White wall gives chance to trace missing relatives

It might be called the Wailing Wall of Brazda, Patsy McGarry writes.

It might be called the Wailing Wall of Brazda, Patsy McGarry writes.

The white side of a building at the camp, now being used as a centre where the refugees register their names, is covered with hundreds of handwritten messages from people looking for family members.

Nearly all are in Albanian, nearly all simply list those missing, where the family came from and where its remnants can be found.

At a press conference in Skopje at the weekend the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms Ogata, appealed to international media and telecommunications companies to help the refugees to make phone contact with relatives. At the Stankovic camp Capt Arnauld Ballyack, of the French forces there, said the first request of refugees on arriving, "even before food", was for contact with family and friends.

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France Telecom has set up a limited phone service for the refugees at Stankovic.

Long queues waited for hours there again yesterday hoping to speak to relatives abroad.