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A convoy of trucks carrying relief supplies traveled from Macedonia to Pristina  MILITARY PLAN:  ALSO: Bosnia inspires compromise plan for Russian troops U.S. tanks rumble to Pristina Shootings raise tensions in Kosovo

June 13, 1999
Web posted at: 8:26 p.m. EDT (0026 GMT)

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- A convoy of trucks carrying relief supplies traveled Sunday from Macedonia to Pristina -- the first international aid to arrive since NATO's bombing campaign began in March.

Sponsored by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the convoy of supplies and about 100 aid workers crawled over the mountains to the capital of Kosovo, in a half-day odyssey that in normal times would take just an hour and a half.

In the weeks to come, the initial 25 trucks are to be followed by thousands more, all part of a titanic effort to heal and rebuild Kosovo and shepherd its displaced people home.

"We know that there are a lot of people in Kosovo who need help, and we would like to get access to them as soon as possible," said Ron Redmond of the UNHCR. "But mines, booby traps, unexploded ordnance -- all of these things are of great concern to us as well.

"We are largely dependent on NATO for information on that sort of thing," he said.

In addition to nearly a million people who fled the country during the airstrikes, UNHCR estimates as many as 500,000 to 600,000 others may be living in desperate conditions inside Kosovo. Many displaced Kosovars have begun to come down from the hills, where they hid for much of the conflict.

"Most people were coming down on foot," said Juliette Terzieff, a freelance journalist in Kosovo. "Everybody was very skinny, very hungry. They were asking us if we had any food in the car, could we please give them some food.

"The children were very listless, the people shell-shocked," she said. "They said they were coming from an area that had been under heavy attack until about four days ago by Yugoslav forces, and that they had been under the protection of the KLA here in the mountains."

NATO Supreme Commander Gen. Wesley Clark said Sunday that the refugees could return soon -- but just how soon remained to be seen.

"We know there's a lot of demolitions and minefields in there. There's booby traps, no doubt, that have been placed," he said. "We want to make sure we've done what we can do to assure their security before we have a flood of people coming back, and a number of injuries that could be prevented with a little bit of patience."

The supplies brought in Sunday included enough flour to bake 45,000 loaves of bread and thousands of ready-to-eat meals donated by the United States. The means, similar to those soldiers are issued, include crackers, beans, lentils, jam and cookies.

Trucks also brought in blankets, bottled water, tents and plastic sheeting.

Correspondent Richard Blystone and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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