UNHCR still concerned by refugee flow from FYR of Macedonia into Kosovo

Despite a diminishing flow of people from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia into Kosovo, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today it remained "extremely concerned" about the situation and continued to monitor it closely.

Astrid Van Genderen Stort, a UNHCR spokeswoman in Pristina said the number of arrivals through Blace and other border crossings continued all through the weekend, although at a lower rate than earlier last week. Over 1,500 people had crossed on Friday, but on Sunday the number of new arrivals had decreased to 557 people. Still, there have been 27,000 new arrivals in less than 10 days, adding that the total number of Macedonians displaced since 3 May was close to 39,000.

In southern Serbia, over 700 Macedonians of different ethnic background were reported entering at the end of last week, UNHCR said, bringing the total number of arrivals from the FYR of Macedonia to over 3,500.