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Refugees 'too scared to move'

Refugees in northern Albania are so traumatised by their suffering in Kosovo they are refusing to move from their camp.

I visited a temporary camp at Krume - a muddy, former battery chicken plant, with families in each cubicle.

Once refugees reach here, after weeks of travelling and uncertainty, many appear too scared to accept a lift elsewhere.

Several refugees, supported by the United Nations, refused to take a lift to the south of the country in trucks provided by the Albanians, because they had not heard of the destination.

The thought of the move made them very nervous and the trucks left the camp empty.

One woman at the camp with her two children spoke of her experiences in Kosovo.

She said the Serbs took 500-800 men away, when they forced the women and children out of her hometown.

Among the men were her three brothers, who she does not expect to see again.

"I don't think they're alive. In their hands, you haven't got a chance," she said.

Another woman's 10-year-old daughter was missing, and her husband was among 150 men pulled off a refugee column and presumed killed.

"We heard machine guns firing for 10 minutes," she said.

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