BBC News Online: UK

Second refugee flight due

The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, says around 160 are expected to be on the flight, including 18 people in need of medical treatment.

The plan was announced as it emerged that Macedonia has reached 'saturation point', following a further influx of 139,000 refugees, and that food scarcity in Kosovo has prompted more to flee.

The Refugee Council, which is co-ordinating arrangements for accommodating refugees in the UK, said it would be ready to receive them wherever they came in.

The first group of 161 to arrive in the UK under the UNCHR evacuation programme flew to Leeds-Bradford airport on Sunday.

"Arrangements worked very well in Leeds and we are ready to go anywhere," said a spokeswoman.

The same plane - a craft chartered from Macedonian Airlines - will be used for the second group of refugees.

Plans to use larger Boeings had been shelved because of problems getting them insured to fly in the troubled region, said a spokesman.

The UNHCR is concentrating on flying around 100,000 people out of the region to make way for more refugees who are stuck in no man's land trying to enter the country.

Airlift a 'positive start'

Flights are being arranged as and when air space becomes available, but limited facilities mean all take-offs have to be carefully planned.

It is expected that two or maybe three flights will arrive in the UK each week as the operation continues.

There are almost 585,000 Kosovar refugees currently in the Balkans, while tens of thousands have been airlifted out to Europe.

The UNHCR said the arrival of the refugees was a "positive start" for the UK, and it hoped that Britain would continue to play its part in relieving the pressure in Macedonia.

Britain is one of 34 countries offering to receive refugees from Macedonia.

Latest figures show most EU countries have taken in more refugees than the UK, including Germany at 10,000, France with 907, Austria with 645 and Belgium with 676.

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Internet Links

European Council on Refugees and Exiles
UNHCR Kosovo News
Nato
Serbian Ministry of Information
Kosova Press
Refugee Council
OSCE
Home Office
Leeds City Council
Leeds Bradford International Airport

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