(2 Jun 1999) Eng/Albanian/Nat
Border crossings in Macedonia that one week ago were flooded with refugees from Kosovo are now virtually empty.
Crossing points at Blace and Jazince have seen little activity in recent days compared to one week ago, when tens of thousands were coming across the border.
The U-N-H-C-R says refugees arriving have told of Serbs demanding documents from fleeing Kosovar Albanians, even though in recent weeks they were seizing and destroying the same such documents.
Many of the refugees making it across now are avoiding border check points and refugee camps and are instead finding shelter in the homes of local families.
Only a few ethnic Albanians have been crossing into Macedonia this week.
Less than three-thousand-500 have come through in the last six days - a number that last week would have been low for a single day's arrivals.
In the space of four days from Saturday to Tuesday, this border saw around three- thousand refugees pour through.
This week, the refugees say Serb authorities are insisting Kosovar Albanians present the necessary documentation before they are allowed to leave.
At the same time, they say Serbs have confiscated and destroyed thousands of ethnic Albanian identification documents, thus leaving them paperless and now unable to flee.
Ron Redmond, a U-N-H-C-R spokesman, said the situation is causing his and other aid agencies grave concern.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Serb authorities on the other side demanding passports and other documentation from people. And this is also quite a switch as well, and very difficult to understand, because people a month ago and in the intervening weeks have been reporting constantly that Serb authorities have been destroying their documentation and confiscating their documentation. Now all of a sudden they've become sticklers for paper work, they want passports and other documents but a lot of people don't have them. So the only people that we're seeing coming across are those with passports. The rest of them are still back there and we know that there are thousands, tens of thousands of people living in very very difficult situation. No food, no medical care, they say the security situation is bad. So, we're quite concerned about what's happening to those tens of thousands of people on the other side because we know that they are going hungry. You can see them coming across daily here. Their physical condition is deteriorating by the day."
SUPER CAPTION: Ron Redmond, UNHCR Spokesman
Some groups of aid workers in the area sat around idle, a dramatic change from a week ago when they could hardly handle the influx.
At Jazince, another major border crossing for the refugees in recent weeks 40 kilometres from Skopje, the checkpoint stood virtually empty on Wednesday.
Many refugees now sneaking across the border without papers are avoiding border check points and finding their way to villages where friendly locals will take them in.
In nearby villages like Odhri, groups of up to a dozen refugees are finding shelter in local families' homes.
They have chosen to crowd on the floor of a local house rather than to face the overcrowded refugee camps.
Many refugees now managing to get into Macedonia are crossing illegally across mountains.
The mountain are often littered with minefields, making the crossings extremely treacherous.
One female refugee, who refused to give her name, said her group arrived exhausted after a difficult journey.
SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
SUPER CAPTION: woman refugee
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