KOSOVO: ALBANIANS FLEE NATO BOMBS TOO 4 May 1999 – A NATO missile went awry yesterday, killing about 20 people on a civilian bus travelling from Pec to Montenegro packed with women and children, Yugoslav media said, reports AP. The New York Times in Pec reports a 16-year-old Kosovo Albanian girl, threatened by Serbs and bombed by NATO again yesterday for the second time in four days, had absolutely no idea where to find safety, or even a bed for the night in Pec. She and her family were in a second bus behind the first, trying to flee to Montenegro when it happened. It was not the Serbs so much, she said in English, that set the family to flight. It was the bombs that made life in Kosovo seem impossible. NATO denies its bombs cause anyone to flee, but that is a dubious notion to anyone who has had one land nearby. The Serbs deny that there is any organised effort to expel Albanians from Kosovo. That is an even more ludicrous notion. The Los Angeles Times adds that hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of them ethnic Albanians, are left to wonder whether Kosovo has become a free-fire zone as NATO intensifies attacks. AP also reports the family of Adelina, a young Kosovo Albanian who kept a diary, left because of both NATO bombing raids and reprisals from Serb forces. [NATO jets hit bus amid fresh diplomatic efforts to end conflict + Diary asks question for Kosovo displaced: `What will happen?' – www.ap.org; Fleeing Kosovars Dread Dangers of NATO Above and Serb Below – www.nytimes.com; Teen Injured In Bombing Was on Way to Plan Wedding – www.latimes.com]

KOSOVANS: BOMBING UNTIL RETURNS, ETC. 4 May 1999 – Despite a round of vigorous diplomacy mediated by a senior Russian envoy, President Clinton declared yesterday that NATO intends to maintain its bombardment of Yugoslavia until President Slobodan Milosevic meets alliance demands on Kosovo, reports the Los Angeles Times. Clinton said NATO would stop the bombing only when Milosevic provides "clear and convincing evidence" that he has begun withdrawing his troops from the province and is prepared to let hundreds of thousands of refugees back in under the protection of an international force. Clinton made his remarks shortly before meeting Russia's Balkans trouble-shooter, Viktor Chernomyrdin, who has been trying to broker a settlement between NATO and Yugoslavia. Nothing emerged from the meeting to suggest immediate progress toward a settlement. AP adds Clinton said "we could have a bombing pause" if Milosevic accepts NATO's demands for a troop pullout from Kosovo, the return of refugees and the deployment of an international security force. [Clinton Says Bombing Will Continue Until Milosevic Gives In – www.latimes.com; NATO jets strike as Clinton hints at possible bombing pause – www.ap.org]

MACEDONIA: THOUSANDS MORE SWAMP BORDER 4 May 1999 – Macedonia's refugee crisis intensified yesterday when a series of unexpected train arrivals swamped the main border crossing with Kosovo, bringing thousands of ethnic Albanians from northern Kosovo, aid workers said, reports Reuters. Three trains arrived at Blace in less than 24 hours, including the first night train since early April, disgorging refugees at a rate that aid workers could barely handle. "Three trains in one day is unprecedented. It looks like they are working overtime to try to clear the area north of Pristina," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said. The refugees came from the area around Podujevo. Redmond said the third trainload brought to some 9,000 the number of refugees to have arrived at Blace during the day. A further 800 were believed to have crossed at the mountain crossing at Jazince. Many of yesterday's arrivals were taken to a still unfinished and already overflowing camp at Cegrane where up to 17,000 refugees were crammed in. Asked whether the latest refugees would also be taken there, Redmond said: "It's not clear what we are going to do." Reuters adds thousands of the refugees queued all night in no man's land at Blace. Liberation reports expansion work is beginning at the Cegrane camp, overcrowded a week after it was built. [Trains increase refugee flood into Macedonia + Refugees queue all night at border with Macedonia – www.reuters.com; More and more undersized camps – www.liberation.fr]

