the kosovo crisis

TWO CARE AID WORKERS MISSING
No contact since Wednesday in Yugoslavia

April 3, 1999

WEEKEND CONTACT: Kathy Doherty, 404/377-4781 or 404/202-9293
WEEKDAY CONTACT: CARE USA Press Office, 404/681-2552

ATLANTA - Two Australian aid workers employed by CARE International have been missing for three days. They may have been detained as they tried to cross the Yugoslavian border with Croatia.

Steve Pratt
The two are Steve Pratt, 49, of Sydney, Australia, and Peter Wallace, 30, of Mackay in Queensland, Australia. They had been overseeing CARE relief programs in Serbia - including programs within the province of Kosovo. The Kosovo program was suspended on March 22, with other operations continuing out of Belgrade to aid displaced Serbs who had fled earlier conflicts in Bosnia. CARE was last in contact with Pratt and Wallace on Wednesday (late Tuesday evening, U.S. Eastern Standard Time) as they prepared to leave Belgrade and head north toward Hungary. At some point on that journey, they may have decided to go west toward Croatia instead. There have been unconfirmed reports that the pair was seen at a crossing on the Croatian border.

Peter Wallace
CARE staff continue refugee relief operations in Macedonia and Albania. All staff deployed there are accounted for and are continuing their work to set up relief programs for the flood of refugees leaving Kosovo province.

"We are greatly concerned and we trust that the Yugoslavian authorities will do all in their power to locate and safely return Steve and Peter," says CARE USA President Peter D. Bell. CARE is receiving cooperation from the Yugoslavian embassy in Canberra, Australia, and the Australian Ambassador to Yugoslavia. The executive director of CARE Australia, Charles Tapp, is traveling today to Zagreb, Croatia, to help in the effort.

"We have been working behind the scenes through diplomatic channels over the last seventy-two hours to establish their whereabouts," says Tapp. In the absence of concrete information, CARE made the decision Saturday morning in Canberra to make public the disappearance. CARE is working with UNHCR and government authorities to ensure all unconfirmed reports of the two men are checked and followed.

For more information, visit CARE Australia's website.

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