Saturday, May 15, 1999 Published at 17:27 GMT 18:27 UK
UNHCR hits back at critics
A refugee boy plays football at the Bojane camp, Macedonia
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has attacked an MPs' report which accused it of coping badly with the Kosovo refugee crisis.
UNHCR spokeswoman Judith Kumin said observers visit the camps for 24 hours, getting only a "snapshot" view.
"It would be much better to see them working day after day, week after week and month after month in exhuasting conditions," she said.
The report's authors visited refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania, including Kukes.
The report also accused the UN body of failing to set up a registration system for the refugees after their identity documents were taken by the Serbs. Little has been done to provide proper shelter for winter or sanitation for summer, it said.
But Ms Hanlan said the report was "devoid of substance", and that it was unusual to be attacked with such an "aggressive" tone.
She also said that had the UNHCR deliberately made contingency plans for only 100,000 refugees last December. Had they estimated a higher number, it would have undermined the Rambouillet talks, she said.
Describing the situation as "very difficult", she said: "You are looking at a whole country moving. People have come across who did not know whether they should stay or leave."
Latest estimates from UNHCR put the number of people displaced from Kosovo at more than 748,000 since Nato bombing started on 24 March.
The Northern Ireland Office has also said the province would host an unspecified number of refugees identified as priority cases by the UNHCR.
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