(4 May 1999) Eng/Albanian/Nat

More and more evidence is emerging that Serbian forces in Kosovo have been systematically killing ethnic Albanian refugees making their way to the borders.

Two events are being collaborated time and again by refugees' reports, and the injuries they bear.

Many talk of Serb soldiers ambushing a convoy near Studime Eperme, where refugees were attacked for what little money and jewellery they carry with them.

And there are also yet more reports from the flood of refugees entering Albania from Kosovo of how their husbands, brothers and sons have been taken away by Serbs and killed.

What began on Tuesday morning as a steady flow of refugees out of Kosovo into Albania became a flood towards the afternoon.

They streamed in by whatever means possible - on foot, in tractors, and in cars.

Faces show only extreme distress and exhaustion.

And they talk of atrocities at the hands of Serbs which shock even the most hardened aid workers.

Many talk of Serb forces demanding money from them, and gunning down those who didn't comply.

The refugees alleged the killings occurred Sunday night on a road near Studime Eperme, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) northwest of the capital Pristina.

Refugees said in about a one-kilometer (half-mile) stretch, there were bodies lying along the road and in the river.

Some bodies were in cars.

This man, named Raman, survived being shot in the shoulder in the incident.

After a painful, bumpy journey in the back of a tractor, Raman has at last reached medical assistance.

As aid workers rushed to treat his wounds, other refugees told how Serb forces are killing for a few dollars.

SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
"They came over. They asked me for money. I only had two hundred dinars. They weren't satisfied with this. He was threatening me with his gun. Meanwhile he grabbed a boy, he laid him in the ground, he kicked him. He picked him up and shot him three times and he was dead. He shot three other people in the next tractor. Two are dead, and one is injured in his arm. We left the two dead bodies on the other side (of the border). We just managed to give a lift to this injured one."
SUPER CAPTION: Sabit Haziri, Refugee

Similar stories were repeated time and again as refugees on wagons pulled by tractors, in cars, or on foot, poured into Albania.

More than 2-thousand had crossed the border by mid-afternoon.

The refugees' accounts could not be independently confirmed, but U-N-H-C-R workers say the tales almost certainly point to systematic killings in Kosovo.

One shocked refugee said she thought the Serbs were animals, not people.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Of the people who are doing this, I hope I am not too strong, but I wouldn't call them people. I cannot believe that a human being can shoot a 60-year-old man just on the head for nothing, just asking for money or some jewellery or I don't know what. And just because they are Albanians."
SUPER CAPTION: Iana Xhimi, Refugee

SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
"They robbed us. All the men were in the prison there, beaten and massacred. And they robbed us and they told us, 'Go to Albania. This is Serbia.'"
SUPER CAPTION: Woman refugee

The prison this woman is talking about is a town where Serbs are said to be holding Kosovar Albanians they have rounded up.

There, the women and children are separated from their menfolk.

Ray Wilkinson, a spokesman for the U-N High Commissioner for Refugees, talked about the two types of atrocities being recorded.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Ray Wilkinson, Head of UNHCR in Kukes






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