ALBANIA/KOSOVO BORDER: REFUGEE CRISIS LATEST
(30 Apr 1999) Farsi/Nat Ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo are continuing to pour into Albania, and border officials and aid agencies are bracing themselves for thousands more in the next few hours. More than 370-thousand refugees from Kosovo have swollen the population of Europe's poorest country by more than 15 percent. And now the ethnic Albanian minority in Montenegro has also started heading towards Albania, fearing the effects of continuing air strikes against Yugoslav troops in the country. In cars and wagons or on foot, thousands of refugees streamed out of Kosovo on Friday in what appeared to be the start of a Serb campaign to remove ethnic Albanians from the major southwestern city of Prizren. Prizren is the largest city near the stretch of Kosovo that borders Albania. Entire families lugging suitcases and handbags, stuffed with the few clothes they managed to grab, walked the final six kilometres (four miles) after fighting to board buses at the Prizren station on Friday morning. Many of the refugees said Serb forces, mostly policemen with megaphones, ordered them to leave after dawn. Others said they decided to flee what they called a deteriorating situation, with people afraid to leave their homes for weeks due to Serb threats. Witnesses said half the village left for Albania on Friday. They described chaotic scenes at the Prizren bus station, with hundreds of people jostling to get on buses heading towards the border. SOUNDBITE: (English) "There were a lot of people. They told us that we had to leave for Albania. They are looking for any refugees that are in Prizren and they are expelling them (out)." SUPER CAPTION: Sikina Mlavda, refugee Montenegro's ethnic Albanian population has also started crossing into Albania, as the situation in their home country becomes more volatile. Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation is edging closer to civil unrest after its pro-Serbian party walked out of talks with the Western-oriented government aimed at preserving peace. On Thursday a group of refugees crossed the border on foot, many of avoiding the official Montenegro-Albania border crossing of Shkoder. Shkoder is manned by Yugoslav army troops, whose observation points surround the area. Many said they were leaving their villages because of fighting between NATO planes and Yugoslav troops on the ground. SOUNDBITE: (Albanian) " I left my village. Everyone is leaving village after village they are all leaving." SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, 76-year old ethnic Albanian Montenegran refugee NATO strikes against Yugoslav army targets in Montenegro are increasing. On Thursday, in the heaviest bombardment since the air war began, a military airport was badly damaged and the first Montenegran civilian was killed. More than 630-thousand refugees have poured out of Kosovo since NATO airstrikes began. Albania has taken in over half this number and its camps are now at bursting point. In the capital Tirana, aid officials said seven new camps may be set up to cope with an influx that threatens to overwhelm the hastily-arranged facilities already in place. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
