wfn.org | CWS/NCC Kosovo Response Update

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email: news@ncccusa.org    Web: www.ncccusa.org

75NCC6/25/99 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS/NCC LOOKS AHEAD TO ONGOING NEEDS IN KOSOVO RESPONSE

 NEW YORK, June 24 ---- Looking ahead to ongoing needs as
Kosovar refugees begin to return home or find they must remain in
camps, Church World Service is seeking support for five responses in
the region as it anticipates providing $3.4 million in material and
financial assistance by the end of the summer.

 "As the peace process begins to unfold, Church World Service
is joining with other organizations and with our partners in the
region in laying plans to help with the return of refugees and the
rebuilding of Kosovo," said Donna Derr, Interim Emergency Response
Director for NCC/CWS.

"This is a defining moment," said William Sage, Interim
Director of the NCC/CWS Immigration and Refugee Program (IRP), who
recently visited Macedonia as part of a U.S. Voluntary Resettlement
Agency delegation.  "Even though we are hopeful of the return, we
insist that security and other basic living conditions be met.

"We also insist that resettlement is maintained as a viable
option," he said, "particularly for people with relatives and for
the many refugees with special medical and other needs.  In our
visit, we found the refugees were guardedly optimistic about their
immediate future and fearful that the Balkan winter will set in
before they can return to Kosovo."

IRP has been resettling Kosovar refugees in the United States
with the help of local churches in a half dozen states, including
Illinois, New York and Texas.

 The five parts of the ongoing CWS response include:

1) The CWS-Bosnia Program will continue to provide short-term
humanitarian aid to refugees, host families and vulnerable
returnees in three areas: Hercegovacko-Neretvanski, Grahavo and
Sarajevo.  A projected 6,800 refugees in collective centers/camps
and about 500 host families serving 2,000 refugees will be
assisted.

2) A U.S.-based non-governmental organization in Macedonia will
provide for the purchase and distribution of $90,000 worth of
medicines to Tetovo Medical Center, serving the medical needs of
Kosovar refugees in Macedonia.  The medicines will include
antibiotics, analgesics and TB treatments, and will provide for
some of the needs of approximately 25,000 refugees.

3) A foods resource bank valued at $348,000 would provide food and
seed shipments to Macedonia.  Vegetable seeds would include
planting information in Albanian and Serbo-Croatian.

4) A request by International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
has been made for an additional $125,000 in blanket funds in
order to purchase mattresses and bedding to serve refugees and
internally displaced persons in Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

5) Continued support for the Action by Churches Together (ACT)
appeal for $18,895,700 which enables ACT members to provide
immediate relief assistance to refugees, displaced persons and
others affected by the recent war in Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo,
Montenegro, Serbia and other locales.  ACT is an international
network of humanitarian aid organizations.

 So far, NCC/CWS assistance has included the aforementioned
refugee resettlement, material goods, visits to the region and
advocacy with government officials here.  Highlights include:

In late April-early May, Dr. Campbell, along with the Rev. Jesse
Jackson, co-led the interfaith delegation that secured the release
of three U.S. POWs.  The delegation also met with Yugoslav religious
community representatives (Christian, Muslim and Jewish).

May 26-27, Paul Wilson, NCC Europe Office Director, attended a
consultation on the churches and the crisis in the Balkans held in
Budapest, Hungary, and jointly organized by the World Council of
Churches and the Conference of European Churches.  The over 40
church leaders present discussed the needs of a Christian response
which includes preventive action, education, interreligious dialogue
and building on existing and new networks within civil society.

CWS staff and donors recently visited three refugee camps and
longer-term humanitarian assistance projects in Bosnia with an eye
toward how such rebuilding and reconciliation projects might be
replicated in Kosovo.

Material assistance has been provided as follows:
- $800,000 to purchase 1,000 tents, 25,000 blankets and 10,000
mattresses to Diaconie Agape in Albania
- $53,000 to Diaconie Agape for baby food and formula
- $100,000 for blankets and bedding and other needs in Montenegro
and Serbia to International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)
- $265,000 for blankets and bedding supplies to the CWS Bosnia
Program
- 10,000 health kits, 6,230 school kits, 5,000 sewing kits,1,065
baby kits and medicines to the CWS Bosnia Program -- total value
$318,555
- 9,500 family wear packages of underwear, sanitary napkins, socks
and soap and additional such items to Diaconie Agape in Albania --
total value $94,623

 Additionally, Linda Hartke, CWS Operations Officer, will
travel to Macedonia and Kosovo June 29-July 2 as part of a joint
delegation to survey first-hand the humanitarian, human rights and
refugee situation there and to make recommendations for a long-term
strategy for ecumenical work in Kosovo.

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EDITORS: When listing organizations providing humanitarian relief in
the Kosovo crisis, please include Church World Service, Attn. Kosovo
Crisis, 28606 Phillips Street, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.
Phone: (800) 297-1516, ext. 222.

Thirty-five Protestant and Orthodox communions work together through
Church World Service - a ministry of the National Council of
Churches - to meet human need in more than 80 countries around the
world, including the United States.

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