MACEDONIA: BLAIR VISITS CAMP, INCREASES AID 4 May 1999 – Hundreds of ethnic Albanians swarmed around British leader Tony Blair yesterday, chanting his name as he walked through Macedonia's largest camp for Kosovo refugees, reports CNN. Blair then announced Britain would double its aid money for Macedonia from US$30m to US$60m and increase the number of refugees it will take in. "It is a battle for humanity. It is a just cause," Blair told reporters. More than 50,000 refugees are crammed with no electricity and little sanitation into the camps at Stankovic. BBC News adds Blair gave an interview to a local television station, in which he thanked the Macedonian people for their part in the crisis, and promised that the refugees would not stay in the country permanently. The New York Times reports Blair did not venture very far inside the camp. He, his wife, Cherie, and selected photographers spent nine minutes in the nearest tent with its five residents. With Stankovic so huge – and with Blair arriving in a rear corner – few refugees were even aware of his presence. The Daily Telegraph reports Blair ended his visit without making any specific commitment on the number of refugees Britain would now take. The Financial Times reports relief agencies have criticised Britain for taking in only about 330 Kosovan refugees. [Blair visits Macedonia camp as refugee crisis boils – http://cnn.com; Blair pledges refugee aid – http://news.bbc.co.uk; Blair pledges UK will take more Kosovo refugees – www.ft.com; Blair Makes Quick Visit to a Refugee Camp – www.nytimes.com; Blair pledges more aid for refugees – www.telegraph.co.uk]

ALBANIA: NEW CAMPS, TRANSFERS PLANNED 4 May 1999 – As thousands of Kosovo Albanians continued to pour into neighbouring states yesterday, NATO said it planned to build camps in Albania for another 160,000 of them, including up to 60,000 now in Macedonia, reports Reuters. British Lieutenant-General John Reith, commander of the NATO Albania Force for Humanitarian Assistance (AFOR), said he was looking for sites in Albania to house Kosovo refugees who have fled to Macedonia. "I am estimating ...but we are looking to see if we can build camps for about 60,000," Reith told a news conference. Some 400,000 refugees have been driven out by Serb forces and crossed into Albania since NATO started air strikes against Yugoslavia five weeks ago. AFP adds Reith said NATO, working with UNHCR, was looking to build the additional camps as a sign of support for Albania. Reith said a camp for 9,000 people had been started in Korce. [NATO plans new refugee camps in Albania – www.reuters.com; NATO plans new refugee camps to relieve pressure – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS INLAND 4 May 1999 – Even before the influx, Tirana was bursting at the seams with migrants from the countryside swelling its population from 250,000 to perhaps 600,000 over the past decade, reports AP. While most of the Kosovan refugees have been taken in by Tirana families, about 4,500 live in "Magic Town," a camp sprawling across a sports and amusement-park complex. There are scores of prefabricated houses and hundreds of tents. Conditions there are unpleasant; crews periodically sweep through spraying disinfectant. The Red Cross is trying to reunite separated refugees, but its workers say it is complicated because Tirana's refugees are so scattered. The Red Cross also oversees distribution of food to refugees staying with local families, providing a 30-day supply of basic rations to each registered refugee. There are widespread suspicions that profiteers are diverting some of the aid. The Red Cross suggests most food aid surfacing at marketplaces comes from refugees bartering for other commodities. The food-aid program is supposed to be extended to host families, but this hasn't happened yet on a broad scale. Meanwhile The Times reports refugee women are being preyed upon in Fier – a lawless town in central Albania – by local men who abduct them into prostitution. [Albania's crowded capital makes room for refugees – www.ap.org; Prostitution gangs stalk camp women – www.the-times.co.uk]

