elsewhere – www.nytimes.com; Thousands Of Refugees Stranded by Macedonia – www.iht.com; With camps at capacity, more refugees expected – http://cnn.com]

KOSOVANS: OGATA REQUESTS MORE HELP 21 Apr. 99 – The United Nations refugee chief, fearing a new Kosovan influx could stretch her resources to breaking point, asked yesterday for more humanitarian help from NATO members and other states, reports Reuters in Geneva. "We will continue to lead this operation but we urgently need more contributions of the kind that only military and civil protection units can provide," said Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "This emergency has already shown that traditional responses are not sufficient . . . It is much bigger and faster than other outflows. We need help to transport relief supplies. We need help to set up more camps," said Ogata in a statement. She also asked countries that have agreed to take in refugees to speed up their efforts. El Pais reports UNHCR yesterday appealed to NATO for urgent help, warning the refugee crisis would otherwise have tragic consequences in the region for years to come. In an interview in Liberation, Ogata stressed that no one had imagined expulsions on such a scale. "We had plans to receive 100,000 people, but we were slow to get them up and running. . . We lost a week," admits Ogata. Ogata noted that NATO has refused to share information about displaced people. "I asked NATO to share aerial information about displaced populations, but it has refused." She concluded, "We need more camps. We must accept everyone. We have no choice but to try to mobilise more resources," adding: "The most urgent priority is to stop the ethnic cleansing." [UN appeals for more help for Kosovo refugees – www.reuters.com; UN requests urgent NATO help to save lives – www.elpais.es; UN asks NATO to 'share information' – www.liberation.fr]

KOSOVANS: BONINO URGES 'SECOND PHASE' OF AID 21 Apr. 99 – The European Union Humanitarian Affairs Commissioner, Emma Bonino, yesterday said aid agencies striving to deal with the humanitarian crisis in the Balkans must start providing improved facilities to Albanian refugees fleeing Kosovo, reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Brussels. "We have to move to a second phase," Bonino told a news conference attended by Red Cross representatives. People could not be kept in plastic tents in the pouring rain, she said. "We have to start thinking now of other shelters." While a number of refugees have found temporary shelter with Albanian families, Bonino said relief agencies needed to start thinking of rehabilitating collective centres, schools and other buildings for them to live in. Otherwise deteriorating hygienic conditions in temporary camps would lead to epidemics and disease, she warned. Bonino also cautioned against keeping the Albanian refugees in border camps, arguing these could become the base for armed incursions. She added that NATO must keep up its campaign of air strikes. [Time for new phase in humanitarian response for refugees, EU – www.dpa.com]

KOSOVANS: WAR CRIMES REPORTED 21 Apr. 99 – Kosovan refugees are reporting more rapes, along with murder and pillage, among those fleeing their homeland, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said yesterday, reports AFP. In some 250 comprehensive interviews with refugees, OSCE also heard of maiming of victims and mutilation of dead bodies including the carving of Serb symbols on corpses. The most common rights abuse reported is that of people being forced out of houses. The Washington Post reports NATO today also focused its attention on alleged Serbian atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, and Western leaders vowed to bring Serbian leaders to trial before an international war crimes tribunal. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he would give UN prosecutors intelligence reports detailing more than 50 atrocities committed over the past month. Much of the evidence comes from the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees who have been forced out of Kosovo. The Guardian reports Cook said after talks with the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Canadian judge Louise Arbour, "Each refugee flooding out of Kosovo has been a potential witness to a war crime." [Refugees reporting more rapes along with murder, pillage: OSCE – www.afp.com; NATO Builds 'Slaughterhouse' Case – www.washingtonpost.com; UK to hand spy files to war crimes tribunal – www.guardian.co.uk]

