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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

• Serb forces continue an all-out campaign against ethnic Albanian citizens throughout most of Kosovo, causing massive internal displacement and flows of refugees into neighboring countries. The exodus continued throughout yesterday with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reporting 36,000 new arrivals over the last 24 hours. Border crossings in Macedonia have doubled as two more trains crammed with refugees rounded up by the Serbs in Pristina arrived at the border. More than 169,000 people have fled Kosovo into neighboring countries during the last week, bringing the total of refugees and internally displaced to almost 629,000 since March 1998 (see attached chart).

• President Clinton authorized an additional $50 million yesterday to help address the urgent humanitarian needs of Kosovo Albanian refugees. $25 million will be disbursed to UNHCR and other relief organizations working in the region. The other $25 million will comprised of supplies and services from the Department of Defense including shelter materials and food. This brings the total USG contributions for humanitarian assistance to $141 million for the region since the crisis began in early 1998. The U.S. is also providing in-kind assistance (see attached charts).

• State Department Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Julia Taft is leading a comprehensive USG interagency response to the humanitarian crisis. She will participate in a UNHCR-chaired meeting in Geneva on April 6 to assess and coordinate humanitarian assistance. More than 50 countries and 30 UN, international and non-governmental organizations have been invited.

• A second Disaster Assistance Response Team of State Department and USAID officials is arriving today in Albania to assess the emergency response plans and requirements to meet the urgent humanitarian needs. There is already a team in Macedonia.

• 700 tents provided by USAID's Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance arrived in Albania yesterday.

• UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mrs. Ogata will visit Italy, Albania and Macedonia April 7-9.

• The EU Presidency (Germany) is holding a meeting today in Bonn to discuss coordination of relief efforts.

• Other donor countries are mobilizing financial and in-kind assistance.

• UNHCR reports that, together with the Government of Albania, it has moved over 50 percent of the refugees who had crossed into Albania further south into the country away from the congested border areas.

Serb offensives in late December caused displacements of several thousand people. These displacements continued in January, and February. Following the beginning of the Rambouillet talks in late February, there were further new displacements. The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate due to ongoing clashes between Government security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army. The displacement of people was accompanied by the burning of villages and the destruction of means of livelihood. Following the breakdown of the talks and the withdrawal of the Organization for Security and Cooperation Kosovo Verification Mission on March 20, conflict between the two sides intensified. By the time NATO airstrikes began on March 24, tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians were already fleeing heavy fighting throughout Kosovo.

• The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Serb forces have dramatically increased the tempo of their attacks against ethnic Albanian citizens and destruction of their homes and workplaces throughout most of Kosovo.
• According to latest estimates, over 169,000 Kosovo Albanians have become refugees or displaced over the last week. 100,000 people have crossed into Albania, 30,000 into Montenegro, and 31,500 into Macedonia, bringing the total number of refugees and displaced to almost 629,000. During initial flows, the majority were women, children, and the elderly but UNHCR now reports it is seeing mostly families crossing. The number of internally displaced in the Kosovo countryside is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands. It is not possible to verify these numbers at this time.

• State Department Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Julia Taft is leading a comprehensive USG interagency response to the humanitarian crisis. Since the crisis began in early 1998, the United States has committed $141 million in humanitarian assistance for the region as well as in-kind assistance.

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• The USG is working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other relief organizations to increase their capacity to respond to the crisis. The U.S. participated in a UNHCR-chaired emergency meeting of Geneva-based representatives of the major donor countries March 30 to discuss assistance needs. We are also in close contact with other countries to coordinate assistance efforts.

• The international relief effort is up and running as contingency planning is being put into action. UNHCR, the lead international refugee agency, has begun emergency relief operations in addition to its present region-wide programs and is coordinating operations to provide assistance to the refugees in the countries in the region. UNHCR has identified priority needs as shelter, transport and medical assistance. The World Food Program has pre-positioned food in Albania adequate to support up to 100,000 persons for one month. The U.S., through the Food for Peace Program, and other donors are directing further shipments to Albania and Macedonia on an urgent basis. Other international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and non-governmental organizations are also engaged in the relief effort.