U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUREAU FOR HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE (BHR) OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA) KOSOVO CRISIS Factsheet #19 April 8, 1999
BACKGROUND In late February 1998, following an unprecedented series of clashes in Kosovo between Serbian police forces and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), Serbian police raided villages in Kosovo's Drenica region, a KLA stronghold. The police burned homes and killed dozens of ethnic Albanians in these raids. Thousands of ethnic Albanians in Pristina protested Serb police actions, and were subsequently attacked by the police with tear gas, water cannons, and clubs. This marked the beginning of further Serb offenses in Kosovo, which brought heavy fighting. As a result of the fighting, thousands of Kosovar Albanians were displaced from their homes, many taking refuge with host families, while a smaller proportion (several thousand??took to the hills and forests. By the time NATO operations began against Serbia on March 24, 1999, 260,000 people had been displaced within Kosovo and 199,000 people had been displaced to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and other countries. U.S. GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE (estimated) $150,000,000 On March 31, President Clinton announced a package of $50 million in aid to address the urgent humanitarian needs of those affected by the conflict in Kosovo. Of this amount $25 million will come from the Emergency Refugee and Migration Account (ERMA) and is to be disbursed to UNHCR and other international entities involved in the relief effort. On April 7, the State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration (State/PRM), which administers the ERMA funds, announced a donation of $3 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for assistance to the Kosovar Albanian refugees. The other $25 million will be comprised of supplies and services from the Department of Defense, including relief materials, shelter, and food. In addition to this funding, the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has provided an estimated $3.2 million in new assistance to respond to the humanitarian needs in Macedonia, and redirected some $3.7 million from relief efforts in Kosovo to humanitarian operations in Macedonia, for an estimated total of $7 million in assistance to the growing refugee crisis in that country. USAID/OFDA is shipping 300,000 humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) to Macedonia at a cost of $700,000, and the Department of Defense (DOD) will be shipping another 300,000 to Skopje as well. DOD has provided 500,000 HDRs to Albania to date. USAID/OFDA has provided $257,800 in relief assistance to Albania, and has sent a seven person Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Tirana. Including the recently announced $50 million in aid for the crisis, the USG has provided an estimated $150 million to respond to the humanitarian needs relating to the crisis in Kosovo, since the beginning of the crisis in February 1998. SUMMARY - Over 621,242 people have been displaced from Kosovo since March 1998, according to UNHCR on April 7. UNHCR has stopped making a distinction between those displaced prior to March 24 and those displaced post-March 24, because the distinction is too difficult to maintain. NATO is referring to the displaced as "deportees", rather than "refugees", because of the forced nature of their displacement. - The no man's land at the Blace border crossing is now empty. UNHCR reports that there are a total of 136,000 refugees from Kosovo in Macedonia. - Albania currently hosts 293,000 refugees from Kosovo. The Kosovo border with Albania has been closed by Serbian authorities "urging" those fleeing to return home. - UNHCR estimated that Montenegro hosts 60,000 displaced from Kosovo. CURRENT HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND RESPONSE KOSOVO Numbers Affected: Over 620,000 people have been displaced from Kosovo since March 1998 UNHCR reported on April 7. No numbers are available on the current internal displacements of ethnic Albanians or Serbs in Kosovo. NATO reports that at the current rate of displacement, Kosovo will be emptied of Albanians in 10-20 days. Prior to the beginning of NATO operations on March 24, UNHCR estimated that there were 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kosovo. UNHCR's estimates of displacements from Kosovo to other areas of Serbia/Montenegro and Europe are as follows: 60,000 to other parts of Serbia/Montenegro; 27,700 refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and 100,000 to other areas of Europe. An estimated 7,700 refugees are also in Turkey. Humanitarian Needs and International