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Kosovo refugees ignore dangers to return home
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June 17, 1999
Web posted at: 4:21 p.m. EDT (2021 GMT)
In this story: KLA helps register returning refugees Kosovar finds his family's bones RELATED STORIES, SITES |
MORINA, Albania (CNN) -- Aid workers cautiously picked their way through war-torn Kosovo on Thursday as refugees poured across Yugoslavia's borders on their way to homes that may no longer be standing.
More than 28,000 ethnic Albanians have returned to Kosovo from Albania and Macedonia since Tuesday, said Ron Redmond, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A line of refugees stretching for six miles headed for the province on Thursday.
So many have headed home that a German relief agency in Kukes, Albania, near the Yugoslav border, began striking its tents at the refugee camp it ran during NATO's war against Yugoslavia.
All 7,000 of the camp's residents have left in the past few days, although not all have gone back to Kosovo. Some, heeding the warnings of NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers, have moved to other camps.
KFOR troops warned that land mines laid by Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army still posed dangers. The U.N. refugee agency said it found a booby trap at its office in Prizren.
"It would be helpful if they would give us a little bit of time to ensure that we have secured the area sufficiently that they can return to their homes safely," said Lt. Col. Robin Clifford, a KFOR spokesman.
"There have been some very unfortunate incidents over the past few days since this operation started, and there have been four deaths amongst the refugees returning, to my knowledge, caused by mine strikes," he said.
Meanwhile, unarmed KLA troops helped NATO soldiers register thousands of refugees returning to Kosovo from Albania. KLA members in civilian clothes helped German NATO troops at Morina on the Albanian side of the border with administrative work and pointed out potential troublemakers.
More than 860,000 Kosovars fled the Serbian province during the war; in addition, about half a million were displaced inside Kosovo in more than a year of ethnic strife between the majority-ethnic Albanian population and Serb authorities.
Redmond said many returning Kosovars will find that their homes have been leveled. Most of the houses in western Kosovo between Djakovica and Pec were destroyed, and the U.N. probably will have to provide tents for returning refugees, he added.
Discoveries of suspected mass graves and atrocities have made it difficult for some Kosovars to reclaim their homes and properties. Sites are being preserved until forensic specialists can examine them.
In the town of Cara Luka, Gani Krasniqi returned to find out what had happened to 26 members of his family who stayed behind during the 11 weeks of airstrikes. The house had been burned, there were bullet holes in the walls and bones on the ground.
He recognized some family members by their hair, others by their teeth. Hungry dogs had scattered much of the remains around the yard. But KLA officers told Krasniqi he couldn't bury the dead yet: They want the home treated as a crime scene, so investigators from the U.N. war crimes tribunal can document the killings.
In the last days of the war, that tribunal charged Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and four officials with war crimes.
About 50,000 Serbs, fearing reprisals from ethnic Albanians, have left Kosovo.
Correspondents Christiane Amanpour, Matthew Chance and Jeff Flock contributed to this report.
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Yugoslavia:
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
Kesovo and Metohija facts
Serbia Ministry of Information
Serbia Now! News
Kosovo:
Kosova Crisis Center
Kosovo - from Albanian.com
Military:
NATO official site
BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis
Resettlement Agencies Helping Kosovars in U.S.:
Church World Service
Episcopal Migration Ministries
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
Iowa Department of Human Services
International Rescue Committee
Immigration and Refugee Services of America
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
United States Catholic Conference
Relief:
World Relief
 Doctors without borders
 U.S. Agency for International Development (Kosovo aid)
 Doctors of the World
InterAction
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Committee of the Red Cross
Kosovo Humanitarian Disaster Forces Hundreds of Thousands from their Homes
Catholic Relief Services
Kosovo Relief
ReliefWeb: Home page
The Jewish Agency for Israel
Mercy International
UNHCR
Media:
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis
Other:
Expanded list of related sites on Kosovo
1997 view of Kosovo from space - Eurimage
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