Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told In all, 1,111 refugee interviews were conducted in Albania and 1,653 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The body of a Kosovo Albanian man previously reported missing and found by the police, who informed the OSCE-KVM [zoom] The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - human rights field operation. OSCE-KVM was based in Lake Ohrid when the Human Rights Division began to interview refugees at the end of March. When the original operation was set up it was impossible to foresee the eventual number of refugees who would cross into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania over the coming two-and-a-half months. The first human rights teams interviewed refugees in Tetovo, Gostivar and at the border crossing points near Blace (FRY: Djeneral Jankovic) and Jazince (FRY: Globocica), often speaking to them only a few hours after their arrival. In response to the massive inflow of refugees, camps were set up near the border at Blace, on the way to Skopje (Stenkovac, Brazda) and near the FRY border (Radusa), and between Skopje and Tetovo (Bojane). At the end of April, with thousands of the refugees pouring into the country, pressure mounted to set up additional camps in the mainly Albanian-speaking areas of Gostivar and Tetovo. Between Tetovo and the Jazince border, the Neprosteno camp was erected, and the largest camp, with a capacity of up to 50,000, was built in early May near Gostivar, Cegrane. The majority of refugees in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, however, found shelter with Albanian-speaking host families, in areas of Skopje, Tetovo, Gostivar and Struga. The OSCE Human Rights Division established an office in Skopje, from where the refugees in Skopje area camps were contacted and interviewed. Another field office covering the Tetovo and Gostivar areas was established to cover the thousands of refugees who were accommodated by host families in those areas. OSCE human rights officers co-ordinated their interviewing with local NGOs such as El Hilal and the Mother Teresa Society, which were assisting the host families. By mid-April, OSCE human rights teams operated from three bases in Macedonia: Ohrid, Skopje and Gostivar, and thereby covered all the municipalities where refugees were located. Albania. Shortly after events escalated in Kosovo at the end of March 1999, vast numbers of refugees started pouring across the border into Albania. The government of Albania estimated that as many as 36 135,000 refugees crossed the border at the beginning of April. As a response, the OSCE Permanent Council on 1 April 1999 authorized the use of OSCE-KVM resources to "help alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in Albania". From this decision a task force of 75 persons was generated. The OSCE-KVM Refugee Task Force (Albania) or RTF, deployed on 2 April 1999 to Tirana and worked closely with the OSCE presence in Albania to assist in the humanitarian crisis. Three days later the RTF had deployed teams to all 12 prefectures in Albania. The RTF operated as an action-oriented grouping aimed at achieving quick results in a situation of crisis. The RTF continued the human rights mandate of the OSCE-KVM by gathering information and monitoring the human rights situation in Kosovo through refugee interviews. 37 http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch2.htm (10 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:40 AM