Report: 400,000 homeless Kosovars hiding in province

April 11, 1999
Web posted at: 12:51 p.m. EDT (1651 GMT)

In this story: Aid official cites atrocities 'A strong desire to go home' RELATED STORIES, SITES

LONDON (CNN) -- As international relief efforts improve conditions for refugees who have fled Kosovo, reports came Sunday that hundreds of thousands of other homeless ethnic Albanians were hiding in the Serbian province.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said that the Kosovo Liberation Army reported as many as 400,000 ethnic Albanians may be camped in the mountains and forests "and the weather is currently against them. It is snowing today in western Kosovo."

Cook, citing an official of the ethnic Albanian KLA, said the refugees are hiding from Serb-led Yugoslav forces "who would otherwise kill or deport them."

Hashim Thaci, the political representative of the KLA who is now in Kosovo, described the situation of the displaced Kosovars as "very serious," Cook said.

"In his words, they lack the basic elements of life and are particularly short of food," Cook said.

In addition to those displaced within Kosovo, estimates for the number of people who have left the province now top 500,000. Many of those who make it to neighboring Macedonia and Albania are bringing with them stories of violence in Kosovo.

A top humanitarian official said there was "no question" that atrocities, including mass rape and killings, were being committed in Kosovo by Serb forces.

Brian Atwood, the U.S. coordinator for Kosovo relief, said one reason Yugoslavia closed off its borders earlier this week was to prevent more stories of atrocities leaking into the international media.

Another reason was to use the ethnic Albanians massed at the border as shields against NATO missiles, he added.

"There is no question that people that have been driven back into the country are being used as human shields," Atwood said. "We have seen evidence of tank columns moving along the road, with refugees walking on both sides of the tanks, so there is no question they are being used for human shields."

Vladislav Jovanovic, the Yugoslav charge d'affaires at the United Nations, vehemently denied those reports Saturday.

"It is totally one slanderous accusation that we have to do anything with that," Jovanovic said. "We are not at all turned against our people."

NATO governments have warned that any evidence of war crimes will be turned over to an international tribunal.

More than 29 countries are contributing to the Kosovo refugee relief efforts, according to NATO.

Aid has poured in from 29 countries to help improve conditions at the refugee camps

Karen Robbins, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-based humanitarian relief group CARE, said conditions have improved greatly from the "absolutely abysmal" scenes early in the Kosovo refugee crisis.

"We are in the process of getting (the refugees) registered, getting them adequate shelter in tents and other housing and making sure they can be reunited with their families," Robbins said.

Families in Albania and Macedonia have offered temporary shelter to some of the refugees, as have several NATO countries. But most of the Kosovars do not want to resettle in other nations, Robbins said.

"Pretty much all of them expressed a strong desire to go home when it is safe to do so," she said.

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