ALBANIA: MOST AID 'EVAPORATES' 21 Apr. 99 – Dozens of truckloads of international aid are "evaporating" daily en route between a nearby port and Tirana into the hands of the local mafia and onto the black market, diplomats said yesterday, reports AFP. "The government has no longer been in control of the north of the country for the past two years . . . Dozens of lorries evaporate every day between the port of Durres and Tirana," a western diplomat said. "With the scale of the thefts some relief organisations have already left some areas," he said. The local mafia has been quick to exploit the arrival of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, together with dozens of international relief organisations and thousands of tonnes of aid. The opposition newspaper Koha Jone said yesterday only three out of 10 aid consignments were getting to refugees. Albania has set up a committee to coordinate the arrival and distribution of aid. But the weakness of any effective Albanian administration in several areas, plus problems of division of responsibility between various international agencies, have severely limited its effectiveness. [Albanian aid truckloads "evaporate" into Mafia hands: diplomats – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: EFFORTS TO MOVE KOSOVANS 21 Apr. 99 – UN relief workers yesterday took advantage of a sharp slowdown in the exodus from Kosovo to step up the transfer of refugees from this "potential war zone" to safer parts of Albania, reports AFP. NATO has offered to join the operation using helicopters, said UNHCR in Kukes. But the airlift from an Italian refugee camp had not started. More and more Kosovans are on the move to central and southern Albania in buses and trucks laid on by local authorities, said relief coordinator Daniel Endres. He said the elderly or infirm would be the priority for an airlift. Reuters reports aid agencies were trying to persuade 100,000 refugees massed on the border to move inland to make way for thousands more expected. AP reports Information Minister Musa Ulqini yesterday said the Albanian government, unable to provide food and shelter for almost 150,000 refugees in Kukes, will evacuate almost half of them to other districts. The New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and AP carry accounts of families forced to flee to Albania. [UN moves refugees out of "potential war zone" as border influx wanes – www.afp.com; Aid groups urge refugees to leave Albanian border – www.reuters.com; Government plans to relocate tens of thousands from northern town + Refugees tell how industrial city was cleared, street by street – www.ap.org; Kosovo Family's Journey From One Hell to Another – www.nytimes.com; Out of war, into world of uncertainty – www.csmonitor.com]

ALBANIA: KOSOVAN INFLUX VIA MONTENEGRO 21 Apr. 99 – Nearly 2,500 refugees from Kosovo flowed into northwestern Albania yesterday in the biggest influx so far at the country's main border crossing with Montenegro, international monitors said, reports Reuters. "Every day the numbers have been increasing. Today it passed 2,000 for the first time at that crossing – to almost 2,500,'' said Andrea Angeli, spokesman at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said. The ethnic Albanians, most from the Kosovo town of Pec, were transported to the Hani i Hotit crossing in Montenegrin municipal buses and entered Albania on foot. Deutsche Presse-Agentur adds ATA, Albanian news agency, said more than 15,000 refugees have passed from Montenegro into Albania in the past four weeks. [Some 2,500 refugees enter Albania from Montenegro – www.reuters.com; 2,500 Kosovo refugees cross from Montenegro into Albania – www.dpa.com]

MACEDONIA: CAMPS OVERFLOW 21 Apr. 99 – UNHCR declared its camps in Macedonia full beyond capacity yesterday, with as many as 3,000 new arrivals in Kosovo without food, water or blankets, reports AP. UNHCR was forced to put new arrivals outside the largest camp's fence because local farmers would not sell or lease land to expand it. That leaves those on its fringes vulnerable to raids by a resentful local population. Macedonian civilians come nightly to the exposed tents, throwing stones, shining flashlights and shouting, while the exiles cower inside, the Kosovans said. Another 2,000-3,000 refugees reportedly staggered over a mountain crossing, overwhelming a remote hamlet of 60 houses called Milana, said UNHCR. Both groups of refugees said thousands more were behind them. The Daily Telegraph reports UN officials feared last night that the latest invasion of Kosovans would impose unbearable strain on households in and around Malina. Food and blankets have been delivered, but UN officials yesterday were turned back from the area by Macedonian soldiers. UNHCR admits it simply does not have enough space to accommodate the large numbers believed to be massing close to the borders, let alone the tens or even hundreds of thousands said to be forming columns stretching deep into Kosovo. Aid workers are increasingly concerned that disease and disorder could erupt in the overflowing refugee camps in Macedonia. [U.N. declares Macedonia camps at capacity – www.ap.org; Appeal for new camps as exodus goes on – www.telegraph.co.uk]

