🚀 go-pugleaf

RFE
THOUSANDS OF KOSOVARS REACH MACEDONIA. Some 9,000 Kosovars
arrived at the Blace frontier crossing with Macedonia on 3
May. One-third of them spent the following night in the open
while waiting to enter Macedonia and the transit camp at the
border. Most of the 9,000 came from Podujeva, north of
Prishtina. Aid workers said that the fact that the Serbian
authorities deported the Kosovars in an "unprecedented three
trains" suggests that the Serbs "are working overtime to
clear the area north of Prishtina" of ethnic Albanians,
Reuters reported. One refugee said that police separated
young men from the rest of the expellees at the Prishtina
railway station. Aid workers added that this marks the first
time they have heard of such a practice in the capital. Other
refugees at Blace said they spent "weeks" living in the
mountains. Some of the women were raped by Serbian forces. PM

ALBANIA PREPARES TO TAKE 60,000 REFUGEES FROM MACEDONIA.
British Lieutenant-General John Reith, who is commander of
NATO's humanitarian relief mission in Albania, said in Tirana
on 3 May that the alliance plans to build camps for an
additional 160,000 Kosovar refugees, including 60,000 from
neighboring Macedonia. He added that the Albanian government
wants to make "a gesture of intent" to the Macedonian
government to show that it is "willing to take people" from
Macedonia's overcrowded camps. Reith said that Tirana airport
currently handles 80 humanitarian aid flights daily.
Meanwhile, aid workers from the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees evacuated about 7,000 refugees from Kukes in 15
buses and 75 military vehicles. A UNHCR spokesman said in
Tirana that the number of refugees in Albania now exceeds
400,000. Elsewhere, Serbian artillery shells hit an Albanian
Television transmitter and a private radio station near Qafe
e Prushit in the Has Mountains, an RFE/RL correspondent
reported from Tirana. FS

UCK REJECTS LDK OFFER TO FORM NEW GOVERNMENT. Jakup Krasniqi,
who is the principal spokesman for the Kosova Liberation Army
(UCK), told private Klan TV in Tirana on 3 May that a
proposal by officials from Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League
of Kosova (LDK) to form a new provisional government is
"unacceptable," dpa reported. Krasniqi added that "there is
already a government of Kosova led by [the UCK's] Hashim
Thaci." Also in Tirana, an LDK delegation led by shadow-state
Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi held talks with Albanian
government officials who are working to bring together the
rival Kosovar political forces, an RFE/RL correspondent
reported. Meanwhile, Krasniqi told the Ljubljana daily "Delo"
of 3 May that "we did not correctly anticipate either the
dimensions of war that would ensue from the air strikes or
that the Serbs' actions would concentrate on civilians." He
added that "we thought that Serbia would mainly concentrate
on defending itself from NATO attacks." FS

NATO SAYS SERBS MADE 'PROPAGANDA TRICK' OUT OF BUS INCIDENT.
A spokesman for the Atlantic alliance said in Brussels on 4
May that an attack on a bus near Prizren the previous day was
the result of fighting between the UCK and Serbian forces and
was not the work of NATO aircraft. He added that "after a
comprehensive review of operations, and although several of
our aircraft were in the general area, there is no evidence
to link our activities with this alleged incident." Shortly
after the attack on the bus, which left at least 17 dead,
Serbian authorities charged that a NATO bomb hit the vehicle.
PM

BLAIR HAILS 'JUST WAR'... British Prime Minister Tony Blair
said at Macedonia's Stankovic refugee camp on 3 May that "we
will do everything we can to make sure that these people,
these innocent people, are allowed to go back to their homes,
their towns, their villages." Blair stressed that NATO will
continue its efforts to stop Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic's "appalling policy of ethnic cleansing and racial
genocide... . That commitment is total." The prime minister
added that "this is not a battle for territory. It is a
battle for humanity. It is a just cause." PM