Response: No information is available at this time from international relief agencies as to the needs in Kosovo. It is reported that there are no food stocks available in Kosovo, and refugees are reporting destruction of their homes and forced displacement from their villages. Numerous first hand accounts describe the systematic expulsion of ethnic Albanians from all areas of Kosovo, and those who have been forced out of Pristina say it is a "ghost town". The final two international relief agencies working in Kosovo, ICRC and MSF, have now left. The local NGO, the Mother Teresa Society (MTS), has suspended operations due to the insecurity prevailing throughout Kosovo, and the destruction of several of their warehouses. U.S. Government Response: The USAID/OFDA Disaster Assistance Response Team has not been able to work in Kosovo since the NATO bombing campaign began. As soon as the situation allows, the DART will return to Kosovo to continue its assistance activities. Prior to its departure, the DART had programmed over $5.6 million for health, shelter, water/sanitation programs, and other emergency needs. MACEDONIA Numbers Affected: UNHCR reported on April 7 that there were 136,000 refugees in Macedonia. The Kosovo border with Macedonia has been closed by Serb authorities. At least 20,000 people were forced back to their homes in Kosovo by Serb authorities (many to Pristina) from the Jazince border crossing. Some refugees are being transported to third countries to ease the humanitarian burden on Macedonia. Humanitarian Needs and International Response: Coordination - UNHCR and the USAID/OFDA DART have coordinated the division of responsibilities for relief efforts at the border, in transit camps, and in refugee centers with NGOs and NATO. UNHCR and NGOs are increasing their staff in Macedonia to step up response capacity. UNHCR is consulting with the Government of Macedonia to speed up registration of NGOs so as to allow them to become operational as quickly as possible. NGOs which were not previously working in Macedonia must also register with UNHCR as implementing partners. Border Situation - The no man's land at the Blace border crossing is now empty. UNHCR is still trying to account for all of the refugees. With at least 43,000 accounted for, there are apparently few refugees now "missing" given previous, unverified estimates, of refugees at the border. It is unclear how many persons in no man's land, if any, were returned to Kosovo by FRY authorities. Reportedly some refugees have been moved to transit camps, some to Turkey, and some to Albania and Greece. Approximately 25 busloads of refugees were moved to Albania. UNHCR reported that some of these refugees were not notified of where they were going and complained they were given no choice as to their destination. UNHCR emphasized that all evacuations should be on a voluntary basis, and raised this issue with the GOM. Evacuation - UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are organizing evacuation of refugees from Macedonia in order to bring them to a safe third country and ease the pressure on the GOM regarding humanitarian needs. The immediate focus will be on evacuating 5000 refugees to Turkey and 1500 to Romania. UNHCR and IOM cancelled their joint humanitarian evacuation flight from Skopje on April 7 in order to work to ensure that evacuations meet accepted human rights standards. The principles of the evacuation are as follows: 1) Evacuation is on a voluntary basis only. 2) Every effort should be made to respect the unity of family. Particular should be paid to include elderly and vulnerable family members. 3) Evacuees have to be medically fit to sustain travelling (consideration is to be given to mode of transport and distance - initially no medical escorts available). Where any family member is not yet fit to travel, families should not be split. 4) Priority should be given to refugees with vulnerabilities/special needs. 5) Consideration should be given to (family) links in a particular country of evacuation. UNHCR and IOM evacuations to date are as follows (other evacuations may be taking place, however they are not under the umbrella of the UN): April 6 - 149 refugees were sent to Turkey (mostly Turkish-speaking Kosovar Albanians) Shelter - Five transit camps have been set up in Macedonia, many by NATO, to house refugees: Brazda, Stankovac, Radusa, Neprosteno, and Bojane. UNHCR, USAID/OFDA, and ECHO developed a plan whereby each camp would have an NGO designated as the camp administrator. