HC Deb 14 April 1999 vol 329 c232W
10. Mr. Borrow

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the assistance her Department is providing for refugees in the Balkans. [79112]

Clare Short

We have been one of the largest and most active donors in helping improve the provision of humanitarian relief to the refugees from Kosovo. We have supported NATO in erecting camps, international agencies in bringing people and resources to the region—so far we have provided 23 flights and we have teams working in Tirana airport and supporting the Albanian Government. We are now preparing for the hand-over of camps to UNHCR and the NGOs and are helping establish two refugee centres in Albania.

Our greatest concern is the situation of displaced people in Kosovo. We are considering all possibilities of providing support but no option is easy—in the face of deliberate Serbian repression. Milosevic will have to answer for this to the International Criminal Tribunal.

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