ALBANIA: KOSOVO REFUGEE CRISIS: SERB ATROCITIES CLAIM

(24 May 1999) English/Nat A British war crimes expert is to be despatched to the Balkans to gather evidence of Serb atrocities from the latest refugees to pour out of Kosovo. The recently appointed war crimes coordinator is to travel to Albania to interview the refugees in a new effort to gather reliable evidence for the war crimes tribunal. He'll be particularly interested in the stories of the hundreds of ethnic Albanian men who stumbled over the border this weekend after having been missing - presumed dead - for weeks. In Kukes on Monday, a detachment of the A-FOR troops spearheading the humanitarian relief effort in Albania evacuated the most recent refugees to camps further south. Among the ethnic Albanians being moved were some of the hundreds of men, who stumbled across the border this weekend. Numbering around 11-hundred - they said they had been imprisoned by the Serbs in Kosovo for weeks. Many had been jailed on suspicion of being guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) With them, they brought stories of abuse at the hands of their Serb captors. Many said they had been beaten in detention: some had to be treated for broken bones, dehydration and malnutrition. The ex-prisoners were put on trucks by the Belgian and British Task Force troops to be taken to camps in other locations of Albania. The main reason for the relocation is simply the fact that supplies of fresh drinking water are running out in Kukes. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We must do it in the summer because there's no water any more and when the winter comes people here will die, so I think if they have to pass winter in Albania, if they have to spend winter in Albania all refugees should leave Kukes to winterised camps elsewhere in Albania." SUPER CAPTION: Belgian Army Colonel Robert Vanderborght - Member of Task Force Romeo Upon arrival in the camps, these men will have to start the search for relatives and family, many of whom escaped Kosovo weeks ago. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...