For the first time ethnic Albanians who had been living in Serbia, but outside the province of Kosovo, crossed into Macedonia as refugees yesterday.
UNHCR personnel fear it may be the beginning of an alarming new trend bringing large numbers of non-Kosovan ethnic Albanian refugees from Serbia to an already overcrowded Macedonia.
Most of the 1,000 who arrived illegally at Lojane in Macedonia yesterday were from the town of Presevo, which has a population of about 10,000, half of whom are ethnic Albanian. It is 12 kilometres into Serbia from the Macedonian border. Another 1,000 refugees from the same town arrived yesterday in the Macedonian village of Staza, near Lojane. All had come over the mountains to avoid the official Tabanovce crossing into Macedonia nearby, where police are enforcing strict entry requirements.
Initial reports indicated that these non-Kosovan refugees left Presevo on Sunday when Serb paramilitaries stripped them of their possessions and sexually molested women.
Tensions at the Lojane crossing seemed likely to explode yesterday as local (ethnic Albanian) people tried to take the refugees into their homes but were being prevented by Macedonian police. Many of the refugees are close relatives of people living in villages around Lojane.
UNHCR personnel supported the local people but were ignored by the police as they pleaded that the refugees be allowed stay with host families.
Most of the refugees were forced on to buses and taken to the Stenkovec camp. However, about 300 broke through police lines and disappeared quickly into the countryside.
A further 3,000 refugees arrived in Blace yesterday. They included witnesses to killings by the Serbs, particularly in the Kosovan village of Sllovi last Saturday, in the Lipjane area.
Figures for the numbers of men killed there ranged from 16 to 35. In scenes reminiscent of the earlier grim days of the refugee crisis at Blace, hundreds of refugees had to sleep in the open overnight as there was no room in the tents.
At a press conference yesterday Mr Ron Redmond, of the UNHCR, said there had been an outbreak of measles in the Brasda camp and of hepatitis at the Radusa camp. These were "a sign of things to come if we are not able to relieve the overcrowding".
Against the backdrop of the war in Yugoslavia, a seminar on European security after the Cold War takes place at 7.30 p.m. tonight in Dublin. Participants include the former chief of staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Col Gerry McMahon, and former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs Mr Noel Dorr. The address is the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place, Dublin 2. Inquiries: tel (01) 260.1144.