The agency has appealed for $143 million to cover its costs . . . but received only $71 million.The Kosovo refugee crisis took an ominous turn yesterday as the major U.N. relief agency declared it’s running out of cash and warned that tensions are rising in overcrowded camps in Macedonia.
Disclosure of a serious cash crisis was made in Skopje, Macedonia, by Sadako Ogata, the U.N. commissioner for refugees, who warned that it could jeopardize efforts to help the estimated 750,000 who have fled the killing fields of Kosovo.
The Geneva-based U.N. High Commission on Refugees has appealed for $143 million to cover its costs for dealing with the Kosovo refugee crisis from January to June.
But it has received only $71 million – and most of that has been spent, officials said.
“We need more. We are providing only the most basic needs of the refugees and there is, so far, no end to the conflict in sight,” Ogata said.
“I appeal in particular to the countries in Europe and the European Commission. It is essential that they bear a larger part of the burden.”
News of the cash crisis came as tensions are growing in Macedonia, where 230,000 Kosovo refugees have sought shelter.
The Macedonian government condemned the agency as slow and disorganized and said it is not getting enough international aid to deal with the enormous social, economic and political problems the refugee crisis has created.
“They have problems, they are not well-organized,” Macedonia’s foreign minister, Aleksandar Dimitriov, told reporters at an economic conference in Greece.
“We are trying to collaborate with them, but, unfortunately, they don’t understand how sensitive the situation is.”
Earlier this week, protests erupted at two camps in Macedonia where Kosovo refugees are chafing over overcrowding and unhealthy conditions as well as restrictions imposed on their movements.
The agency has been meeting with local security officials, discussing the possibility of putting international police in the camps to keep order and deal with the refugees’ growing list of problems.