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A woman cries as she boards a bus with her son at the Stenkovec refugee camp RELATED VIDEO CNN's Nic Robertson reports on the new displacement the refugees in Kukes are facing (May 10) Windows Media 28K 80K Kosovo leader Ibrahim Rugova, safely in Italy, is facing criticism. CNN's Gayle Young explains. (May 10) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K There has been no word on Kosovo refugees who were turned away at the Macedonian border last Wednesday. CNN's Amanda Kibel explains. (May 10) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Some refugees are being hosted by Spain. They are taking Spanish classes and preparing to work. Al Goodman has more. (May 10) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K At night, the boredom of refugee camps just drones on. CNN's Tom Mintier spends a night watching what goes on. (May 10) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K To view the latest video streams on the strikes in Kosovo, use the arrow buttons below to scroll through the video gallery.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K IMAGE GALLERY To the corners of the world: The flight of Kosovo's refugees The Serbs and Kosovo  ALSO:  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Where are they going?  MESSAGE BOARD: China tomorrow Crisis in Kosovo  MAPS: NATO officials describe the air campaign  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: NATO at 50 Strike on Yugoslavia

May 10, 1999
Web posted at: 2:51 p.m. EDT (1851 GMT)

STENKOVEC, Macedonia (CNN) -- There were spontaneous protests Monday at Macedonia's Stenkovec refugee camp, where ethnic Albanians and Macedonian police gave conflicting reports of the incident that incited the demonstration.

Macedonian state radio said a refugee had tried to leave the camp and was detained by police. But the spokeswoman for the United Nation's refugee agency said that police had detained an ethnic Albanian known for his vocal complaints about conditions in the camp.

"The crowd was very angry and upset," said Paula Ghedini, the UNHCR spokeswoman.

U.N. and aid officials intervened, promising to investigate the reports.

A second, smaller protest erupted a few hours later, but that rally dispersed when refugees, police and NATO and aid officials met and reached a solution. The resolution called for a shift in the ethnic makeup of the police force assigned to the camp, adding more ethnic Albanians and reducing the number of ethnic Slavs.

There are other complaints in the overcrowded camps, however, ranging from stolen humanitarian aid goods to criminals extorting money with the promise of a flight out of the country.

Ethnic cleansing reportedly nearly complete

Macedonia has almost a quarter of a million Kosovo refugees. and has periodically closed its borders to stem the flow of refugees out of its Yugoslavian neighbor. The flow has been reduced to a trickle since last Wednesday, when Macedonia kept nearly 4,000 ethnic Albanians from entering.

Overall, nearly three-quarters of a million refugees have taken shelter in Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, the smaller of Yugoslavia's two republics. Another 130,000 have taken refuge in other countries.

And aid workers fear thousands more could be heading out of Kosovo.

A report released by the U.S. State Department Monday said that more than 90 percent of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians had been expelled from their homes by Serb forces and Serb civilians, with an estimated 600,000 still inside the borders.

Refugees who escape Kosovo arrive in refugee camps with tales of murder, rape and destroyed villages. The refugees consistently report that military-age men are routinely separated from their families, and are not crossing into the relative safety of Macedonia and Albania.

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called the report's findings a "horrific pattern of war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Workers are trying to improve the conditions by building more camps in Albania, trying to convince refugees in Macedonia to join their ethnic kin in Albania, and flying them to third countries for the duration of the conflict. More than 1,000 refugees, including 417 bound for the United States, left Macedonia Monday.

Correspondent Tom Mintier contributed to this report.

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