MONTENEGRO: ATTACKED, BOMBED, UNASSISTED 4 May 1999 – Rozaje is supposed to be a haven for ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo, but now the refugees are on the run again after what they say were a number of attacks by Yugoslav troops, reports the Washington Post. The soldiers shot at them, they told aid workers, arrested their young men as suspected terrorists, interrogating and beating them. An aid worker at a Montenegrin refugee centre said: "There is little security once they leave the camps, and up in the hills around the border it's completely controlled by the Yugoslav army." The refugees also have NATO bombings to fear. In two airstrikes Friday night on bridges in western Montenegro at least four people were killed and eight wounded. Preliminary reports from the Montenegrin Ministry of Information say two of the dead were Kosovo refugees – Olivera Maksimovic, 10, and Julijana Brudar, 12. The 50,000 Kosovan refugees who have arrived are concentrated in two areas, around Rozaje in the northeast and Ulcinje in the southeast. They seem to get by more or less on without aid. Thousands are sheltered in private homes. Reuters adds Montenegro urged the Yugoslav navy yesterday to end a blockade of the port of Bar, saying this would become catastrophic for the arrival of humanitarian aid. [Refugees in Montenegro Report Abuse by Army – www.washingtonpost.com; Montenegro urges Yugoslav navy to reopen port – www.reuters.com]

EUROPE: UNHCR URGES FASTER EVACUATION, FUNDING 4 May 1999 – UNHCR officials yesterday urged European countries to speed up moves to take in refugees from Kosovo and to send money to support the overcrowded camps in the Balkans, reports Reuters in Helsinki. UNHCR deputy Soren Jessen-Petersen said 15,000 people a day were pouring out of Kosovo into Macedonia and Albania. "We have pleaded to European governments to receive what (number of refugees) they have offered, to speed it up," Jessen-Petersen told a news conference. He said while European countries had promised to take in more than 85,000 refugees to ease the burden on Macedonia, only some 20,000 had so far left the Balkans. UNHCR European director Anne Willem Biljeveld said European countries had so far sent US$64m in emergency assistance out of US$142m promised. AFP reports UNHCR yesterday said air evacuations of Kosovan refugees from Macedonia dropped Sunday to just over 400 compared with 4,500 new arrivals into Macedonia. Spokesman Kris Janowski said the slowdown was probably due to "the old problem, too much insistence (by host countries) on checking" the refugees. AP adds Germany's Interior Minister yesterday proposed to double the number of Kosovans Germany takes to 20,000. [UNHCR urges Europe to speed up help for refugees – www.reuters.com; Kosovar refugee air evacuations from Macedonia slow: UNHCR – www.afp.com; Germany proposes taking in another 10,000 Kosovo refugees – www.ap.org]

USA: KOSOVANS PREFER TEMPORARY SHELTER 4 May 1999 – US officials in Macedonia began interviewing the first Kosovo refugees eligible for asylum in the United States yesterday, and made an unexpected discovery: almost none of them wanted to move to America permanently, reports the Washington Post in Brazda. Refugees told officials and in interviews that they were delighted at the chance to escape the heat and monotony of the overcrowded camp of 30,000 people. And they said they were grateful to be offered temporary shelter across the ocean. If accepted, many said, they would be aboard the first chartered 747 jet from here to the Fort Dix, New Jersey, processing centre, planned for tomorrow. But none said they would move to America for good. The Christian Science Monitor adds thousands of Kosovans living in the US are now heading to resettlement offices with offers to host family members, now that America is about to open its doors to as many as 20,000 refugees. ['Home Is What It's All About' – www.washingtonpost.com; Relatives in US set up spare beds for Kosovo refugees – www.csmonitor.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 4 May 1999 – AP reports Actor Richard Gere yesterday appealed to telecommunications giants such as AT&T to set up free service in the teeming Kosovan refugee camps. AFP reports Corriere della Sera newspaper yesterday said arms and ammunition, seized April 12 in Italy from a humanitarian aid shipment, were found on trucks leased by Caritas bound for Shkodra refugee camp in Albania.

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