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GENEVA -- Yugoslav Minister for Refugees, Displaced Persons and Humanitarian Aid Bratislava Morina said Thursday in Geneva that the difficult humanitarian situation in Yugoslavia cannot be alleviated without a considerable long-term aid from the international community, especially humanitarian organizations of the UN system.
Morina told a press conference at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva that Yugoslavia has for years been hosting nearly 700,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, that 250,000 displaced persons (Serbs and other non ethnic Albanians) had arrived in the past few months fleeing terrorism by the self-styled Kosovo Liberation Army, and that about 2 million people were left without livelihood due to the recent NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia will be unable to ensure additional funds due to the present economic situation and to the devastation caused by the NATO bombing, which has been assessed at 60 billion dollars, Morina said.
The NATO aggression caused the greatest damage to the profit-making and export-oriented economic sectors and the resulting drop of the GNP will cause a severe drop in wages and social security payments, Morina said.
Serbia and Yugoslavia cover 85 percent of the needs of refugees and displaced persons and UNHCR and other donors the rest, Morina underlined.
Referring to the situation in Kosovo-Metohija, Morina said that the mission of international KFOR peacekeepers had failed and even caused the exodus of Serbs, Montenegrins and others from the province.
Due to the unhindered policy of ethnic cleansing followed by the self-styled KLA since KFOR's arrival in Kosovo-Metohija, over 8,000 serious crimes have been committed against Serbs and other non ethnic Albanians in the province, Morina said.
Since June 12, over 300 Serbs and others have been killed, 450 have been abducted, and over 50,000 Serb homes and 70 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries have been looted or burned, Morina said.