Kosovo File

Sivanka Dhanapala, a research officer for the UNHCR at the Brazde camp, said there were rumours that middlemen were charging up to 1,500 German Marks 815 per person. In an interview with The Times of London, Dhanapala said the problem so far was believed to involve only a limited number of cases, but an investigation had been launched.

Over 1,00,000 refugees from the troubled Serbian province have sought shelter in makeshift camps near the Macedonian capital Skopje.

8220;It seems that a Kosovar Albanian refugee who has access to the camp and the tents is inserting names somewhere between the stages of selection and booking people on flights. 8220;This kind of corruption is inevitable in an operation this big where there are no photograph identity-cards,8221; hesaid.

The UNHCR official said middlemen were believed to be approaching refugees in camps asking for payment to register them for flights. They were also assisting refugees who arrived weeks or months ago and have been put with Macedonian families, and are trying to sneak back into the overcrowded camps because it is the only place to register for flights to Europe and the United States.

Refugees are chosen for humanitarian evacuation flights through a complex process of registration by teams of expatriate workers and Kosovar volunteers working for the UNHCR, International Organisation for Migration and the OSCE. Until three days ago, the workers used laptop computers in tents inside the Brazde camp, making it easier for refugees to gain access, said The Times. The operation has now been moved to temporary huts behind security fences.

KUKES, ALBANIA: Serb forces are using nerve gas against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the Kosovo Liberation Army KLA claimed Friday. quot;According to doctors onthe ground, KLA fighters have been affected, as have some civilians,quot; KLA spokesman Gani Sylaj told a press conference here. Two children died as a result, he added. Another KLA member, Shefki Abdullahu, said symptoms of the gas included sore eyes and throats. quot;The Serbs are engaging in genocide,quot; against the ethnic Albanina Kosovars, said Sylaj.

Calling on NATO to destroy the Serb quot;war machinequot;, the Kosovo rebels nonetheless claimed quot;successquot; against the Serb forces.

quot;We firmly believe that NATO will continue to bombard and totally destroy the Serb war machine. We also call for a lifting of the arms embargo on the KLA,quot; the spokesman said.

WASHINGTON: Yugoslav army and special paramilitary police units have massacred more than 4,600 Kosovar Albanians since early March and displaced some 1.5 million others, the US defence department said yesterday. Seven mass graves have been reported 8211; two of the sites confirmed pictorially and by refugees 8211; while more than 500 villages and towns bear evidenceof badly damaged and destroyed Albanian homes.

Some 100,000 Kosovar Albanian men of military age, meanwhile, remain missing.

8220;There is a long list of villages from which refugees have been pushed out and also where people have been executed,8221; Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said. 8220;This is all from information we have gathered from the state department, refugees and other sources over the couple of months.8221;

8220;We are still getting reports of atrocities occurring in Kosovo,8221; he added. 8220;We are also hearing reports that the Yugoslav army is mining a number of towns after having emptied them, making it difficult for refugees to return after the NATO campaign leads to the re-establishment of peace and stability in Kosovo.8221;