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Refugee camps and numbers in Macedonia

SKOPJE, April 27 (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday camps for Kosovo refugees in Macedonia were now completely full and if more refugees arrived, they would have to sleep outside under plastic sheeting.

Construction of a new camp at Cegrane in western Macedonia is behind schedule and it will not be ready to take refugees until Thursday at the earliest,UNHCR said.

The Macedonian government said in a statement it had taken in a total of 183,800 refugees from Kosovo since air strikes began on March 24, adding 69,960 were being held in refugee camps and 27,990 had been airlifted out of the country.

A total of 3,428 refugees arrived on Monday, plus 494 illegal arrivals, the statement said. UNHCR, estimates that as of April 26, there were some 57,750 refugees crammed into six camps around Macedonia.

Following is a breakdown of where the refugees are:

  • STANKOVIC - The biggest tent city in Macedonia, Stankovic is really two camps. UNHCR estimates there are 26,200 refugees in the area known as Stankovic One, while in Stankovic Two there are 16,100. The Macedonian government says a total of 52,590 refugees are living in Stankovic, which is near the capital Skopje.
  • NEPROSTINO - Northeast of Tetovo, in the west of Macedonia. UNHCR says there are 6,000 refugees. The Macedonian government says Neprostino is housing 5,393.
  • BOJANE - East of Tetovo. Macedonia says there are 4,980, UNHCR says 3,900.
  • BLACE - Holding centre alongside main border crossing into Macedonia designed to work as a short-term transit centre. UNHCR says there are 2,600 refugees there.
  • RADUSA - Near Yugoslav border north-east of Skopje. UNHCR says it houses 1,500.
  • SENOKOS - South of Tetovo. UNHCR says there are 1,450 there.

The government statement gave no separate figures for the Blace, Senokos and Radusa camps.