MONTENEGRO: KOSOVANS KILLED BY YUGOSLAVS 21 Apr. 99 – Ethnic Albanian refugees yesterday accused Serb forces of committing atrocities within Montenegro as tensions rose sharply, reports Reuters. The independent newspaper Vijesti said six people, including a woman of 70 and a boy of 13, had been killed on the border on Sunday by "unidentified uniformed forces." Refugees and local residents said they believed more people had died. They said the Yugoslav army had brought heavy artillery into the area to shell Kosovo. Kosovo refugees and ethnic Albanian Montenegrins in Rozaje said they had seen militiamen open fire on refugees in Montenegro. They also said the army had evicted the inhabitants of some border villages. A woman from Kosovo said militiamen had stopped a group of up to 70 refugees in Dacic on Monday morning, forcing women to move on and leaving men behind. Reuters adds Montenegro's deputy prime minister, Dragisa Burzan, said the Yugoslav army's killing of "at least six" Kosovo refugees in Montenegro and wounding of others was "a war crime, a crime against humanity." Meanwhile the New York Times reports NATO and Pentagon officials yesterday said Serbian forces had begun driving ethnic Albanians from Montenegro, signalling a widening of the conflict. BBC News and the Financial Times also report. [Tension high in Montenegro, reports of atrocities + Montenegro accuses Yugoslav army of war crimes – www.reuters.com; Serbs Reported to Push Albanians From 2d Republic – www.nytimes.com; Nato: 'Ethnic cleansing spreading' – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Yugoslav army steps up pressure on Montenegro – www.ft.com]

BOSNIA: STRUGGLING UNDER INFLUX 21 Apr. 99 – Bosnia is struggling to cope with an influx of 40,000 refugees who have fled Yugoslavia since the Kosovo conflict exploded, a senior government member said yesterday, reports Reuters. Neven Tomic, vice-chairman of the country's Council of Ministers, said most of the newcomers were ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Yugoslav Muslims, but they also included 2,000-3,000 Serbs and Montenegrins. Tomic told bankers and potential investors at the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London (EBRD) that Bosnia was appealing for international help to support the refugees, who were being sheltered in transit centres intended to help resettle displaced Bosnians. AP adds the UN special representative to Bosnia, Elisabeth Rehn, yesterday said a significant number of draft-dodgers are among the refugees from Yugoslavia in Bosnia. Reuters adds the UN yesterday said its policing mission in Bosnia had stepped up monitoring of border crossings with Montenegro following refugee allegations of harassment, possibly involving Bosnian Serb police. [Bosnia struggling with 40,000 Yugoslav refugees + UN steps up monitoring of Bosnia-Montenegro border – www.reuters.com; Significant number of draft-dodgers fleeing Yugoslavia to Bosnia – www.ap.org]

YUGOSLAVIA: A MILLION SEEK SAFETY 21 Apr. 99 – Up to a million people have left their homes in Yugoslavia to move to safer, rural areas as NATO airstrikes continue, the International Red Cross said yesterday, reports AP in Geneva. Towns in the southeast of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have become homes for people who have left their own communities, causing many problems, according to a joint statement by the International Federation and Committee of the Red Cross. In Vranje, Red Cross workers believe up to 50,000 displaced people could arrive. "The population in the neighbouring village of Targoviste has increased from 7,000 to 21,000 within the space of only a few weeks, and many are now asking for Red Cross assistance," it said in a statement. In Leskovac, close to the border with Bulgaria, an estimated 10,000 people have arrived from other regions since the start of the crisis, and it is believed that 35-40% of the local population has moved to other regions, the Red Cross said. "The Red Cross branch in Krusevac estimates that out of a total population of 140,000, 30,000 have now applied for assistance. The branch is providing clothes, hygiene and food assistance," it added. The Yugoslav Red Cross and the Commissioner for Refugees in Serbia has also registered 11,402 people who have left their homes in Kosovo and arrived in Yugoslavia. Meanwhile Reuters reports Serb media today said NATO missiles hit a Croatian Serb refugee camp in Kosovo, killing four people, including children, and injuring others. [Red Cross says a million have moved in search of safety in Yugoslavia – www.ap.org; Serbs say NATO kills four in Kosovo – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 21 Apr. 99 – AP reports a mixed Serb-Albanian family, expelled from Belgrade after NATO launched its bombing campaign, finds itself with nowhere to go in the chaotic ethnic checkerboard of the Balkans. Reuters reports the International Monetary Fund yesterday said the conflict in Yugoslavia is likely to hurt the economies of neighbouring countries severely and damage prosperity for the region through the flood of refugees from Kosovo, a loss of inter-regional trade, severed transport links and declining tourism. Reuters reports Austria expressed horror yesterday at reports of mass rape of Kosovo Albanian women by Serbs and urged fellow members of the European Union to make rape grounds for asylum.

This document is intended for public information purposes only. It is not an official UN document.