Despite the huge and life-threatening uncertainties involved, the agencies involved in their care in the UK say they are desperate to return and find their families and houses.

A total of 4,300 Kosovo Albanians were airlifted to Britain as part of the UNHCR evacuation programme. A further 1,300 - 1,500 made their own way to the UK.

They have been put up in hostels throughout the north of England and Scotland.

The UNHCR's repatriation programme for those who were airlifted out of Kosovo starts on 15 July and the first refugees to leave Britain should depart the following week.

But although Defence Secretary George Robertson optimistically predicted that all refugees would be home within the month - commission staff say the programme will take a great deal longer to achieve.

A total of 4,300 Kosovo refugees were airlifted to the UK

Claire Barratt, spokeswoman for the Refugee Council, said that the lack of infrastructure in Kosovo - at even the most basic level - would mean that only the very fit and resourceful would be able to survive initially.

She said: "Refugees are free to return as soon as they want to go. The main concern of the agencies, like the Refugee Council, UNHCR and the Red Cross, is for their safety when they go back there.

"There are still going to be things like unexploded landmines and booby traps to contend with.

"And there is very little in the way of infrastructure to support the return of 90,000 people in one go."

The Refugee Council is also working to collate as much information as possible on the region, so that refugees can make informed decisions about when to return.

"The elderly, disabled, infirm and young children are going to find conditions extremely difficult - especially as winter closes in," she added.

Balkan winters are incredibly harsh, with temperatures plummeting to minus 7C out of the wind. Snow falls thick and covers huge swathes of countryside for months at a time.

Balkan winters are harsh

Many refugees will return to find that their homes have been completely destroyed, and that there is no adequate supply of food, water or healthcare.

"It is going to be difficult for them," said Ms Barratt. "We would think it very sensible for many people to wait until the Spring before they think about going home."

UNHCR says another potential peril awaiting returning refugees is the lack of police or judiciary in Kosovo.

The much-publicised "roving magistrates" are not - at least in the early days - going to be able to stretch to ensure a just and ordered society.

Lyndall Sachs, spokeswoman for UNHCR, told BBC News Online: "One of the reasons that people want to get back is that they are worried that their homes will have been occupied by other returning Kosovan Albanians.

"It is in some ways inevitable that this kind of dispute will arise - people want to be able to house and care for their families.

"But without a judicial system, or police system, the consequences of such disputes could be dire.

"Tensions in Kosovo are already high, and they will escalate over the coming months."

Many homes were plundered and burned

She said although the general consensus was that people wanted to get home as soon as possible, many families would want to keep their children in Britain for the time being.

"A number of children have now settled into education in this country, and are safe and well-provided for.

"In Kosovo there is going to be no education system for some time, and that may influence parents' decisions about who returns and when."

And she said that the biggest factor in the future of the refugees - as well as the stability of the whole of the former Yugoslavia - is funding.

"Already we are seeing European countries turning away from the commitments they made to rebuilding Kosovo.

"The scale of the operation is huge and it's going to take a lot of time and money. It is no good seeing through the air strikes, without following through with aid to get the whole of this region back on its feet.

"There is a chance here to make sure that good democratic principles are put into practice at an early stage, but it needs money. People are going to act as they see they need to if they have no food, shelter, clothing or healthcare.

"If bad practice is adopted at this stage, it is going to be very difficult to implement fair judicial procedure further down the line."