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----- Original Message -----
From: Miroslav Antic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: SN455:Displaced Serbs From Kosovo Face Humanitarian
Crisis > > RADINAC, Dec 13, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) There has been no heating at > the Radinac collective center for two weeks and hepatitis has broken out, > but it is the only home some 800 Kosovo Serbs, among them 70 babies, will > have this winter. > > "We have had no heating for 15 days," said Zvonko Jezdic, who has fled his > hometown Vucitrn in central Kosovo to this center in southeast Serbia. > > "Just fifteen days ahead of the new millennium, we are like Indians in the > time of the Wild West: a metal can filled with wood burning outside to warm > us up," he complained. > > The Serbs have lived here since fleeing Kosovo in 1999. They are among more > than 200,000 who left their homes fearing violence by the ethnic Albanian > majority after Belgrade forces withdrew from the province and NATO-led > peacekeepers from KFOR were deployed. > > The center is made up of about 50 barracks -- it was once a temporary camp > for workers building the nearby steel-producing complex. > > "These barracks were not built for people to live in during winter, Jezdic > explained, showing the interior of his frozen room. > > Outside, the children are playing in the mud. A hepatitis epidemic was > declared in the camp weeks ago. > > "Breakfast and dinner are almost non-existent, while for lunch, one can > choose between cabbage or bean soup," Jezdic said during his meeting with > the European commissioner for humanitarian affairs and development Poul > Nielson, who visited the center with numerous other officials. > > "We have 70 babies in the center who have not seen milk in six months, our > 160 pupils are divided in two classes, while the elderly people desperately > need medicines," Jezdic said, pleading for more humanitarian aid. > > Branislav Tasic, from the southern Kosovo town Urosevac, demanded that > Nielson do his best to help Serbs return to the province, which is currently > administered by the United Nations. > > "We all want to return to Kosovo, there is no future for us here," he said. > > Nielson promised European Union help in bringing Kosovo Serbs and Albanians > together, adding that he "understands the frustration among the refugees." > > "We want, above all, to avoid here the situation of the Palestinians in the > Middle East, who live as refugees for generations," Nielson said. > > He insisted that the "number of refugees and displaced people (in Serbia) > represents a sort of humanitarian crisis... neglecting these people could > again destabilize the region." > > "But before they return (to Kosovo) we have to help them with continued > humanitarian assistance," Nielson said. > > Apart from the Kosovo Serbs, more than 500,000 refugees from Bosnia and > Croatia still live in Serbia, most of them in trying conditions. > |
