"MINES : A THREAT (MENACE) AGAINST REFUGEES IN KOSOVO".

"MINES : A THREAT (MENACE) AGAINST REFUGEES IN KOSOVO".

The text of the press release stated, inter alia, that "HI staff in Albania have had direct testimonies from refugees that after some refugees had been forced on the trains to be sent out of the country, others (who resisted getting on the trains) were forced to move toward the minefields. There has been no confirmation yet of any victims linked to this practice.

However the Macedonian Ministry of Defense and UN rep in Skopje have recently confirmed that new mines are being laid on the Kosovo and Albanian borders. Last August, a UN mission to Kosovo also confirmed reports from the ICRC and NGOs that Serb forces were using mines particularly in the Junik region and that there had been civilian casualties. etc. etc........The Director of HI's demining programs will be going on a 15 day mission to Albania in order to try and assess the extent of the risk from mines in the region."

(Contact HI for further information).

ALSO:

NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS :

28 March 99 : page 12 re two advanced MIG-29 Yugoslav planes being shot down by NATO F-15's in Bosnia on Friday : "The wreckage of one lies in a minefield in a sector of Bosnia patrolled by Russian troops."

1 April 99 : in an article on refuges - Photo showed refugees walking along a rail line and the caption said, "Ethnic Albanians from Kosovo said yesterday that they were herded onto a train at gunpoint by Serbian forces, then forced out at the Macedonian border. Many walked between the tracks because they feared land mines."