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

KOSOVANS: AVOID 'PALESTINIAN PROBLEM' 12 May 99 – Germany appealed to its European partners yesterday to ensure the hundreds of thousands of Kosovo refugees in Macedonia and Albania do not become a "Palestinian problem" of permanently uprooted people in the Balkans, reports AP. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said it was imperative that the refugees be able to return home in safety before winter. His comment reflected a growing unease in NATO capitals that the Kosovo conflict continues after 50 days of airstrikes and that the refugee camps may assume a look of permanence. "These tent cities must not become a permanent fixture," Fischer told EU and defence ministers at a meeting of the Western European Union, the EU's embryonic defence arm. Meanwhile Reuters reports the European Commission said yesterday it planned to line up an extra US$210 million worth of humanitarian aid for the Balkan region in case the Kosovo crisis drags on beyond September. "If the current crisis goes on, and even in the case of a negotiated settlement to the conflict, the funds allocated up to now will be insufficient to face up to the humanitarian aid needs beyond September," the EU executive said in a statement. [Germany: Kosovo must not become 'Palestinian problem' – www.ap.org; EU mulls extra humanitarian aid for Balkans – www.reuters.com]

KOSOVANS: REGIONAL CONFERENCE 12 May 1999 – Greece announced yesterday it would host an international conference on the Kosovo refugee crisis, as Balkan ministers counted the cost of the Yugoslav conflict, reports Reuters. The agreement of the United Nations, the United States and many NATO countries had been secured and the conference would take place in Thessaloniki after Greece assessed the humanitarian crisis with the help of relief groups. Foreign Minister George Papandreou said Greece was pushing through the European Union a "mini Marshall plan" for the Balkans. AP adds UNDP yesterday launched a trust fund to help Albania and Macedonia recover and rebuild from the Kosovo refugee crisis. Meanwhile the Guardian reports Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia are in imminent danger of economic and political collapse from the Kosovo crisis, according to a leaked Nato document published in the Greek newspaper Ta Nea yesterday. "The merciless displacement of nearly 600,000 Kosovans who have escaped to neighbouring countries threatens to destabilise the entire region politically and economically," the memo from Nato's secretary general is quoted as saying. [Balkans count costs, set refugee conference – www.reuters.com; U.N. launches development fund to rebuild Albania and Macedonia – www.ap.org; Balkans 'face collapse' – www.guardian.co.uk]

MACEDONIA: GROUP ARRIVES, FIRST IN DAYS 12 May 99 – A few hundred ethnic Albanian refugees made it to Macedonia yesterday, the first known sizeable group of people to cross the border in six days, reports Reuters. They dodged Serb forces whose massacres they said they had witnessed in Drenica on their way to the border. The border is now officially open although Macedonian authorities effectively closed it a week ago. Local authorities view such mountain crossings as illegal. Local people showed the secret crossing point on the condition its exact location was not revealed. UNHCR says it believes more people still want to cross and the arrival of yesterday's group seemed to support this. [Kosovo refugees tell of horror on way to Macedonia – www.reuters.com]

MACEDONIA: UNHCR 'SLOW,' 'DISORGANISED' 12 May 99 – Macedonia yesterday condemned UNHCR as slow and disorganised in dealing with the Kosovo refugee crisis, reports Reuters. "They have problems, they are not well organised," Macedonia's Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov said on the sidelines of a Balkan economic conference in northern Greece. "We are trying to collaborate with them but unfortunately they don't understand how sensitive the situation is," he added. Dimitrov complained that his country was not getting enough help from aid organisations in dealing with an influx of ethnic Albanians refugees, saying the UNHCR was particularly bureaucratic. Dimitrov said Macedonia would create 20,000 new camp spaces by extending existing camps, and by building a new one. He also said his country would keep letting in all those fleeing what the West calls ethnic cleansing in the Serb region of Kosovo. When asked if Macedonia would keep its borders open, he said: "Always." He said the borders had been shut "only once or twice" as dictated by special conditions at the time. [Macedonia says UNHCR slow, disorganised – www.reuters.com]

