FYR of Macedonia: flow of refugees to Kosovo dwindles to a trickle

Briefing notes

FYR of Macedonia: flow of refugees to Kosovo dwindles to a trickle

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Kris Janowski – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

19 June 2001

The flow of refugees from Macedonia to Kosovo has dwindled to a trickle, with just over 500 persons arriving in Kosovo on Monday. The arrivals started to decrease last Friday when an estimated 1,600 persons arrived at the main border crossing from Macedonia to Kosovo at Blace, down from over 2,000 the day before.

The arrivals from Macedonia in southern Serbia have also gone down dramatically with few new arrivals reported this week. Some of the refugees arriving in Blace said the drop in the number of those leaving was linked to the most recent cease-fire.

A total of 48,000 people have fled from Macedonia to Kosovo since last February with 39,000 arriving since the fighting resumed at the beginning of May. The remaining 9,000 are people who fled during the first outbreak in hostilities last March and have remained in Kosovo since then.