The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees "cannot support" the return of displaced Serbs and Gypsies to their homes in Kosovo because the proper conditions do not exist in the province, UNHCR envoy Dennis McNamara said today.
McNamara said the UNHCR would support the return of an estimated 180,000 Kosovo Serbs, but also Gypsies and other non-Albanians, "once the situation for the people is safe and they volunteer to go back," said McNamara. These conditions include physical protection and all aspects related to law and order, which could be provided by an international police force, he added.
On Wednesday, the UN refugee agency's spokesman in Pristina, Ron Redmond, said Albanian "thugs" have been systematically terrorising, attacking and murdering Serb civilians in the province.
McNamara said the UN refugee agency was "increasingly concerned about the attacks against the Serb population in Kosovo and in some parts of the province about attacks against the Romas," or Gypsies. "We are very bothered because it has led to a new exodus of the population from Kosovo," he said.