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is administering the Brazda camp, while CARE is administering Stankovac. The International Refugee Committee (IRC) is administering Neprosteno, and Action Against Hunger/UK is administering Bojane. At least 30,000 - 33,000 refugees are now at the Brazda and Stankovac transit centers, which were initially set up as one camp and have now divided into separate camps. USAID/OFDA supplied 75% of the tents for the Brazda camp. There are 4,000 refugees at Neprosteno, 2,200 refugees at Bojane, and at least 1,200 refugees at Radusa. These camps are a significant improvement over the border area where refugees were previously located. However, there are still improvements to be made in the camp systems. Of these camps, the Neprosteno camp is the most well organized. At Bojane, tensions between refugees and Macedonian authorities have been heightened after 100 refugees left the camp. The GOM has increased the number of soldiers present at this site. The USAID/OFDA Kosovo DART reported that the Radusa camp was set up by the GOM without consultation with UNHCR, and reportedly has poor water/sanitation facilities. Shelter has also been provided by relatives or host families for 20,000 or more refugees who have arrived in country. Food - The food pipeline for Macedonia is very poor at the moment, but is slowly getting better. The USAID/Office of Food for Peace believes that few people are receiving regular feeding. However, field coordination is beginning to improve. An estimated 24,000 HDRs have been distributed in Macedonia since April 5. HDRs continue to be necessary since refugees have little or no access to cooking facilities. The World Food Program has bought 1,000 MT of wheat flour from Turkey, of which 500 MT is expected to be available in country by Friday. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is distributing food from UNHCR and WFP stocks on hand, and has received permission from the GOM to bring 3,000 MT of wheat flour from Bulgaria into Macedonia, the first 410 MT of which will arrive by April 9. WFP currently has less than 90 MT of wheat flour in Macedonia. Health - Despite rumors of disease outbreak among refugees in Macedonia, none of these rumors have been substantiated, according to the USAID/OFDA DART. Health needs are being addressed by six mobile clinic operations (see below under USG Response). Doctors of the World/Greece (DOW/G) is also repairing ambulantas in the Tetovo region, and has provided medicine and equipment to three ambulantas. U.S. Government Response: Among the USAID/OFDA commodities distributed to date in Macedonia are 50,000 blankets and 500 rolls of plastic sheeting (enough for 5,000 families). In addition, 20,000 hygiene packs from USAID/OFDA will be distributed today, and the first shipment of humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) (of a total 600,000 sent to Macedonia) arrived in Skopje today. USAID/OFDA has provided over $7 million to respond to humanitarian needs in Macedonia. Over $3.7 million in USG resources previously programmed for the relief effort in Kosovo have been redirected for health, water/sanitation, and logistics support activities. USAID/OFDA has provided new funding for emergency commodity distributions for 75,000 beneficiaries. USAID/OFDA has also provided over $1.2 million in commodities. These commodities include 700 boxes of plastic sheeting (1,680,000 sq. ft.) which can shelter 7,000 families, 1000 tents which can house eight people each (total of 8,000 people), 20,000 hygiene kits, 54,000 blankets, and 4 water bladders holding 10,000 liters of water each (which can provide the minimum water requirement of 20 liters of water per person per day for 2500 people), and 18,400 5-gallon water containers. Most of these commodities have already been distributed to refugees at the border and at the Brazda/Stankovac transit center. The Department of Defense has sent a shipment of tents and sleeping blankets to Skopje which has arrived and is being sorted for distribution. Humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) have also been requested to assist the refugees in Macedonia and DOD plans to provide 600,000. USAID will provide transport from the U.S. to Skopje for 300,000 of the 600,000 HDRs requested, at a cost of $700,000. The first of these flights is estimated to leave arrive o/a the night of April 6. The Department of Defense will transport the other 300,000 from stocks in California. ALBANIA Numbers Affected: Albania currently hosts 293,000 refugees from Kosovo. The Kosovo border with Albania has been closed by Serbian authorities "urging" those fleeing to return home. Humanitarian Needs and International Response: Coordination - The Government of Albania (GOA) and UNHCR meet daily to coordinate assistance to refugees arriving in country and UNHCR emergency teams are arriving in critical areas to respond to refugee needs. The Swiss have also sent seven disaster relief teams to Albania. However, coordination of relief efforts