A digest of the latest refugee news,
as reported by the world's media.

MACEDONIA: NEW CAMP DEMANDS 'IRRESPONSIBLE' 30 Apr. 99 – Macedonia's interior minister yesterday said his country should not be asked to host more refugees from Kosovo, reports CNN. Interior Minister Pavle Trajanov said UN aid workers' demands for new refugee camps were "totally irresponsible." More refugees should be quickly airlifted out of Macedonia to other host countries, not housed inside its border, Trajanov said. Macedonia's refugee camps are not just full – they are bulging at the seams. UNHCR has begun to send refugees to a new camp at Cegrane, in western Macedonia, even though the camp is not complete. In Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski called for host countries to speed up their evacuations of refugees from Macedonia. Wednesday's departure of nearly 1,600 refugees was far short of UNHCR's target of 2,000 per day, he said. Liberation also reports. Reuters quotes Trajanov as saying: "(Developed states) constantly put pressure on our country and comment on the treatment of refugees in our country and at the same time give promises of better times to come for Macedonia . . . But they are doing their best not to admit any refugees...It is my deep conviction that there is no strategy for solving the refugee problem.'' [Macedonia says refugee problem overwhelming – http://cnn.com; U.N. says Macedonia camps near catastrophe – www.reuters.com; New camp in Macedonia – www.liberation.fr]

MACEDONIA: AID TO HOST FAMILIES 30 Apr. 99 – A Macedonian NGO yesterday launched a three-month programme to assist refugees living with host families and "socially endangered persons," an aid official said, reports AFP. Saso Klekovski, of the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation, said it was worth US$2.9m and funded by aid organisations from Germany, Denmark, Britain and Sweden. The aid, consisting of food and hygiene items, is to be distributed once a month for a total of three months. Some 19,000 refugees accommodated with families, including 2,000 babies, are to benefit. [Non-government organization launches new aid program – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: AID HINDERED BY CONDITIONS, P.R. 30 Apr. 99 – Miserable roads, no airport or local communications network and general disorder combine to make it even harder to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees from Kosovo, reports AP in Kukes. Disputes with district officials, landowners, police and others in the Kukes district are another factor, as well as increasing banditry. Meanwhile the Guardian reports on "hit-and-run humanitarian assistance," saying an Italian military ambulance drove up to the Kosovo border Wednesday, and four army doctors burst out, with a flurry of television cameras and reporters. Fifteen minutes later, they were gone. This was a telling example of aid politics, in which the needs of refugees often come second to the public relations interests of the donors. Refugees at the Greeks' 2,500-strong camp said yesterday they had not seen its administrators since Tuesday night. UNHCR only heard about it when the refugees complained they had not been fed for two days. "A lot of it is pure PR," said UNHCR's Ray Wilkinson, "And quite often it is the refugees who pay in the end." [Chaos of northern Albania hinders help for refugees – www.ap.org; Refugees pay price for good PR – www.guardian.co.uk]

ALBANIA: 'GENEROUS HELP' NEEDED 30 Apr. 99 – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said yesterday Albania needed generous assistance to maintain its internal stability following an influx of over 350,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees, reports Reuters. Schroeder told reporters after a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko the fact that the population of Europe's poorest country had increased by 15% over the past weeks was reason enough for the country to receive help. "This is why there should be really generous help for Albania," Schroeder, currently holding the rotating EU presidency, told a briefing with Majko at his chancellery. "Germany is trying to play its part in this," he said. Schroeder did not say how much more aid should go to Albania. Albania, together with Macedonia, has been granted some US$265m of aid from the EU already, a figure Albanian officials have said is woefully inadequate. [Schroeder says Albania deserves more help – www.reuters.com]

MONTENEGRO: KOSOVANS FLEE AGAIN 30 Apr. 99 – Hundreds of Kosovan refugees are being forced to run from the Serbs a second time as they are driven from what they thought was their sanctuary in Montenegro, reports the Daily Telegraph in Rozaje. The Yugoslav 2nd Army has moved to cut off a swathe of land between the Montenegrin border with Kosovo and Rozaje, the impoverished Muslim town straining under the weight of the influx of refugees. Montenegrins living close to the border are now being driven from their homes, along with the refugees they have housed, as the army moves in to attack the Kosovo Liberation Army and, possibly, to set up a base. Le Monde reports Kosovan refugees in Montenegro have fled the tiny republic fearing NATO bombing, bureaucratic hassles, and Yugoslav reprisals. More than 30,000 Kosovans have moved on to Albania, said local officials. Meanwhile the Financial Times reports Montenegro's economy minister, Vojin Djukanovic, called for immediate economic support from western governments. "We must very soon have economic help, given the state of the economy and with 100,000 refugees in the country . . . If we do not get this help soon, the whole system in Montenegro will collapse." Montenegro shelters an estimated 65,000 refugees from Kosovo and 30,000 from Bosnia. AP adds a Montenegrin forensic expert yesterday accused the Yugoslav army of issuing "false" autopsy reports for six ethnic Albanian refugees recently killed near Rozaje. [Hundreds flee Serbs a second time – www.telegraph.co.uk; Fear forces Kosovan refugees out of Montenegro – www.lemonde.fr; Vujanovic urges economic support – www.ft.com; NATO launches heavy attack in Montenegro – www.ap.org]

