KOSOVO REFUGEES SPEAK OF ABUSE COMMITTED BY SERBS

TIRANA, April 27 (Hina) - Kosovo refugees who arrived in northern Albania on Tuesday spoke about to crimes committed by Serb forces. The last group of Kosovo refugees who arrived in Albania on Monday - 230 persons, mostly women and children - told the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tirana and numerous reporters they were kept for two days in the village of Duhla, near Suva Reka, where Serb soldiers raped the younger women. According to another group of 24 Albanian men from Shiroko, a village near Suva Reka, Serb forces selected a group of 124 men from the village and sent them to the Prizren police station, where they were forced to hard physical labour for Serb soldiers. They were subsequently sent to the Zhuru police station whence they were expelled to Albania. According to a woman from Petrovo, a village near Stimlje, Albanian women and children from the village are kept as hostages. The remaining civilians in Kosovo live in very difficult conditions due to lack of food, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Tuesday. Albanians are not allowed to shop in Serb grocery stores. The only possibility is the black market, where according to Kosovo refugees, the price of one kilogram of sugar is DM6, while one litre of oil ranks between DM8-DM10. (hina) it jn/ha