MACEDONIA: RELUCTANT GROUP MOVED TO ALBANIA 12 May 99 – About 150 reluctant Kosovo Albanian refugees were taken to a refugee camp in southeast Albania from camps in Macedonia overnight, officials said yesterday, reports Reuters. The group left Macedonia in three buses Monday as the first group in a planned relocation of several thousand refugees to Albania. They arrived shortly before midnight at a camp in Qatram near Korca, a spokesman for the US aid group Relief International, said, adding: "They definitely were upset about having to leave Macedonia." AP adds UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic said all the 150 refugees had relatives in Albania. Liberation reports only 120 volunteered yesterday to go to Albania, although planners promised 6,000 would depart on Sunday. They were expected to be the first of 60,000. Western diplomats have spared no efforts to prepare the relocation, but did not take into account of the extreme reticence of the Kosovans to move. [Kosovo refugees arrive in Albania from Macedonia – www.reuters.com; Transfer of refugees from Macedonia to Albania begins – www.ap.org; 'Refuge in Albania. Never' – www.liberation.fr]

ALBANIA: KOSOVANS RESIST MOVE INLAND 12 May 99 – Refugees from Kosovo dug in their heels in an Albanian border town yesterday, protesting loudly against plans by aid workers to move them from camps within shelling distance of Serb forces, reports Reuters. About 100,000 ethnic Albanian refugees who have now settled in the area around Kukes, near the border. UNHCR and the Albanian government kicked off an information campaign in the morning to try to persuade refugees to leave Kukes for camps deeper inside Albania. But UNHCR workers ran into strong resistance from people gathered at an open space in the first camp to be visited during the campaign. Only 200 of several thousand refugees in the camp, run by aid agency Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), showed up at the meeting, which lasted just 15 minutes. "I will leave only if they force us," said one refugee. Clementine Nkweta-Muna, a UNHCR worker, said the plan was to move refugees by bus and truck to camps or Albanian host families in southern Albanian towns, including Elbasan, Fier, Gjirokaster and Vlora. A government official in Tirana said, "We will close the camps and people will have nowhere to stay. They will have to move." [Kosovo refugees won't leave Albanian town – www.reuters.com]

ALBANIA: SANITATION 'MAJOR PROBLEM' – UNHCR 12 May 99 – Many of Albania's refugee camps, swollen by fresh tides of Kosovans, are facing serious sanitation problems that could prove disastrous in the sweltering summer, aid agencies said yesterday, reports AFP. "Sanitation is a major problem at the moment. It's definitely one of our top worries and we are still overwhelmed by the whole situation," said Melita Sunjic, UNHCR's spokeswoman in Tirana. "We expect a higher incidence of disease in the summer months – some of the camps are pretty cramped and many have only basic sanitation with just a field designated as a mass latrine," she added. The problems are particularly acute in some of the refugee camps in northern Albania. [Poor sanitation a growing health concern in Albanian refugee camps – www.afp.com]

ALBANIA: UNHCR, COMPUTER GIANTS IN I.D PROJECT 12 May 99 – UNHCR said yesterday it was joining forces with computer industry giants such as Microsoft and Compaq in a project to register Kosovo refugees in Albania, reports Reuters in Geneva. UNHCR said the system would allow refugees, most of whom have been stripped of identification documents, to be issued with new identification cards. The scheme would also help refugees to find lost family members, the agency said. It said Microsoft would donate software, technical services and training to the project while Compaq and Hewlett-Packard would provide laptop computers. Two specialist companies in ID card systems, Secrit World Ltd. of London and ScreenCheck B.V. of the Netherlands, would donate software, printers and cameras. "The new registration system will provide relief agencies with a critical tool for quickly registering refugees, for issuing new identification documents, and facilitating the reunification of separated families," UNHCR said in a statement. [UN, computer giants in project for Kosovo refugees – www.reuters.com]