KOSTOV WARNS OF THREAT REFUGEES POSE TO MACEDONIA. Premier
Kostov said on 3 May that the tide of Kosovar refugees in
Macedonia poses political and economic dangers to that
country. In an interview in the daily "Trud," Kostov said
destabilization of Macedonia can end "in only two tragic
ways." One way would be a split in which an ethnic Albanian
part of Macedonia joins Albania and the other part returns to
Yugoslavia. The second "tragic" end would be "for Macedonia
to die the way Yugoslavia is dying." He referred to Macedonia
as a "brother country." PB

END NOTE

DESTROYING SERBIA IN ORDER TO SAVE IT

by Christopher Walker

The administration of a hard-hitting therapy for a grave
illness has the potential to cure but also runs the risk of
grievously harming the patient. For Yugoslavia, NATO's
therapy of choice--an ever-escalating bombing campaign--poses
the following question: Will this military operation affect
Serbian society so that it becomes consumed with resentment
and malice toward the international community? Or will the
NATO effort purge from Serbia the cancerous behavior that has
so plagued the entire Balkan region for the last decade?
Now into the second month of its bombing operation, NATO
is targeting a wider range of transport and communication
links and is increasingly focusing on a range of key
industrial sites and economic assets throughout Serbia. While
most of the targets at the outset of the campaign were
overtly military in nature, it is clear that considerable
destruction is now being done to the civilian sector and
economic infrastructure in Serbia--and not only as a result
of collateral damage.
It is also clear that the Western alliance overestimated
the effectiveness of air power as the tool for compelling
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to accede to its
demands. Unable to get Milosevic to capitulate quickly and
unwilling to take the more drastic military steps that would
help bring the conflict to a close, the allies are relegated
to hammering Serbia from the air.
The failure of the Milosevic era speaks for itself. All
sectors of Yugoslav society have been infected by the
regime's primitive style of governance. A byproduct of the
NATO bombing campaign has been an intensification of already
existing anti-democratic conditions in Serbia: profiteers who
honed their skills during the Croatian and Bosnian wars are
now back on familiar, lucrative ground; the country's
politics, already extreme by regional standards, have been
further polarized; the economy, in shambles dating back
several years, is in danger of being gutted entirely; and
independent media, which had operated under consistent
official pressure, have now been formally taken over and
added to the state-run propaganda machinery.
At the same time, the effects of Serbia's condition have
not been confined within its own borders. On the contrary,
Serbia has played the role of regional menace for a full
decade now. And as a result, all of its neighbors have
suffered.
The politics of aggression, as directed from Belgrade,
have dragged down the regional economy and contributed
greatly to the view of the Balkans as a dark corner in
Europe. Serbia's actions have also radicalized to varying
degrees the politics of neighboring countries and provinces,
including Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro,
and Kosova. The dramatic shifts of ethnic populations,
largely initiated and orchestrated by the Serbian regime,
have wreaked havoc on the regional landscape since the
disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Recognizing the enormity of the task of enabling
democratic habits to take root in Serbia and throughout the
Balkans, the NATO alliance is promoting what U.S. President
Bill Clinton describes as a post-conflict strategy for
reconstruction and renewal. The alliance seems sensitive to
the fact that Serbia cannot be left as a festering wound in
southeastern Europe after hostilities end.
Soliciting Russia's assistance in bringing about a
settlement with Milosevic is a delicate issue. Implicit in
using Russia's diplomatic channels to Belgrade is Milosevic's
remaining in power after a negotiated settlement. One
alternative arrangement, albeit almost inconceivable at the
moment, would be a Moscow-brokered plan that met key NATO
demands, while simultaneously allowing Milosevic an exit from
power that would protect his physical safety and not subject
him to prosecution as a war criminal.
But if Milosevic remains, it is hard to imagine a
scenario under which renewal and reform could take root in
Yugoslavia. At this point, reconstructing Serbia and
reorienting its politics will be difficult enough even if a
change in leadership were to take place. Moreover,
Milosevic's continued presence would negatively influence the
ability of fragile neighboring countries to regain their
footing.
Thoroughly vanquishing Serbia runs the risk of
positioning it as the sick man of Europe for the 21st
century. Equally risky would be to conclude the military
campaign without reasonable confidence that in the post-
conflict period Serbia would change its political habits. A
Serbian nation intent on continuing a pattern of belligerence
would undermine the entire region's prospects for stability
and prosperity.
The NATO alliance is putting forward billions of dollars
to continue its military effort against Serbia. Many more
billions will be necessary for the civilian rebuilding effort
after the guns are laid down.
================================================