continues to be a challenge, due to the difficult terrain of a country that is a new area of operations for many relief agencies. NATO has announced plans to send 8,000 troops to Albanian to help assist the refugees; and there are at least ten NGOs operating in the country. Border Situation and Shelter - The USAID/OFDA Albania DART reports that the border area is chaotic with little formal registration, partly due to lack of any identity documents on refugees. Those at the border are given biscuits and then move on their way, lacking any destination. Those refugees who remain in Kukes are without shelter or sufficient food supplies. UNHCR reports that 50% of the refugees who have come across the border into Albania have been moved away from the border, and hopes to be able to transport some 20,000 refugees per day away from the border to more secure locations, where they can be provided with assistance. If the border remains closed, UNHCR hopes to be able to move most of the refugees away from the border within one week to ten days. While shelter is a critical need, the GOA is experiencing difficulty locating appropriate sites for refugees, as much of the suitable land is privately owned. The USAID/OFDA DART reported that NATO will be setting up a camp for 10,000 refugees at Korce. The assessment portion of the process is due to begin today. The USAID/OFDA Albania DART also reports that the ability of the host community to absorb new refugees has been surpassed, and CRS says that 40,000 refugees are staying with host families in Albania. The DART will be working with NGOs to identify host families in need of assistance, in order to support them while they host refugees. UNHCR determined that tents will be necessary as temporary shelter in Kukes for refugees in transit. UNHCR has called for 10,000 tents, 200,000 blankets, and 600,000 mattresses. Transport - Distribution of relief supplies in Albania remains difficult due to the dispersal of refugees among a number of different areas and the difficult access to these refugees. Ground transport is particularly difficult at this time with poor road conditions, lack of vehicles, and overcrowding. The GOA has requested trucks and helicopters to transport refugees from border areas to other locations, particularly those who need medical attention. The Swiss and German governments have offered helicopters. NATO has also provided helicopters for transport of relief supplies to the border and refugees away from the border. The US is providing two aircraft to conduct assessments. An air operations cell is currently being staffed in Tirana by a 40 member U.S. Air Force team which is coordinating with UNHCR, the GOA, and the air cell headquarters in Geneva. The air cell will support domestic and international relief flights. On April 7, the air cell at Tirana airport was linked to the GOA's Crisis Emergency Management Center. Food - The U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) is deploying a 22-person logisitics and assessment team to Albania, some of whom are expected to arrive on April 7. The WFP team will be deployed to Kukes, Tirana, and southern Albanian locations. Food supplies have begun to arrive in northern Albania. Two U.S. helicopters recently ferried 31,000 HDRs to northern Albania, and 85 MT of relief commodities arrived by Italian and French helicopters on April 7. The food was distributed immediately and no stockpiles were in Kukes as of April 7. There is no firewood to cook food, therefore refugees require 150-200 MT of daily food, amounting to 115,000 to 150,000 HDRs. WFP is trying to organize a system for host families to bake bread for the refugees remaining in Kukes. Some 400 MT of wheat flour are expected to arrive in Albania on April 7 with an additional 600-800 MT of wheat flour projected to arrive this weekend. WFP reports that the ship which will transport 3,000 MTs of food from Bar, Montenegro to Durres, Albania has arrived in Montenegro with no trouble and is expected to depart early the 12th for Durres. WFP reports transporting 220 MTs of food out of Durres yesterday, leaving approx. 20 MTs in port. 400 MTs of flour are expected to arrive in Durres April 9. CRS is transporting food to 60,000 refugees in northern Albania, while continuing its regular distributions to its 12,000 beneficiary caseload. CRS is also undertaking non-food commodity distributions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is planning to provide food to 500,000 people next month. ICRC has also provided 2,100 MT of food to the Kukes area. Health - On April 6, the GOA hosted a meeting to discuss GOA requirements that all NGOs use state-run facilities to distribute medicines. The health situation at the border and in other areas of northern Albania is very poor, according to UNHCR and the USAID/OFDA Albania DART. There are no water or sanitation facilities and four cases of measles have been confirmed. