ALBANIA: KOSOVO CRISIS: NATO TROOPS BUILD NEW CAMP

(3 May 1999) English/Nat

American NATO troops are working on a new refugee camp in Fier, Albania.

The camp will open on the 12th of May and will accommodate two-and-a-half thousand refugees.

NATO hopes to raise the capacity to 20-thousand by the beginning of June.

Meanwhile NATO, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (U-N-H-C-R) and the Albanian government have announced a joint effort on how to deal with the thousands of refugees in Albania.

American NATO troops are working on a new refugee camp in Fier, Albania.

The camp will open on the 12th of May and will accommodate two-and-a-half thousand refugees.

NATO hopes to raise the capacity to 20-thousand by the beginning of June.

This camp is one of the many being set up to help find accommodation for the estimated 100-thousand refugees who are continuing to pour into Albania.

Meanwhile, NATO, the U-N-H-C-R and the Albanian government have held a joint press conference in Tirana on how they're dealing with the refugee crisis.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"UNHCR and NATO are both here working with the Albanians to resolve the urgent refugee situation we have here."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant General John Reth, Allied Harbour, NATO

The three parties involved are making a combined effort to help ease the situation.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"At the moment our intention is to provide 100-thousand places, although clearly with further influxes coming into the country the figure could grow."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant General John Reth, Allied Harbour, NATO

Over the weekend about 21-thousand refugees arrived in Albania and 15-thousand in Macedonia as the exodus from Kosovo continued.

New camps are needed immediately.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have just begun breaking ground on the camp this past week. We will build it up in increments starting with an increment of 2,500 and we project a figure of twenty thousand people by the 1st of June."
SUPER CAPTION: Major General Bill Hinton, Operation Shining Hope

In addition to organising camps and humanitarian aid for the refugees already in Albania, NATO, the U-N-H-C-R and Albanian authorities are drawing up plans to move refugees from camps in Kukes which could be vulnerable to Serb aggression.

They are also preparing for new waves of refugees coming from Macedonia and Montenegro.

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