SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND ALBANIA, 19 - 20 MAY
Press Release
SG/T/2181
SECRETARY-GENERAL VISITS FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA AND ALBANIA, 19 - 20 MAY
19990521 The Secretary-General arrived in Skopje, capital of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, on the morning of Wednesday, 19 May. He met first with Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, who was accompanied by the Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister and the Interior Minister. They discussed current efforts to provide for the 228,000 refugees in the country, the economic and social impact of the crisis, and how the international community can help.He then met with representatives of United Nations agencies and non- governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the country. He informed them that the Government had agreed to rent the former headquarters premises of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -- the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force (UNPREDEP) -- so that United Nations agencies could base themselves there, facilitating communication and cooperation. He acknowledged some criticisms of United Nations performance and urged all to work together for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The NGO representatives pledged to continue to follow the lead of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and welcomed the appointment of Martin Griffiths to coordinate broader and longer-term planning. They specifically agreed to coordinate data management under Mr. Griffiths.
The Secretary-General then visited the refugee camp known as Stenkovec I in Brazda, just outside Skopje. He spoke to refugees and answered a few questions from the press. He told journalists that the Government had reassured him they would keep their borders open and that they had 20,000 to 30,000 new places for additional refugees, should they arrive. "We hope that will not happen", he said. From Stenkovec, he drove to the official border crossing from Kosovo at Blace, where nearly 4,000 refugees had crossed over in the previous two days. Here, he and his wife Nane were able to have more leisurely exchanges with the refugees in the absence of the press. They spoke to a 100 year-old woman and with the mother of a one day-old child born in the woods the day before.
Upon return to Skopje, he held a meeting at 5 p.m. with President Kiro Gligorov, after which both men met with the press; Mr. Annan also gave a press conference in Skopje at 6:15 p.m.
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The following morning, he flew to Tirana, Albania. Upon arrival, he was met by President Rexhep Meidani. At the airport, he met with United Nations agency representatives and NGOs working in Albania. He thanked the President and the Albanian people for opening their borders and their homes to ethnic Albanians from Kosovo and praised the cooperation between the United Nations agencies and what he called "our solid partners, the NGOs".
He then flew by helicopter, accompanied by President Meidani, to the Kosovo border to the town of Kukes. He was briefed there by UNHCR field staff before proceeding by car to the refugee camp known as Kukes II, which lies in the shadow of a huge ridge dividing Albania from the Kosovo province of Serbia. He visited a family in their tent and spoke with others in a tented infirmary, including a young mother who said she had been shot in the leg by a Serb sniper while carrying her child over the mountains into Albania. After visiting a second camp run by the NGO Médecins sans frontière, he met with the press. "Again today", he said, "I have heard heartbreaking stories about Kosovo. I have seen people uprooted from their homes who are anxious to go back again. We are all doing our best to get them home before the winter."
When he returned to Tirana, he met with the President and members of his cabinet at the Presidential Palace. They discussed the prospects for return, the problems of winterization of the camps later this year, and the current efforts to find a peaceful settlement. The Secretary-General expressed the hope that refugees could return home before winter so that winterization could be carried out in Kosovo itself, rather than on this side of the border.
He then met with the speaker of the Parliament, Skender Gjinushi, and other parliamentarians for a frank review of the political and humanitarian aspects of the Kosovo conflict. His last official meeting was with Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko and with other ministers for an in-depth discussion of the political approaches to a solution in Kosovo.
He returned to Amsterdam on a private plane provided by the Dutch Government. He was due to proceed to Sweden for a few days' rest and then begin an official visit there on Tuesday morning, 25 May.
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