ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - The first of four planes carrying humanitarian aid for Kosovo refugees took off from Zagreb airport at 3pm on Friday. The US$500,000-worth of aid had been gathered by the Croatian Caritas with the assistance
of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the US Caritas and Caritas Internationalis. The shipment, weighing 64 tonnes, includes Croatian products - baby food, beef and fish cans, sleeping bags and 12,000 blankets. The aid will be transported to Tirana by a Belgian plane on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The plane was provided by the Belgian Embassy in Croatia and today's flight was escorted by the president of the Croatian Caritas, Archbishop Ivan Prendja. Once it arrives in the Albanian capital, the shipment will be taken over by Tirana Archbishop Rrok Mirdita, whose church, according to Archbishop Prendja, is a minority church in Albania but has an important
ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - The first of four planes carrying
humanitarian aid for Kosovo refugees took off from Zagreb airport
at 3pm on Friday.
The US$500,000-worth of aid had been gathered by the Croatian
Caritas with the assistance of the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees, the US Caritas and Caritas Internationalis.
The shipment, weighing 64 tonnes, includes Croatian products - baby
food, beef and fish cans, sleeping bags and 12,000 blankets.
The aid will be transported to Tirana by a Belgian plane on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday. The plane was provided by the Belgian Embassy
in Croatia and today's flight was escorted by the president of the
Croatian Caritas, Archbishop Ivan Prendja.
Once it arrives in the Albanian capital, the shipment will be taken
over by Tirana Archbishop Rrok Mirdita, whose church, according to
Archbishop Prendja, is a minority church in Albania but has an
important role in creating a multiethnic society.
During the war in Croatia, the Croatian Caritas received a lot of
aid and acted as a mediator, and Croatian bishops were surprised at
the amount of aid coming from many states. It is time now we showed
our solidarity with Albanian refugees suffering in foreign
countries, Prendja told a press conference.
The Church's call for solidarity with Kosovo refugees has
encountered a strong response and in two weeks a ship carrying
humanitarian aid will set out from Zadar for Durres, the Archbishop
said.
The head of the UNHCR Mission in Croatia, Robert Robinson, whose
organisation had coordinated the collecting of aid, stressed the
Croatian assistance to Kosovo refugees was of special importance
because the Croat people themselves had been in a similar situation
several years ago, which is why they could understand Albanians
better than the others did.
The head of the Caritas Internationalis' service for humanitarian
issues, Karel Zdenka, told reporters that the French, Swedish and
Italian Caritas had been of considerable assistance in gathering
the aid. The press conference was also attended by the head of the
U.S. Caritas in Croatia, Kathleen E. Moynihon, and a
representatives of the Belgian Embassy in Croatia, Nikolaas
Buwck.
(hina) jn rml