ALBANIA: AID ORGANISATIONS APPEAL TO KLA NOT TO RECRUIT FROM ALBANIAN REFUGEES DEPORTED FROM YUGOSLAVIA AFTER A MONTH IN PRISON

Record ID: 565806

  • Title: ALBANIA: AID ORGANISATIONS APPEAL TO KLA NOT TO RECRUIT FROM ALBANIAN REFUGEES DEPORTED FROM YUGOSLAVIA AFTER A MONTH IN PRISON
  • Date: 23rd May 1999
  • Summary: KUKES, ALBANIA (MAY 23, 1999) (REUTERS ) 1. WIDE OF MOUNTAINS ABOVE KUKES, WITH TENT WHERE REFUGEES HELD AND MEN MILLING AROUND 0.05 2. SV OF MEN LINING UP AND BEING REGISTERED BY UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) 0.08 3. SV REFUGEES REGISTERING WITH UNHCR OFFICAL (2 SHOTS) 0.18 4. SV KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY MEMBERS (KLA) SPEAKING WITH REFUGEES (6 SHOTS) 0.48 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) UNHCR SPOKESMAN RUPERT COLEVILLE SAYING:" I certainly hope that the KLA are not recruiting here. We talked to the KLA yesterday, they were here yesterday evening, we kept a very close watch on this camp all night, with international UN and local UN staff all night. We're also taking to the prefect, the local authorities and the Albanian police. Yesterday they were saying they just wanted some information about the other people in prison and things like that, so it may not be a sinister activity at all. But obviously for us its very worrying. We told them this is a humanitarian area -- please let the refugees relax let them recover, we will register them, we will try and reunite the families. We don't want to get this group, who are in such a bad state caught up into another problem." 1.42 6. SV KLA MEMBER WITH REFUGEES , REFUGEES TALKING (3 SHOTS) 1.56 7. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(ENGLISH) COLEVILLE: " This is the first group, anything like this that we've seen. We've seen some groups of men come out. But usually older ones in very small groups. The majority of refugees have been the other way -- if anything it's been women and children, and suddenly yesterday it's been 580-odd men came out and the majority of them were young men and its also the worst group physically that we've seen." 2.21 8. SV REFUGEES SEATED ON THE GROUND OF TENT 2.25 9. CU OF ALBANIAN REFUGEE MAN WITH GAUNT FACE 2.29 10. SV YOUNG ALBANIAN TEENAGER LYING ON FLOOR 2.33 11. SV GROUP OF ALBANIAN REFUGEE MEN AND TEENAGE BOYS 2.38 12. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(ALBANIAN) UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE TALKING ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES IN PRISON: "They hit us with sticks, with rubber sticks. They were very strong and they hit us on the face and body, all the parts of the body, especially on the genital." 2.52 13. SV ALBANIAN REFUGEES LYING AND SEATED ON GROUND 2.57 14. CU YOUNG MAN SMOKING 3.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KUKES, ALBANIA
  • Country: Albania
  • Reuters ID: LVAB7BCB41718UC4ZJROX5CJRHVH
  • Story Text: Humanitarian organisations working in Albania have
    appealed to the Kosovo Liberation Army not to attempt to
    recruit new members from the group of men who arrived over the
    border on Saturday after being held by the Yugoslav army as
    prisoners for a month.They say it would threaten the status
    of the town of Kukes as a humanitarian area.

    It wasn't just the United Nations' High Commission for
    Refugees (UNHCR) that was registering the first major batch of
    men to the released from Kosovo.Soldiers from the KLA were
    seen milling around the tent in central Kukes where the 580
    men are being housed until they can be moved to more permanent
    accomodation.

    The UNHCR has asked the Kosovo Liberation Army not to try
    and recruit the men.After a month spent in Yugoslav detention
    many of the refugees are in very poor health and need to
    rest.UNHCR officials are keen to preserve Kukes as a
    humanitarian zone and are unwilling to see that status
    threatened.

    Meanwhile, stories began to emerge of the ordeal the
    refugees went through following their capture by Yugoslav
    soldiers last month.They told consistent stories of beatings
    to the head, arms, legs and kidneys during their detention in
    a prison in Smrekonica.Food was scarce and when the refugees
    were finally released on Saturday, many thought they were
    being led to their death.


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