[19] GREEK TRANSPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER IN FYROM [MPA]
In spite the fact that a strategic alliance between Greece's and FYROM's
state-owned telecommunications organizations, (OTE and MT, respectively) is
eyed positively by both sides, FYROM has yet to fully reveal its intentions
concerning MT's prospect of privatization.
The Transport and Communications Ministers of both countries (Messrs. Tasos
Mantelis and Bobi Spircovski, respectively), gave a joint press interview in
Skopje yesterday and confirmed that an alliance is being considered, albeit
not finalized.
During the course of a three-hour meeting with his FYROM counterpart, Mr.
Mantelis, accompanied by Communications undersecretary Nikolaos Salayannis,
confirmed the Greek side's interest in purchasing over one-third of MT's
shares.
"At the present phase, while the privatization process has yet to be
unveiled, both sides have expressed the will for a strategic alliance," Mr.
Mantelis stated, adding that the matter is expected to further clear in the
Fall, when an international bid for MT's sale will be declared.
British Telecoms is also vying for MT's shares as, according to Mr.
Spirkovski, it has expressed an interest.
On other matters, the two ministers proceeded to specific actions, such as a
bilateral agreement for the establishment of a regular airline route between
Thessaloniki-Skopje-Athjens, which is expected to be signed by the end of
June.
Concurrently, Messrs. Mantelis anf Spirkovski discussed the establishment of
a railway route connecting Thessaloniki and Skopje with an Intercity train.
Moreover, the time-consuming visa-issuance process between FYROM and Greece
is expected to be expedited soon, a result of the recently-held SECI meeting
in Athens.
The South-East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), aims at facilitating
trade and transport in the region, thus laying the groundwork for expanded
economic cooperation among the S.E. European states.
Lastly, Mr. Mantelis stated that both governments are to promote the
creation of the X Axis.
"As soon as the crisis is over, we will focus on the X Axis and its link
with VIII Axis, so that both (roads) can facilitate transport to the benefit
of both countries," Mr. Mantelis said.

[24] THE GREEK GOVERNMENT PREPARES THE GROUND FOR A SOLUTION TO THE ISSUE OF
FYROM'S NAME
The Greek government through the further development of the economic and
political relations with FYROM seeks to prepare the ground for a mutually
acceptable solution to the issue of FYROM's name.
Greek minister of transport and communications Tasos Mandelis, who is on a
visit to Skopje, stated after the contacts he had with FYROM prime minister
Ljupco Georgiefski and president Kiro Gligorov that Greece is interested in
improving the economic relations with FYROM to such a degree in order to
create the necessary conditions for a solution to the problem of FYROM's
name.
The Greek government minister reiterated to the FYROM leadership the firm
position of the Greek government for the easing of the crisis in Kossovo
through a political solution and stressed the need for a continuous flow of
humanitarian aid for the suffering people of Kossovo. Mr. Mandelis also
pointed out that a plan for the reconstruction of the region is necessary
while the procedures for the EU enlargement must be accelerated to include
the Balkan states.
[25] TWO NATO MISSILES DROPPED NEAR A VILLAGE IN FYROM
Two NATO missiles dropped near the village of Demanci in central FYROM
causing alarm among the local population.
The missiles fortunately dropped in a remote region and the news on the
incident was reported last night by the private television station "Sitel"
which showed pictures of a 10 meters wide crater that was created by the
missiles when they hit the ground.


===================================================

First plane leaves on Macedonia-US mercy airlift
05:19 p.m May 04, 1999 Eastern
By Jeanne King

NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters) - The first of 40 flights to bring about 20,000
ethnic Albanian refugees from overcrowded camps in Macedonia to the United
States took off from John F. Kennedy International airport on Tuesday.

The Tower Air Boeing 747, crewed by 17 Americans, left JFK at 3:45 p.m. EDT
(1945 GMT) and is expected to arrive in Skopje, Macedonia in about 10 hours.