ALBANIA: UNHCR WORKER SHOT 12 May 99 – Unknown gunmen seriously wounded a Costa Rican employee of UNHCR in Tirana after attempting to seize his car, chief UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said yesterday, reports Reuters. Daniel Mora Castro, 50, a specialist in water supplies was treated for a bullet wound at Tirana hospital late on Monday before being airlifted to Geneva yesterday. UNHCR said the incident was under investigation. AP adds Castro underwent emergency surgery in Tirana hospital for a bullet wound to the head after the attack. "We're keeping our fingers crossed," said UNHCR spokeswoman Judith Kumin. [Costa Rican UN employee shot in Tirana – www.reuters.com; Unknown men wound senior UNHCR worker in apparent theft – www.ap.org]

MONTENEGRO: KOSOVANS SHOULD BE MOVED -UNHCR 12 May 99 – Montenegro's mountain frontier with Kosovo is too dangerous for refugees and they should be moved to safer sites closer to the Adriatic sea, UNHCR's Yugoslavia envoy said yesterday, reports Reuters. "We do not consider it safe for them to stay on that highly contested border," Dennis McNamara told a news conference in Podgorica. "We appeal to the government to find safer areas in the south where these refugees can be moved urgently." Around 20,000 Kosovans are living in the logging town of Rozaje, at the bottom of the mountain pass. BBC News reports the government of Montenegro says it has thrown a cordon of police protection around ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo. It says it will take all necessary measures to defend them against possible attack by the Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitaries. McNamara said the need was to move the refugees out, not only because their camps were in a very dangerous border area, but because they were at risk from epidemics from unacceptable conditions. [UNHCR says Montenegro border unsafe for refugees – www.reuters.com; Montenegro protects Kosovo refugees – http://news.bbc.co.uk]

SERBIA: 160,000 KOSOVANS FIND SHELTER – OFFICIAL 12 May 99 – More than 160,000 people from Kosovo have fled their homes to take refuge in regions of Serbia since the beginning of NATO air raids on Yugoslavia, a Yugoslav official said yesterday, reports AFP. "More than 160,000 people from Kosovo have, due to the activities of Albanian terrorists and incessant NATO bombing, found shelter in other regions of Serbia," Maksim Korac, a Yugoslav humanitarian assistance coordinator said in Belgrade. He did not specify their nationalities. Korac appealed for more humanitarian assistance, saying that only 3,653 tons of food had been donated to Yugoslavia since the start of the NATO bombing campaign on March 24. He also said Yugoslavia had already hosted some 700,000 refugees from Bosnia and Croatia, and they also needed assistance. [More than 160,000 displaced from Kosovo in Serbia: official – www.afp.com]

YUGOSLAVIA: SHELTERS BOMBED 12 May 1999 – At least 15 explosions were heard early today at Paracin south of Belgrade, in a camp for Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, Tanjug news agency said, reports AFP. Some 20 Serb families are housed in this camp about 120 km from Belgrade, Tanjug said. The camp has been targeted five times by NATO since air strikes began on March 24. On May 8, three people were injured there, one seriously, Tanjug said. Meanwhile Reuters reports the private Beta news agency said refugees in Kosovo were the victims of a NATO air raid on a collective farm in the village of Svetlje yesterday evening. Serbian state television RTS reported that the farm, which it said housed displaced persons from the Podujevo area in northern Kosovo, was hit by three missiles. Neither said what nationality the refugees were. [At least 15 explosions heard at refugee camp for Serbs – www.afp.com; NATO attacks central Serbia, Pristina – media; www.reuters.com]

KOSOVO NOTES 12 May 1999 – AFP reports the UN Secretary-General convenes a meeting tomorrow in Geneva to be attended by UNHCR chief Sadako Ogata, other heads of UN agencies, the president of the World Bank, special envoys, peacekeeping experts and NGOs to address the human rights and humanitarian fall-out from the Kosovo crisis. Kyodo reports Japanese government officials said five ethnic Albanians from Kosovo will arrive in Japan via Vienna today, becoming the first refugees to Japan from the province. Le Monde carries a large feature article about ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and seven weeks of deportations.