It is no way they can wait into the winter, so the entire crisis must be "resolved" by July-August at the latest...
Macedonia president wants
to move 100,000 Kosovans
09:56 a.m. May 17, 1999 Eastern
SKOPJE, May 17 (Reuters) -
Macedonian President Kiro
Gligorov said on Monday up to
100,000 Kosovo refugees should
be moved out of his country.
''It is important for the international
community to take refugees out --
100,000 refugees,'' Gligorov said
during a visit to the Bojane refugee
camp.
Macedonia, a small impoverished
former Yugoslav republic of 2.2
million people, has campaigned
hard to reduce the number of
refugees it is sheltering, now
estimated at 230,000.
It says it cannot cope with the
burden economically and the West
has to do more to help. It also says
that the influx threatens political
stability.
Under Macedonia's pressure,
nearly 50,000 people have been
taken to third countries, but
Gligorov said it was not enough.
''It is being done every day but so
far we are far away from the
numbers we agreed upon a month
ago,'' he said.
Macedonia has been in talks with
Albania -- which has over 430,000
refugees but says it will take in as
many as is needed -- to accept up
to 60,000.
A camp for 6,000 is ready in
Albania but the UNHCR refugee
agency, which says no one should
go against his will, has so far
transferred only a handful of
Kosovans there.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |
