BRUSSELS - The EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms Emma Bonino, said yesterday that the Albanian Red Cross had requested some $10 million of medical and health care supplies and 10,000 tonnes of flour to help the thousands of people who have fled the conflict in their homeland, writes Patrick Smyth. EU Foreign Ministers will be told on Monday that up to 3,000 vulnerable people in hospitals, orphanages and old peoples' homes in Albania require urgent assistance to prevent starvation.
Ms Bonino said yesterday the EU's fact-finding mission to Tirana would also warn of the exhaustion of food and medical supplies to the general population within 10 days unless markets and supply routes are restored. She said the Union's humanitarian agency, ECHO, was in a position to get supplies into the country within two to three days because of stocks in former Yugoslavia and Italy, but could not do so without assurances about the security situation on the ground. Both humanitarian aid staff and supplies would need to be protected, as would access points such as airports, ports or roads.