Thousands of Kosovan refugees are deprived of the basic necessities of existence, an aid worker in Montenegro said yesterday. Ms Jutta Debardelaben, who works with the World Vision agency, described scenes of physical and psychological misery at the Rozaje camp, 10 km from the border with Serbia.
Thousands of people are deprived of the basic necessities of existence, she said by phone from the camp. "Montenegro has been cut off from humanitarian aid because the Serbian government wants it to go via Hungary and Belgrade. We've just heard that they are now allowing aid to go through the Croatian border, so that is some good news."
Her agency is attempting to give people the basic requirements they need to recover some of their shattered dignity. "They need basic foods and hygienic materials. World Vision is trying to distribute family survival packs with things like rice, pasta, soap and toilet paper in them."
But what people need most of all, Ms Debardelaben said, is somebody who can listen to their stories. "All they want is that you listen. If they find somebody who can listen to them they pour out everything that has happened to them."
The dreadful stories she has been hearing follow a pattern: Serb masked men, perhaps soldiers, perhaps paramilitaries, arrive without warning, give the family 30 minutes to gather belongings at gunpoint, then drive them out of their villages.
"One couple, for example, have seven children. Serb soldiers came to their home and gave them 30 minutes to get out. When the family asked if they could just be given time to get their 14 and 15-year-old sons, who were minding sheep in a field distant from their house, they were refused. One of the soldiers said, `Oh, they have probably been shot by now'."
It is this type of mental cruelty which has devastated many people, nearly as much as physical suffering, she said.
She emphasised that the refugees were doing their best to keep clean and occupied despite the ghastly conditions.
"They try to do everything to keep themselves clean, but it is not easy. There are only one or two toilets here for thousands of people."