Kosovo: 2nd addendum to UNHCR donor alert

Yesterday, in northern Albania, UNHCR counted just under 1,000 new arrivals at the Morina crossing (Kukes), while more than 5,000 were moved yesterday out of the Kukes region by UNHCR and Albanian government partners. The new arrivals came from Mitrovica. They said they had left the town on foot on 14 April after paramilitary troops shot dead a 14 year old girl and an old woman to make the people leave. From there they had an 8-day trek on foot, through Pec, Decani, Djakovica and Zrze. They stayed for 3 days in Zrze before walking on to Prizren and to the border. 3 refugees had bullet and shrapnel wounds. They reported that close to 5,000 displaced people had been staying in the village of Zrze (which is in Prizren municipality and has a normal population of just a few hundred) but had been forced to leave. They reported serious food shortages there.

Also during the day on Thursday around 1,500 refugees arrived at the border between Kosovo and the FYR of Macedonia, at the Blace crossing point, mainly by train. They were transported to camps. A small number of refugees crossed at the other points (Jazince, Tabanovce, Lojane) during the day.

Late on Thursday UNHCR finally got permission from the Ministry of the Interior in Skopje to bring relief supplies to the Kosovo refugees who had been stuck in the mountain village of Malina Mala, on the border with Kosovo. On arrival the UNHCR team found that most of the refugees had dispersed into nearby villages. Four truckloads of food and blankets were delivered to the refugees remaining in Malina Mala. An assessment mission to the village is planned for today. The new arrivals say they came via the village of Stupla where they say 25,000 displaced people are staying surrounded by Serbian troops.

The UN published yesterday the second "Addendum" to its Donor Alert for the Kosovo crisis. The initial appeal was published on April 1, asking for $70.8 million for all UN agencies, to benefit 350,000 refugees for the period April-June. The first addendum, published on 5 April, increased the amount requested to $138.4 million for 650,000 refugees. The second addendum brings the appeal amount to $264 million, of which $106 million for UNHCR, for 950,000 refugees - a planning figure - through the end of June.