The 747, which holds 470 people, will pick up about 450 ethnic Albanians who
fled to Macedonia after having been expelled from their homes in Kosovo by
Serbian forces.

The flight will return to McGuire air force base in New Jersey on Wednesday
evening.

The refugees will be taken to nearby Fort Dix and after a processing period
some will live with family and friends in the United States. There is a
large population of ethnic-Albanians in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut
as well as large concentrations in Detroit, MI and Boston, MA.

Tower, which has had some experience in ``mercy missions,'' estimated it
would take about 30 to 40 days to bring all 20,000 refugees to the United
States.

Another flight will leave Thursday.

``We are very much looking forward to this operation,'' said Luca
Dall'Oglio, an official with the International Organisation for Migration,
which is coordinating the programme.

``It is the first operation of its kind. We move now on this operation with
the hope that the refugees who will be coming here will soon have a chance
to return safely to Kosovo,'' Dall'Oglio told reporters.

Since the NATO bombing campaign began in Yugoslavia six weeks ago, about
821,234 ethnic Albanians have been forced out of Kosovo in what the West
calls an ethnic cleansing campaign orchestrated by Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic.

The United States agreed in April to take up to 20,000 of the Kosovo
refugees, mainly to relieve the burden on Macedonia, which has been
overwhelmed by the influx.

At first Washington planned to move 20,000 to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. base on
Cuba, where they would not have the right to seek asylum, but the present
plan is to match them up as far as possible with Albanian-American
relatives.

The refugees who come to the United States will acquire some rights to
residence as soon as they land but the administration expects the vast
majority to go back to Kosovo when the crisis is over.

Monday was by far the busiest day for aid workers since the start of April
when as many as 68,000 people were stranded at the border between Kosovo and
Macedonia.

In all, more than 11,000 refugees arrived in Macedonia on Monday.

The UNHCR has repeatedly urged other countries to help with the mounting
emergency that Macedonia says risks destroying its economy and its own
fragile ethnic mix, but airlifts of refugees to third countries have so far
been slow.

===========================================================================

Two more trains disgorge refugees in Macedonia
12:13 p.m. May 04, 1999 Eastern
By Jeremy Gaunt

BLACE, Macedonia, May 4 (Reuters) - Two fresh trainloads of Kosovo refugees
arrived at Blace border crossing into Macedonia on Tuesday, filling the
checkpoint area as fast as aid workers could empty it and increasing
pressure on crammed refugee camps.

Paula Ghedini, spokeswoman for U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said the two
trains had brought more than 5,000 refugees. The latest arrivals began
streaming across in light drizzle after 15 buses ferried away the last of an
earlier batch to an unfinished camp that already houses 22,000 ethnic
Albanians.

One bus driver, rather tactlessly, was playing Serb rock music.

``It was looking pretty good here for a while,'' one aid worker said,
surveying the scene.

Three trainloads within 24 hours disgorged several thousand refugees on
Monday, the busiest day since early April when up to 68,000 were stranded in
no-man's-land for days after fleeing what the West terms a Serb campaign of
ethnic cleansing..

Thousands, mainly women, children and old people, queued over Monday night
on the litter-strewn road at the crossing waiting to be processed and sent
to camps where the crush and poor sanitation have raised fears of a disease
epidemics.

In all, more than 11,000 refugees arrived on Monday, Ron Redmond, spokesman
for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, told a news conference. ``It's turned
into an exercise of trying to juggle and shuffle people.''

Among Tuesday's arrivals was a group of 42 men from Podujevo, around 30 km
(20 miles) north of the Kosovo capital Pristina. Refugees had said some 120
men were separated from the main group by Serb police at Pristina station on
Monday.

Redmond said the increased flow from around Podujevo suggested ``they are
working overtime to clear the area north of Pristina.'' He added that
refugees had reported ``tens of thousands'' still in the area trying to
leave.

Ghedini said the some of the men from Podujevo on Tuesday's train showed
signs of heavy beatings, with red welts on their backs and swollen hands.

