With this Final Report, this Appeal is now closed and replaced by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's Integrated Appeal in Response to the Crisis in the Balkans
Period covered: January-March 1999
Budget revision

The International Federation's operation in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of the Macedonia will continue for the remainder of 1999 as part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's Integrated Appeal in Response to the Crisis in the Balkans. Please refer to the regular reports which have been issued since the start of the Balkan crisis.

The context

Following the intensification of fighting in Kosovo in May 1998, an estimated 250,000 people became internally displaced within the province; 45,000 travelled into Montenegro, and an estimated 40,000 refugees fled from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

By late 1998, there were about 20,000 refugees from Kosovo in Albania. The first refugees arrived in the northern district of Tropoje - one of the remotest and poorest in Albania - in May 1998, and were accommodated by host families. However, as the burden on host families increased and living conditions continued to deteriorate with new arrivals, the number of refugees moving further south (to Tirana, Durres, Shkodra and other districts) rose sharply over the latter months of the year. The Albanian Red Cross (ARC) emergency relief operation, supported by the Federation, began in June and focused on the distribution of food and hygiene parcels, blankets, mattresses, and towels.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, by late 1998, an estimated 10,000 people had sought refuge from the fighting. Local Red Cross branches provided limited relief assistance to the refugees, and from November 1998 a new programme of assistance started with the provision of food and non-food items in four collective centres, each hosting approximately 1,000 refugees.

In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as of late 1998, there were an estimated 5,000 'visitors' from Kosovo, with the Red Cross providing limited food and non-food relief items to about 200 of the most vulnerable refugees.

The appeal

In the Emergency Appeal 1999, a total of CHF 5,225,000 was sought, targeting 20,000 Kosovo refugees in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, initially planned for the first four to six months of 1999. This support continued for the first quarter of 1999. However, following the failure of the Rambouillet negotiations and the start of the Nato air campaign in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 24 March, both the International Federation and ICRC decided to maintain and expand all their activities in favour of Kosovo refugees (and other vulnerable groups) under the umbrella of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement's Integrated Appeal in Response to the Crisis in the Balkans, launched on 7 April 1999. The starting date for the programme covered in this report was therefore 1 January 1999, and the closing date is 31 March 1999.

This budget has been revised to CHF 802,000 reflecting the actual expenditure from the period January 1 - March 31. The cash balance of CHF 970,147.79 and all outstanding pledges have been or will be transferred to the Integrated Appeal.

Red Cross/Red Crescent action

Needs assessment

The needs assessment for the Emergency Appeal 1999 was carried out by respective programme officers in the latter months of 1998. During the review period, the plan of action was not revised.

Objectives

• In Albania, to provide basic food and non-food relief items for 15,000 refugees for six months.
• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, to provide food and non-food relief items to 4,000 refugees in four collective centres for four months.
• In the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to continue to provide limited relief assistance to the most vulnerable refugees, as needed, for four months.

Outcome

Albania: For much of the first quarter of 1999, the Red Cross Red Crescent operation in Albania continued along the lines established during the second half of 1998, with the provision of relief and non-food relief items through the ARC's network of distribution points to approximately 20,000 refugees. Events in the Balkans region overtook the psycho-social and first aid training components envisaged in the appeal before their intended implementation.

In close co-operation, the ARC and the Federation utilised the existing distribution points across the country for the disbursement of both food and non-food releif items to all refugees, whether they were in private accommodation or in collective centres and camps. Distribution of items purchased with ECHO funding took place in February and March through these points, including mattresses, blankets, washing powder, shampoo, toothpaste, hygiene parcels, undergarments, socks, bed linen, and other items. For the refugees, accommodation with host families often meant that between 15-20 people shared a single room. This overcrowding made hygiene a major concern.

The main part of the operation was carried out by the ARC, with the Federation providing operational and financial management and monitoring throughout the review period. However, importation of all the goods used in this effort was the responsibility of the Federation, which then stored all shipments at the Durres warehouse. The ARC was responsible for local delivery of all commodities, both from the Durres warehouse to the local Red Cross network of distribution points, and from the distribution points to the beneficiaries themselves. There were three expatriates working in the Federation's delegation in Albania during the review period.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Through the first quarter of 1999, the Federation assisted Kosovo asylum seekers accommodated in transit/collective/asylum centres or host families with non-food items including hygiene parcels, sleeping bags, baby care items, and supplementary food for the pregnant women, lactating women and children accommodated in the centres. The remaining 1,800 Kosovo refugees (45%) from the target group of 4,000 identified in the appeal were reached during the period, with supplementary food and non-food items. The number of the beneficiaries for the period January-March 1999 was as follows:

	January	February	March	Total
Rakovica	500	595	680	1,775
Hadzici	400	550	-	950
Srednje	112	112	112	336
Bosanski Petrovac	165	938	938	2,041
Kljuc	106	-	-	106
Tuzla - Svatovac	77	-	-	77
Zenica - Lipa	111	-	-	111
TOTAL	1,471	2,195	1,730	5,397

Approximately 10 local Red Cross staff and two International Federation programme staff were directly involved in programme implementation over the reporting period. The operation was carried out by the Red Cross in one entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with some technical support from the International Federation and in close co-operation with Ministry for Civil Affairs and Communications and the UNHCR.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: When the first few hundred refugees from Kosovo started arriving in Macedonia in mid-1998, the International Federation had just assigned a representative to work with the Macedonian Red Cross, supporting existing programmes of relief distribution and psycho-social support for about 1,000 Bosnian refugees.

In January 1999, the Macedonian Red Cross registered 706 refugees from Kosovo and distributed flour, cooking oil, beans, sugar, blankets and mattresses to the host family homes; UNHCR and CRS provided food and other relief items. As the number of Kosovo refugees increased (963 in February), the Macedonian Red Cross started a new system of registration for the refugees, and gave them vouchers to collect food relief and hygiene parcels at Red Cross branch offices. Immediately prior to the crisis precipitated in late March 1999, 7,081 refugees from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (all living with host families) had registered at nine Red Cross branch offices and were receiving food and other aid.

Throughout the first three months of 1999, the Macedonian Red Cross managed the logistics for the relief operation for refugees from Kosovo, including customs, warehouse management, and transport of relief to Red Cross branches. Distributions to refugees over the review period comprised 23,681 kg of flour, 6,755 litres of cooking oil; 5,361 high protein biscuits (donated by UNICEF), 4,880 blankets, 7,004 pieces of soap, 3,927 kg of beans and 1,550 hygiene parcels. One expatriate Federation representative worked with three local staff.

Macedonian Red Cross volunteers also distributed quilted bedding (donated by CRS) to refugees as they crossed the border. In addition Red Cross staff regularly drove to the snow-covered border areas and brought hundreds of refugees to safety in Macedonia. The Society's social welfare coordinator organised dozens of volunteers to pack the food for distribution, and received medical referrals from a local NGO and the UNHCR, for treatment by volunteer doctors.

On 24 March, the crisis escalated, and for more than two weeks 55,000 people were stranded in a no-man's-land at the Blace border crossing between Macedonia and the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. Macedonian Red Cross staff and volunteers worked round-the-clock distributing food, plastic sheeting, and blankets, and carried the injured and ill to medical care before, eventually, in early April, evacuation to refugee camps took place.

Contributions

See attached for financial and budgetary details, as well as the List of Contributions.

Peter Rees-Gildea
Director, Operations Funding and Reporting Department

Renny Nancholas
Director, Europe Department