the kosovo crisis

Interviews

Update From the Field
Interview with Marge Tsitouris
Director, the Emergency Group, CARE

Q: Can you give us a picture of CARE's role in caring for refugees?

A: Yes, I've just been traveling through Macedonia where CARE is working and also in Albania. I have now visited four different camps, three of which CARE is responsible for the management of those camps and another where we were successful in doing a child tracing. CARE is acting as "mayor" in these three camps. This includes taking care of the "city services" and organizing all of the things that happen in a city. The size of the two camps we are managing in Macedonia is about 20,000 people and that population has been growing rapidly. What we've seen is a situation where something like 2,000 people might come in a night. Think of it in terms of a city in the United States growing 7,000 to 8,000 to 11,000 to 13,000 in just three to four weeks. The whole situation is extremely complicated. We have to get families together and make sure that they have shelter, food, water, sanitation facilities, diapers for children, bread, oranges, shampoo and all of those kinds of things.

Q: What percentage of refugees is in camps managed by CARE?

A: In Macedonia and Albania it's somewhat similar in that 30-40% of the refugees are actually living with host families. That means they have relatives who live either in Albania or Macedonia or they are living with families who've decided they would take refugees in. The other 60% of the refugees are in camps.

Q: What do you still need in order to be effective?

A: I would say just about everything. As I was talking earlier, what we're doing is essentially setting up small cities. So the people need things like sites. The different army forces of NATO have been really good about clearing sites. This means clearing some land out, putting up some tents, and then the non-governmental organizations like CARE basically take over. That means providing all of the services that people need in order to live within a city. Making sure there are latrines, there are other kinds of sanitation facilities, making sure there is water that people can not only drink, but that they can wash their clothes in and things like that. Supplying essentially everything that people need down to a bucket to wash their clothes in, to shampoo to bread--everything.

Q: What is the security situation?

A: In Macedonia it's not quite so bad. It's a pretty organized city. In Albania it's a little difficult.. Along some of the border areas there has been some shelling, near the Kosovar border. Also, the supply routes are more dangerous. The terrain here is incredibly difficult, the roads are small, they're over very, very mountainous country and that's a real problem. There's just the general issue of if you bring a lot of supplies into a country and potentially the issue of banditry comes up.

Q: We hear there is increasing banditry in and around the camps. Are refugees safe? Are aid workers safe?

A: What we're seeing right now as the NATO troops pull out is that we are having to hire guards. It really is not that safe in some of these areas and yes we are concerned. But we will have to set up a system to ensure our safety. Within the Albania office we do have a security officer and we will likely have a security officer at most of the camps.

Q: How are you preparing for even more refugees coming over the border?

A: We're getting refugees all the time. We're organizing a couple of camps near the coast and these are going to be American assisted camps. NATO picked the camps and we will probably take two camps. One camp is open and the second we haven't named yet. We will build them right from scratch because there are more and more refugees coming in. There's a high concentration of refugees (approx. 100,000) in Kukes that need to be moved to areas that are safer and more stable and longer term.

Q: We hear there may be more on the way from Kosovo and perhaps even some transferred from camps in Macedonia?

A: Yes, the Macedonian government said some time ago that 50,000 would be maximum they could manage. Their country is under tremendous pressure from the increase in people coming in and there is much discussion about moving some of the people that are in Macedonia into other areas. Some are moving out to the United States, Canada and other Western countries, but some are coming to Albania. Our concern is that whatever that movement is that it is voluntary and not involuntary.

Q: What plans is CARE making to assist refugees to return home?

A: Obviously there has to be a political settlement. We are currently in a strategy session to begin looking into not only today but tomorrow. Which means what can we do while people are here and then what happens when people return home. But so much will depend on the political situation. Whatever settlement is reached will determine the rate of return and also whatever destruction is there will determine what the rate of return will be. But then I think that as soon as it is possible that CARE will do some reconnaissance to see what needs to be done.

Q: Do you have any sense of when a return home may be possible?

A: Honestly, it must be through a political solution. Whether the current agreement that is being negotiated happens or some other, it will certainly depend on the political situation. The Kosovars are certainly clear that they will not return until things are safe.

Q: What do you think will become of the refugees transferred to Europe and North America or Australia? Will they ever go home?

A: I think from the refugees that I've spoken with they would like to go home. It is also clear that many of the refugees have relatives that live in other countries around the world and I would guess that some might say behind somewhere. The general impression is that people want to go home and get on with their lives again.

It's a sad thing to walk around a camp and talk to people and see how their lives have been totally shattered…