Another group of refugees, arriving at Bojane camp to the west of the
Macedonian capital Skopje on Tuesday, said they had been attacked by Serb
forces as they tried to reach Pristina from their hill village. Two people
were killed and three wounded, the brother of one of those killed told
Reuters.

In a second attempt, they arrived at Pristina train station after 10 hours,
but between 25 and 30 men were separated by police and taken to the station
cafe. They were questioned and beaten there before being released, one man,
Ahmet Nura, said.

Other arrivals were also from around Glogovac in central Kosovo. ``They say
the police are coming door to door and sending them to Pristina,'' Ghedini
said. She said refugees had been told it would be ``too late'' if they
stayed.

Many of the new arrivals were being sent to Cegrane 70 km (45 miles) west of
the capital Skopje, where thousands have had to sleep outside on plastic
sheeting there for days because arrivals have come faster than tents could
be put up.

UNHCR has repeatedly urged other countries to help out with the mounting
emergency that Macedonia says risks destryoing its economy and its own
fragile ethnic mix.

NATO said on Monday it planned to build camps in Albania for 160,000
refugees, including up to 60,000 from Macedonia, but it was not clear when
they would be ready.

UNHCR says there were now more than 96,700 refugees crammed into Macedonia's
camps and some 93,370 more living with ethnic kin. Some 25,606 have been
airlifted out to date.

============================================================================
====
UNHCR denies ``crying wolf'' over Macedonia refugees
11:58 a.m. May 04, 1999 Eastern
By Jude Webber

SKOPJE, May 4 (Reuters) - For days now, the United Nations refugee agency
has been warning of a humanitarian catastrophe if ethnic Albanians fleeing
Kosovo continue to pour into Macedonia. Mercifully it has not yet come.

On Tuesday, after spending all night trying to process the third trainload
of Kosovars to arrive in 24 hours, UNHCR said for the umpteenth time it had
``no idea'' where it would put people if thousands more turned up during the
day.

Within hours, more than 5,000 more had indeed arrived, filling the
checkpoint area at the main Blace border crossing with refugees as fast as
aid workers could clear it.

Despite a week of dire predictions that refugee camps are way beyond full
and simply cannot take any more substantial numbers of refugees, aid workers
have continued to cope, even when faced with their busiest day in weeks on
Monday when 11,000 refugees poured in.

But they said that did not mean the danger was not real.

``Most assuredly, we are not crying wolf,'' UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told
a news conference. ``You can see the situation, smell it. You can see the
sanitation. It's not good.''

UNHCR first warned a week ago that Macedonia had no room for any more
refugees and has since stepped up the rhetoric and the pressure on other
countries to pitch in to the emergency effort and fly refugees out to
temporary homes.

It has also cautioned that riots are on the verge of sweeping the camps and
epidemics of disease could be just around the corner as summer approaches.

``People cannot live in situations like this for an extended period, even a
few months,'' Redmond said. ``It's not healthy.''

Macedonia's nine refugee camps were already sheltering 96,700 refugees
before Tuesday's arrivals. There are now more refugees living in the camps
than with ethnic Albanian families.

Aid workers Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) said in a
statement that ``if the conditions (in the biggest camp) are not improved
soon, with overcrowding and poor sanitation facilities, the risk of an
outbreak will increase in the coming weeks.''

``How long we can keep a lid on this is uncertain,'' Redmond said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin
have both visited the camps in recent days, pledging more money to help
Macedonia cope with a crisis that could wreck its economy and torpedo its
delicate ethnic mix.

The pace of airlifts to other countries has so far woefully lagged UNHCR's
target of 2,000 a day -- UNHCR says only 3,690 departures are scheduled in
the next four days and only 25,606 have been evacuated to date.

But the message finally seemed to be getting through on Tuesday. Britain
said it was ready to take in about 1,000 refugees a week and Italy said it
would house 10,000.

Germany, which has taken in the largest number, has said it is ready to
double that number and Redmond said the United States, which has also
pledged to take in 20,000, had begun interviewing refugees and could be
ready to begin flights ``in a matter of days.''

Redmond said it was ``impossible to keep up'' with the flow of refugees to
the Cegrane camp in western Macedonia that is still being built around
people forced to sleep outside on plastic sheeting. Cegrane is housing some
22,000 people and more were being sandwiched in on Tuesday.