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGOs report that an immediate measles vaccination program for local residents in Kukes and arriving refugees is required. Also, without water and sanitation facilities, the potential for disease outbreaks is extremely high. NGOs are providing medical assistance in the form of mobile clinics, drugs, and hygiene kits. The British and Italian governments have provided essential medical and health assistance, and the Government of France was to send a hospital unit to Albania on April 3. Greece has also sent 2 MT of medication, as well as ambulances, additional pharmaceuticals, and other medical supplies. ICRC is reportedly bringing in 20 MT of chlorine and UNICEF will begin a medical assistance program for children. U.S. Government Response: On April 7, 1999, the U.S. Ambassador to Albania, Marisa Lino, declared that a disaster exists in Albania due to the inability of the Government of Albania to fully respond to the humanitarian needs of the more than 293,000 refugees who have arrived in the country since March 1998. This declaration opens official channels for USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance to use international disaster relief funds. USAID/OFDA deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to Albania on March 31, which arrived in Tirana on April 2. The DART is meeting with UNHCR, NGOs and the Government of Albania to participate in coordination of response efforts, and four members of the team have travelled to Kukes to assess the humanitarian situation. The mission of the DART is to advise the U.S. Ambassador on humanitarian issues, assess and report on the humanitarian situation and response, support the efforts of UNHCR, WFP, and NGOs working in the region, and to consult with NATO. The DART consists of a team leader, deputy team leader/program officer, information officer, military liaison officer, communications officer, food officer, and an administrative officer. A Department of State Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM) refugee officer will also be joining the team. USAID/OFDA has shipped 700 tents, housing 8 persons each, and 19,600 5-gallon plastic water jugs, which have now arrived in Tirana, amounting to $257,800, including transport. USAID/OFDA has also redirected some NGO funding from Kosovo for the distribution of 15,000 sets of children's winter clothing in northern Albania. The Department of Defense has shipped 500,000 humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) to Albania, and a U.S. Air Force plane arrived in Tirana on April 4 with 17,000 meals-ready-to-eat (MREs), three pallets of water containers, and high protein biscuits. The NGO, International Medical Corps, is operating ten mobile clinics in northern Albania with State/PRM funding. These clinics treated 60,000 refugees in the past week. MONTENEGRO Numbers Affected: Montenegro currently hosts some 60,000 displaced persons from Kosovo, UNHCR estimates. Humanitarian Needs and International Response: The NGOs Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Mercy Corps International (MCI) are working with WFP and the Montenegrin Red Cross to do an emergency distribution of food to displaced persons newly arrived in Montenegro. An estimated 46,000 displaced persons reportedly are receiving regular food assistance through the Montenegrin Red Cross, MCI, and CRS. U.S. Government Response: The USG is developing contingency plans to respond to the humanitarian needs in Montenegro. REGION-WIDE ASSISTANCE PLANS International Response: On April 4, NATO hosted a coordination meeting for all humanitarian agencies at NATO headquarters to bring civil and military components of the relief effort together. UNHCR has asked NATO to provide personnel and logistical support for humanitarian operations. UNHCR reports that an Air Operations Cell has been set up at its Geneva headquarters to coordinate humanitarian airlifts in the region. The cell will coordinate with NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Relief Coordination Center for logistical support and to clear all humanitarian flights into military airspace in the Balkans. The humanitarian airbridge is supporting the delivery of relief supplies. The U.S. military has made over 20 flights to the region as of April 7. UNHCR has been drawing up contingency plans to respond to the non-food needs of up to 350,000 refugees in the region. Now that this number has been exceeded, UNHCR is planning for an additional 300,000 refugees. These plans assume no access to large stocks currently in Serbia and Montenegro. Based on the stocks of these non-food items available in region, UNHCR notes shortfalls of blankets, jerry cans, kitchen sets, stoves, hygiene parcels and mattresses. WFP is also revising their numbers for contingency planning to 900,000 (up from the U.N. estimate of 350,000) for 500,000 in Albania, 300,000 in Macedonia, and 100,000 in Montenegro. WFP has 21,000 MT of food in the region, and NGOs have another 10,000 MT of food, most of which is in Bar, Montenegro. Greece is also providing 154 MT of food to Albania and Macedonia. The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has requested 1 million humanitarian daily rations (HDRs) to respond to the food needs in the region. