United Nations Daily Highlights, 99-05-04

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From: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS

Tuesday, 4 May, 1999

Latest Developments

HEADLINES

• Situation in former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia "critical" as scores of Kosovars cross border -- UNHCR.
• UN agricultural agency appeals for emergency aid to poor rural families hosting Kosovo refugees.
• UN refugee agency reports return of 14,000 Rwandans from Democratic Republic of the Congo.

More than 11,000 Kosovo refugees arrived in that country on Monday, UNHCR said, an indication that the main thrust of the Serbian cleansing effort is being directed towards FYROM. In contrast, Albania saw the arrival of a mere 700 people.

UNHCR said refugees would have to be voluntarily transferred by buses over the next few days to Albania, where NATO was helping with the construction of new tented camps and the agency had pre- positioned staff and stocks at Korca to receive and register them.

Meanwhile, those arriving in Albania spoke of sporadic atrocities and large scale harassment. UNHCR field personnel interviewed extensively two women from Djakova, who said 10 days ago 19 people from three families were shot and the house and their bodies burned after Serbian authorities discovered them hiding in the basement. UNHCR could not independently confirm their story.

Other refugees from Djakova said some families had been deliberately split up and various members allowed to leave while others were forced to stay behind, according to UNHCR.

UNHCR said the exodus from Prizren continued sporadically. Several educated people were picked up and expelled across the border within a matter of hours þ- a pattern of systematic purging of educated citizens which has emerged in the last few days.

There were also cases of almost gratuitous violence against the fleeing civilians, UNHCR said. A group of hysterical children crossed the border after their parents had been detained at the frontier post because their papers were allegedly not in order.

According to UNHCR, the estimated number of refugees and displaced people in the region has reached more than 677,000, including 396,000 in Albania, 204,000 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and 62,000 in Montenegro.

UNHCR staff in Gisenyi and Cyangugu have helped the returnees back to their communes distributing blankets, plastic sheeting and other material to the new arrivals who began coming back at an average rate of 500 per week in January. UNHCR said it has been asked to establish additional transit facilities and to assist transportation on both sides of the border.

Returning Rwandans have told UNHCR that local officials in eastern DRC have warned them to go back home, and that the relative calm which now prevails in northwest Rwanda has encouraged them to do so. Rebel authorities in the DRC have warned of renewed military sweeps in the area.

UNHCR said it would send an international staff member back to Goma this week to assess the situation of Rwandans who have remained in the heavily forested region since camps were broken up in late 1996. Refugees scattered westward and an estimated 173,000 remained unaccounted for, with many dying of natural and violent causes, the UN agency said.

FAO launched an appeal to donor governments for $5.5 million for emergency aid to Albania and $3.5 million to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. "It is very important that farmers do not miss the 1999 agricultural seasons to avoid a further deterioration of food supplies," said Anne M. Bauer, Head of the FAO Special Relief Operations Service.

According to recent FAO assessment missions, around 12,000 rural families in Albania and more than 8,000 families in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are providing food and shelter to refugees driven out of Kosovo.

In Albania, where about 30 percent of rural population live in poverty, rural families are hosting more than one hundred thousand Kosovar refugees. On the average an Albanian family supports eight, and in some cases even up to 40 refugees, using their own money, FAO said. Money spent for the support of refugees will not be available for much needed agricultural inputs, which will have serious consequences for the farmers during the spring planting season.

Emergency aid should ensure that host families continue farming and if possible, increase their food production, according to FAO. The agency is now providing maize seeds that can still be planted this spring and is calling for the immediate supply of fertilizers, animal feed and backyard poultry for the 12,000 host families. International support will also be needed for the supply of wheat seeds to be planted in autumn.

FAO warned that the current food situation may worsen in Albania "even if the refugees were to return to Kosovo at an early date."

From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: unnews@un.org

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