With stormy weather forecast after days of sweltering heat, those conditions
could fast become desperate. Help may be at hand in the form of planned new
camps in Albania, which could accommodate up to 60,000 refugees from
Macedonia.

=========================================================================
ANALYSIS-West seeks to shore up wobbly Macedonia
08:10 a.m. May 04, 1999 Eastern
By Jeremy Gaunt

SKOPJE, May 4 (Reuters) - The West has been beating a path to Macedonia's
door in what analysts say is a concerted effort to shore up a fragile Balkan
democracy that has become key to NATO's strategy for Kosovo.

In the space of three days, two leading European prime ministers -- France's
Lionel Jospin and Britain's Tony Blair -- arrived in Skopje on hastily
organised trips, pledging money and support to the frontline state as it
creaks under the weight of 200,000 unwelcome ethnic Albanian refugees.

``The same sort of call has gone out to the capitals that this country needs
help,'' one Western analyst said. ``It's a message that's gone all through
NATO and to the European Union.''

Macedonia has long been considered one of the Balkans' most vulnerable
nations, so much so that U.S. troops under U.N. auspices were sent to patrol
the borders as early as 1993 when the Bosnian war began to take off.

With as much as a third of Macedonia's 2.2 million population being ethnic
Albanian and the rest Slav, it has been viewed as a potential timebomb that
could explode into ethnic war much as neighbouring Kosovo has and, further
north, Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.

NATO's bombing campaign on Yugoslavia has brought the country even further
into the limelight. It is crucial strategically to the alliance's plans for
deploying a peacekeeping force in Kosovo after an agreement and would be the
natural, if reluctant, launch pad for an offensive ground assault if one was
called for.

For its part, however, the Macedonia government has been frantic about the
flood of ethnic Albanian refugees fleeing to their borders from Kosovo,
seeing them both as draining already inadequate resources and knocking the
country's delicate ethnic balance off kilter.

Blair and Jospin offered essentially the same message -- stay calm, the
refugees will go home and the West will pay the damages.

Jospin said France would give $26 million in supplementary aid, adding to a
much larger sum already promised for the war's frontline states. ``(We want)
to help the refugees first of all but also the Macedonian population,'' he
said on Saturday.

Blair said Britain was adding another $32 million to what it planned to give
Macedonia. On Monday, he said: ``We must give all the help that we can to
the Macedonian government in this difficult situation.''

As well as pushing the Slav-led government to stick close to the
international community, the West has also been working to contain any
thought among Macedonia's ethnic Albanians of rocking the boat in the name
of their own separatist aspirations.

The more radical of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian parties -- the Democratic
Party of Albanians (PDSH) -- was brought into the government after elections
last year even though it was not needed to create a majority. The West is
keen that it stays there.

The party has been remarkably quiet in the current crisis, even when
Macedonia closed its doors for a while in early April to the flood of ethnic
Albanians fleeing Kosovo. It has focused mainly on helping settle refugees
among their kin in Macedonia .

Western officials have been urging the PDSH and other ethnic Albanian
organisations to work to keep Macedonia together.

``All efforts are in keeping the coalition government going, keeping the
Albanians in, the analyst said.

For now, the West's strategy appears to be working. Although there is
tension aplenty in Macedonia, the government has hailed its close ties with
NATO and the European Union, and the ethnic Albanians have stuck to
supporting their unfortunate brethren swarming across the border.

============================================================================
======
UN to begin transferring more refugees to Albania
07:31 a.m. May 04, 1999 Eastern
By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, May 4 (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday it would
begin transferring some Kosovo refugees from Macedonia to Albania in the
next days as a ``last resort'' to ease overcrowded camps in Macedonia.

But Kris Janowski, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), said it would only move refugees who volunteered after Macedonia's
government guaranteed that they would still be eligible for evacuation to a
third country.

The Geneva-based agency said 11,600 Kosovo Albanians had arrived on Monday
by train and bus in Macedonia -- one of the large single-day influxes. A
``mere 700'' had arrived in Albania amid reports of continuing atrocities in
Djakovica and Prizren.