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, made an appeal for other countries to open up their borders to refugees from Kosovo, and on April 5, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced a joint humanitarian evacuation plan for Macedonia to move refugees to third countries. The Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees urged governments to see this as only one of two movements, the second of which would be a return of refugees to Kosovo. U.S. Government Response: The U.S. will be providing temporary refuge for 20,000 Kosovar Albanians at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The USAID Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) has sufficient P.L. 480 Title II food in the region to feed 500,000 people for three months. Title II food makes up part of the WFP and NGO stocks. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be shipping 5000 MT of wheat flour to the region in April. USAID/FFP is using the figure of 1 million refugees and displaced as a contingency planning figure, and will be working with WFP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and NGOs to ensure that sufficient food resources are identified and made available as soon as possible. USAID/BHR Director Hugh Parmer is travelling to Macedonia on April 8 and continuing on to Albania shortly thereafter. He will be bringing 50 MT of high protein biscuits for both Albania and Macedonia, 25 MT for each country. BREAKDOWN OF USG ASSISTANCE TO DATE U.S. Government Assistance committed to the Kosovo crisis to date (estimated) $150,060,163 USAID/BHR Assistance $49,426,163 BHR/OFDA $19,772,863 BHR/FFP $28,553,300 BHR/OTI $1,100,000 State/PRM $74,742,000 DOD $25,892,000 PUBLIC DONATION INFORMATION FOR THE KOSOVO CRISIS Disasters often generate an outpouring of interest and concern by the American people which lead to spontaneous collections of relief supplies, i.e. food, clothing, medical supplies, etc. In the interest of effective coordination of such public response, we encourage concerned citizens to provide monetary donations to appropriate organizations. USAID does not recommend in-kind donations of clothing, food, medicines, or other goods as the handling, storage, and transport of these materials from the U.S. to the Balkans would be extremely complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. This can also detract from the provision of more urgently needed relief assistance. USAID/OFDA cannot provide assistance for the transport of donated goods. USAID encourages the public to contact directly those private voluntary organizations (PVOs) which are currently working in Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to provide monetary donations. Financial contributions to PVOs will allow these professional aid organizations to purchase exactly what is most needed by the victims of the conflict in Kosovo and to pay for transport and other costs associated with the distribution of relief supplies. Cash contributions allow humanitarian agencies based in the Balkans to procure food, medicine, clothing, shelter materials, and other relief goods locally and regionally, thereby greatly speeding the delivery of this assistance to those most in need. A list of PVOs that can provide support to individuals affected by the Kosovo crisis may be obtained by contacting InterAction at 202- 667-8227, ext. 106 or via the internet at www.interaction.org. InterAction is a coalition of voluntary humanitarian and development organizations that work overseas. Those interested in providing specific technical relief services or commodities should contact Volunteers in Technical Assistance's (VITA) Disaster Information Center for information and guidelines (703) 276-1914. The conflict in Kosovo began in late February 1998. This figure reflects the amount of funding that has been given to Kosovo and the surrounding region affected by the conflict (through refugee flows) since that time. distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org appeal fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Kosovo: http://www.vita.org/disaster/kosovo.htm