(V) YUGOSLAVIA: KOSOVO: REFUGEES FLEE FROM SERB ATROCITIES

(29 Mar 1999) Voice and effects VOICED BY PHILLIPA MEAGHER Tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians streamed out of Kosovo on Monday, hoping to escape Serbian aggression and find safety on the other side of the Albanian border. The sheer scale of the exodus from Kosovo has left the Serbian authorities unable to cope, and the main crossing point was closed for three hours on Monday due to the number of people trying to cross the border. And even when they did manage to get across the frontier, aid workers in Albania did not have the resources to deal with the flood of Kosovars and were forced to turn refugees away. 0.00 The human tragedy in the Balkans continues. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanian refugees are fleeing the wrath of the Serb military machine. It's Europe's worst humanitarian disaster since World War II. NATO says refugees are arriving at the Albanian border at Kukes at the rate of 4,000 an hour, straining the already desperate resources of one of Europe's poorest countries. And all tell the same story of aggressive Serb authorities who left them in no doubt as to what they could expect if they did not leave their homes. 0:32 "Yesterday I was at the police station," said Sankder Gazi, an ethnic Albanian refugee, "and they told me 'You must leave and go to Albania or you lose your head" 0.39 The mass influx of refugees to Albania has strained the already desperate resources of one of Europe's poorest countries. Aid workers in Kukes can't cope, and are turning people away - bundling them on trucks and sending them off to an uncertain future. Albania's Prime Minister is appealing to his people to open their homes to the refugees. And still they come. Most carry their only possessions by hand and some without even identity documents - taken away, the refugees say, by Serb authorities at the border. Some don't have the strength. The road to Albania is littered with exhaused travellers - and there is little comfort for the old. And - according to the refugees - they are the lucky ones...the ones that got away. 01:18 "At 5 a.m. the Serbs entered the village without warning when people were sleeping - everyone tried to run away but some were not able to take their children," said Hajrula (HIGH-RULA) Kabashi "The Serbs massacred 37 people." 01:31 More than 500-thousand Kosovars have been displaced by the crisis, according to NATO officials, making it the biggest population shift in Europe since 1945. Other refugees have headed for Macedonia to the east and Montenegro to the West. Police in Montenegro were reported to be charging ethnic Albanians 60 U-S dollars per car to allow refugees to cross the border. 2:01 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...