The Kosovo Crisis

Kosovo Refugee Crisis the Subject at White House Briefing

"People aren't even thinking about the day after tomorrow."
- CARE President Peter D. Bell

April 2, 1999

Contact: CARE Press Office, 404/681-4579
Rita Stone-Smith, ext. 250
Kathy Doherty, ext. 203, weekends: 404/202-9293 or 404/377-4781

Atlanta - CARE President Peter D. Bell and top executives of more than a dozen other aid agencies met early Friday with President Clinton to exchange views on the refugee crisis in the Balkans.

"We really cannot say at this time how much money will be needed for aid in the region," Bell says. "People aren't even thinking about the day after tomorrow because no one can say with certainty how many people will be displaced or for how long. Certainly, the numbers are huge - as large as anything Europe has seen since World War II."

The representatives of 15 aid agencies met in the White House Roosevelt Room with President Clinton to inform him of their activities and their needs. The President in turn, Bell says, voiced continued commitment to support the humanitarian relief effort and praised agencies for their work.

Bell says the group found the administration open to discussion of new areas for refugee flows - including Greece and Turkey - although no one made specific commitments during the meeting. Staff from the National Security Council said they were working on several scenarios to provide for the massive flow of people - now estimated at more than half a million. The U.S. government has already committed almost $100 million to the crisis over the year.

"We are just now able to begin systematic assessments of numbers and logistical needs," Bell says. CARE is fielding an assessment team of seven, arriving this weekend in Albania, and has two staff assessing needs within Yugoslavia and four in Macedonia.