EUROPE: GERMANY SLAMS TAKE-IN FAILURE 30 Apr. 99 – Germany yesterday criticised France, Britain and Austria for failing to follow through on their pledges to take in refugees from Kosovo, reports Reuters. Peter Struck, parliamentary leader of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, said it was "incredible" Britain and France had taken in so few refugees while Germany was providing shelter for 10,000. "We have completely fulfilled our obligations and expect the other European Union nations to follow suit," Struck told the Bild daily. Britain's Home Secretary Jack Straw had said Britain was prepared to take in "some thousands" of refugees. In France, authorities have said about 2,000 refugees have been given shelter so far. Bernard Kouchner, secretary of state for health, has said France expects to receive between 4,000 and 6,000 refugees. EU members had said they would shelter up to 44,000 refugees. The Financial Times also reports. The Guardian reports Clare Short, Britain's international development secretary, insisted most Kosovan refugees did not want to leave for third countries. Austria has taken in 811 Kosovans; Belgium 676; Croatia 188; Finland 334; France 1,185; Germany 9,974; Iceland 23; Israel 106; Holland 854; Norway 1,570; Poland 635; Spain 103; Sweden 287; Switzerland 33; Turkey 5,144; UK 330. Turkey has also accepted 1,980 without UN involvement, and Croatia 88. [Germany hits EU on refugee foot-dragging – www.reuters.com; Attack on Nato states over refugees – www.ft.com; German fury at 'mean' Britain – www.guardian.co.uk]

SERBIA: MINORITIES, DESERTERS FLEE 30 Apr. 99 – For those in the ethnic Albanian pockets in Serbia, mobilisation orders from the Yugoslav Army left them but one option: flee to the border and join the exodus overwhelming Macedonia, reports AP. Yugoslav forces have expanded their purges of ethnic Albanians into Serbia, refugees claimed yesterday. Ethnic Albanian men from southern Serbia say the armed forces are trying to mobilise them as human shields and use their towns as staging grounds. They say few young men are left in and around Presevo as most have fled or have been forcibly inducted into the military. Le Monde reports ethnic Albanians from Serbia have also fled to Romania, which has received over 200 requests for refugee status from Serbs fleeing the regime of Slobodan Milosevic and airstrikes. More Serbs are reportedly staying with families in the border area of Timisoara, where their presence is becoming a burden. Romania has agreed to take in 6,000 Kosovans, and has asked for international support. The Times reports scores of Yugoslav army deserters are entering Italy illegally but hundreds of others are evidently being sent back to Slovenia and Croatia by Italian authorities already struggling to cope with the influx of refugees from Kosovo, police said yesterday. Meanwhile BBC News reports refugee camps in Hungary are starting to fill up with ethnic Hungarians who have fled their homes in the Yugoslav province of Vojvodina fearing Serb reprisals. [Macedonia-Refugees – www.ap.org; Serb refugees in Romania, 'Pariahs of Europe' – www.lemonde.fr; Deserters refused refuge by struggling Italians – www.the-times.co.uk; Hungary: Serbia's nervous neighbour – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

KOSOVANS: MASS EXPULSION PLANNED, MSF 30 Apr. 99 – The mass expulsion of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, that began with NATO's bombing campaign, was planned weeks or months in advance by Serb authorities, according to a Medecins sans Frontieres report published today, reports Liberation. The report, "Histoires d'une deportation," is the first overall study to show the coherence and systematic nature of the Serbian government's policy. "It's a planned process to wipe out a national group. The Kosovo Albanians have been deported but also robbed of their identity papers, their civil status and property deeds. By expelling them, the Serb forces have clearly shown them they are no longer from Kosovo, that they never were, and that they should never return," said MSF president Philippe Biberson. He noted that this placed a special responsibility on aid agencies to register the refugees, although this has been slow to happen. More than half of the individuals interviewed testified to killings. The report says the Serb actions amounted to "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity," however, it avoids the term "ethnic cleansing" and holds back from labelling the events a "genocide." The report is the result of a two-part research based on an MSF epidemiological survey in Montenegro and interviews with hundreds of families in Albania and Macedonia. [Inquiry into Kosovo Albanian deportation – www.liberation.fr]

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