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A new wave of ethnic Albanian refugees enters Macedonia from Kosovo RELATED VIDEO CNN's Tom Mintier describes the newest influx of ethnic Albanian refugees into Macedonia (May 24) Windows Media 28K 80K IMAGE GALLERY A cracked window to a war To the corners of the world: The flight of Kosovo's refugees  ALSO: Russian envoy: NATO would let some Serb troops stay in Kosovo Sources: CIA gets go-ahead to destabilize Yugoslavia  THE DELUGE OF REFUGEES: Where are they going?  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Strike on Yugoslavia

May 24, 1999
Web posted at: 10:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT)

BLACE, Macedonia (CNN) -- Aid officials said Monday the latest wave of refugees entering Macedonia from Kosovo may represent a final effort by Serb forces to rid the Serb province of all its ethnic Albanian residents.

"We've seen over the past days that cities like Pristina and Urosevac are completely being emptied," said Astrid Van Genderen Stort, a field officer representing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. "Whether it is the final push, I don't know, but there are not that many people left."

Monday's arrivals were expected to push the refugee total since Friday to more than 20,000. The massive influx prompted Macedonian officials, concerned about upsetting the delicate ethnic balance in their own country, to try to transfer newly arrived Kosovars directly to Albania.

UNHCR officials objected to Macedonia's attempt to let in only those ethnic Albanians who signed an agreement to go to Albania.

U.N. envoy Dennis McNamara came to the border crossing late Sunday to negotiate a settlement with Macedonian officials.

He later said it was the third time he had rushed to the border "in the middle of the night" to stop Macedonian officials from transporting ethnic Albanians out of the country.

Many of the refugees spent the rainy night under plastic sheeting waiting for Macedonia to allow them in.

Thousands of refugees also flooded into Albania over the weekend -- including several hundred ethnic Albanian men believed dead by their families. The men, bewildered and often injured or sick, crossed the border in two waves Saturday and Sunday. The Serbs, they said, had released them from prison where they'd been held for nearly a month.

British Defense Secretary George Robertson said Monday the men's plight was reason enough for the continuation of NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

"The world could see on their gaunt faces the terror they had endured," he said.

Robertson said Prime Minister Tony Blair had asked Britain's war crimes coordinator, David Gowan, to go to Albania to interview the refugees.

He also warned that many more men may still be missing in Kosovo.

"We've had several hundred men cross the border from Kosovo," he said. "That could leave as many as 200,000 other men of military age who are missing -- 200,000 more tales of savage cruelty, 200,000 more families forced to suffer the pain of separation, 200,000 more reasons why we must see this through to the end."

Correspondents Tom Mintier and Martin Savidge contributed to this report.

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