MACEDONIA: KOSOVO: REFUGEES CROSS BORDER - UPDATE

(15 May 1999) Eng/Albanian/Nat In the largest influx of Kosovar refugees in two weeks, three-hundred people on Saturday poured across the border at Blace, in northern Macedonia. They came from Urosevac in Kosovo. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the border from Urosevac to Blace was closed on May 5 turning back more than one-thousand refugees. If the border remains open, U-N-H-C-R officials expect another deluge of refugees from Kosovo within the next few days. The first trickle of Kosovan refugees crossed to border from Urosevac, Kosovo to Blace. Red Cross officials were present at the Macedonian border crossing, which has seen little activity in recent days. More refugees are expected. Many refugees said they were forced out of villages a month ago, since then they have been wondering around trying to find shelter. They did not try to cross the border because they were told it was closed. The current influx of refugees - from Prizren and Urosevac - boarded a train in Urosevac early Saturday morning. Their main reason for leaving Kosovo is resultant of severe food shortages. Kosovans reported some Serbian food shops open selling bread and sugar however, they were not allowed access. SOUNDBITE (Albanian): Q - "Where did you come from?" A - "We took the train from Urosevac" SUPER CAPTION:VOXPOP, Refugee Refugees have also reported having money and valuables stolen from them throughout their journey - many arriving with just the clothes on their back. U-N-H-C-R spokesman Ron Redmont says he's prepared for the thousands of refugees expected over the next few days if the border remains open. SOUNDBITE (English): "There's a crowd of about three hundred people here and they all say they got on a train in Urosevac, just north of here about six or seven o'clock this morning they said they went to the train because they said they heard and saw on satellite television that the border was once again open. They said for several days they'd been told the border was closed, there was no sense in trying to get out. These people estimate there are many more people up there who want to come out. They said as word spreads they expect that we're going to see more trains coming down here with even larger numbers of people" SUPER CAPTION: Ron Redmont, UNHCR spokesman More than 780-thousand ethnic Albanians have left Kosovo since NATO airstrikes began on March 24th. Kosovo had a prewar population of two million since NATO bombing aimed at forcing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to stop Serb repression. NATO is demanding a total withdrawal of Milosevic's forces from Kosovo and the return of the refugees, as well as the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...