The latest figures in the exodus were ``an indication that the main thrust
of the Serbian cleansing effort is directed toward Macedonia,'' Janowski
told a news briefing in Geneva.

``The situation in Macedonia is critical. Over the next few days, refugees
will have to be transferred by buses to Albania where NATO is helping with
the construction of new tented camps in Korca in the vicinity of Lake
Ochrid,'' he said.

``They may move as early as tomorrow (Wednesday).''

Space for 6,000 refugees in Albania has been identified until facilities can
be expanded, according to the spokesman.

NATO said on Monday it planned to build camps in Albania for 160,000
refugees, including up to 60,000 from Macedonia, but it was not clear when
they would be ready.

``We are still insisting that departure to be voluntary and also insist, and
the Macedonian government agrees, that people going to Albania still be
eligible for humanitarian evacuation,'' Janowski said.

``The idea of sending people to Albania, where infrastructure is worse than
in Macedonia, was always questionable. Now it seems to be the last resort.''

Janowski added: ``Taking people out of Macedonia...is designed to allay
fears of the Macedonian government and keep them on board.''

``The problem is that a political decision of the government to expand and
build new camps is not there. The government is saying 'We have taken as
many as we can take and we would like you to look after them and take them
out of the country'.''

``They have a very good point. It is a small country and it is
destabilising,'' the spokesman added.

Macedonia has taken in 204,070 Kosovo refugees, while Albania is ``swamped''
with nearly 400,000, according to UNHCR.

In all, the U.N. agency estimates that more than 800,000 Kosovo Albanians
and Serbs have fled the conflict over the past year. They include 100,000
asylum-seekers in Europe and 27,524 flown out from Macedonia in an
evacuation begun a month ago.

Germany (9,974), Turkey (5,827) and France (2,354) have taken the bulk of
Kosovo evacuees, according to UNHCR.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said evacuations outside
of Europe would begin this week to three countries -- Australia, Canada and
the United States.

The first flight will be on Tuesday from Skopje to Ontario, Canada, an IOM
spokesman told the news briefing. Canada has said it will take in 5,000
Kosovo refugees.

A first flight to the United States is to depart from Skopje on Wednesday
and bring up to 470 refugees to New Jersey, he added. The United States has
agreed to take in 20,000 Kosovars.

The first flight to Australia, via Rome, is on Thursday. The government has
said it will take up to 4,000 refugees.

=========================================================================
Romania Receives First Group of Macedonia Refugees


Reuters
04-MAY-99

BUCHAREST, May 4 (Reuters) - Romania took in its first group of refugees
airlifted from Macedonia on Tuesday, with 41 Kosovo ethnic Albanians
arriving at Bucharest airport of a total of 6,000 which the government has
agreed to house temporarily.

Romanian television stations showed the refugees, including several infants,
disembarking from a plane from the Macedonian capital Skopje and being put
aboard a bus bound for a hillside resort northeast of Bucharest.

Andreas Halbach of the International Organisation for Migration said the
refugees had all been staying at the Stankovic camp, Macedonia's largest,
built by French troops.

He said 3,000 refugees would arrive by the end of the next month and a
further 3,000 in July and August.

Officials of the U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, which coordinates the
movement of refugees with the IOM, said most would probably be housed in
northeastern Moldova region.

Romanian officials quoted refugees as saying they wanted to stay in
countries as close as possible to Kosovo to ease their eventual return to
the Yugoslav province.

Macedonia says nearly 100,000 registered refugees were filling camps to
bursting and has asked other countries to ease the burden by hosting quotas
of refugees.

The Interior Ministry said 243 Kosovo Albanians had already found shelter in
Romania, mostly in western counties bordering Yugoslavia.

The government this week approved longstanding plans to take in 6,000 Kosovo
refugees for a limited period. It estimated the cost of housing the refugees
for six months at $6.58 million, with some expenses to be shouldered by
humanitarian groups.

Romania has backed NATO's policy of air strikes against Yugoslav targets to
force Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to agree to the deployment of an
armed international force in Kosovo and the return of refugees forced from
their homes.

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