REFUGEE SITUATION IN KOSOVO DIFFICULT

( Editorial: --> 4178 ) PRISTINA, 17 Aug (Hina) - Albanian sources on Monday reported new but less intense attacks by Serbian forces on Kosovo Albanian villages. A local human rights committee in Decani said that Serbian forces today attacked several villages in the Decani municipality. Shooting could be head in Suva Reka as well, while the village of Slapuzhane (about four km from Suva Reka) was shelled again. There have been no details on the attack. The Kosovo Information Centre reported a very difficult refugee situation in the Malisevo municipality, where almost 10,000 people have taken shelter in the wood. The same source reported that Serbian forces continued to set afire and destroy abandoned Albanian villages of Bubavec and Drenoce (Malisevo municipality) at the time their residents started to return. Albanian politicians from Malisevo have sent a dramatic appeal to humanitarian organisations asking them to help the local residents with food and medicines. Refugees from different parts of Kosovo have continued to arrive in Djakovica today as well, the Kosovo Information Centre said. The same source added that there were almost 10,000 Albanians, mainly women, children and elderly people in Djakovica who lived in the open, without food or medical care. (hina) rml 171641 MET aug 98