Refugees Running Out of Space as Ranks Increase

The crisis at crowded refugee camps reached a dangerous level Tuesday as U.N. officials declared that they could no longer provide adequate shelter for those fleeing to Macedonia.

With an additional 4,000 ethnic Albanians streaming into the country from Kosovo on Tuesday, hundreds of new arrivals were forced to sleep in the open inside the camps, with only plastic sheets for cover. Relief workers predicted a public health crisis within a day.

U.N. officials, clearly angry and frustrated, accused the Macedonian government of blocking new camp construction and criticized European nations for failing to move quickly to resettle refugees as promised.

“We are really in trouble,” said Paula Ghedini, a spokeswoman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. “We have tents, we have food. What we don’t have is space. . . . It’s getting completely out of control here.”

The crowding led to a tense standoff between U.N. officials and Macedonian police at a gas station near the town of Vaksince in the Kumanovo region as more than 1,000 refugees gathered on one side of the station while relatives and villagers massed on the other side.

U.N. officials pleaded with police and army units to allow the refugees to stay with local families. The authorities refused, however, saying the refugees had to be bused to the already strained camps.

The standoff ended almost comically an hour later when the refugees began dashing madly toward their relatives, who hid the ethnic Albanians in nearby barns or transported them away on chugging tractors. Police were helpless in the face of the onslaught, failing to stop even elderly women who scuttled past officers’ outstretched arms.

In Brazda, meanwhile, several refugees who had come from the Blace border camps were settling down Tuesday evening for a night beneath cloudy skies. Few said they minded the spartan bivouac after weeks on the run.

“At least we’re not afraid,” said Muse Vitija, 37, an accountant from Lipljan. “They tell us that they don’t have tents for us, but that’s OK. We’re satisfied with this.”

Some of those arriving Tuesday reported new abuses in Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia. U.N. officials said several women from the village of Norc told of being forced to strip in front of fellow villagers as Serbian soldiers taunted them.

One man from a village near the Serbian town of Presevo said Serbs hacked his ear off three weeks ago after he endured 20 hours of beating.

“They were beasts,” said Njazi Bajrami, 28. His left ear was wrapped in a white bandage blackened with what appeared to be dried blood. “They cut my ear off with a knife. They cut slowly.”

Other men said they fled because the Yugoslav military began issuing draft notices to ethnic Albanians on Monday. Several men had green cards that exhorted them to do their “heroic duty” by defending Yugoslavia.

“They want us to kill our own people. I could not do that,” said Zijush Ahmet, a 27-year-old student who trembled as he spoke.

At the same time that the tent camps overflowed, so did the homes of Macedonian citizens who are ethnic Albanians. They have welcomed more than 70,000 refugees into their dwellings so far.

“It’s a tragedy. We have nowhere to put people any more,” said Fatmir Tresi, who is coordinating settlement of refugees for the local El Hilal charity in the region around Tetovo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian city.

About 500 people, including many children and babies, were spending the second night in a hall that is usually rented out for weddings. There was not enough room for everyone to stretch out. Many were sitting with their heads on tables, trying to rest.

U.N. officials said Macedonia and other European countries have contributed to the crowding crisis. The United Nations asked the Macedonian government to provide sites for three more refugee camps but was granted only one.

Macedonian officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in the past, they have accused the U.N. of failing to provide needed funds and equipment.

U.N. officials also urged faster resettlement of refugees. European countries and the U.S. have pledged to take a total of 85,000 refugees. Only 21,000 have been accepted so far, none in the U.S.

European officials said they are moving quickly, pointing to the nearly 1,900 refugees scheduled to be evacuated today as proof.