War in the Balkans: Aid Effort - Army rescues elderly refugees

SHE IS is a tired, pale, woman from a small village 30 miles from Pristina. Yesterday Hysnije Cerkine she became a footnote to the ongoing tragedy of Kosovo's refugees when she was the last person to be evacuated from the hellish refugee camp at Blace on the Macedonian border.

Mrs Cerkine, 65, and 25 other sick or elderly people, were saved by the British Army, which cut through red tape to take them to its field hospital at the main refugee camp at Brazde.

Mrs Cerkine was too weak to speak, but the relief was obvious on her face as she was finally taken to a place that could offer her proper care. She had been stuck at the makeshift camp at Blace for 10 days, after being forced from her home by the Serbs. She soon fell ill and was taken to a medical tent run by aid workers. When the main camp at Blace was brutally emptied of tens of thousands of refugees by the Macedonian authorities on Tuesday night, Mrs Cerkine and the other sick and elderly were left behind.

One of them died at dawn yesterday. No one even knew her name. Yesterday, after the plight of the two dozen remaining people was highlighted by The Independent, Army medics collected them in a series of ambulance runs.

Cutting through the regulations that have kept Nato troops away from the border, the medics stretchered them out. "Let's get these people out of here," said Brigadier Tim Cross, when he was informed of the situation. "Let's just get on with it."

Nicola Boyle, medical co-ordinator with the International Medical Corps, the aid group that had been trying to help the stranded refugees, said: "We have been telling the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] about this for days but they have not done anything. The organisation of this entire humanitarian effort is all over the place."

Yesterday it emerged that some of the 30,000 refugees whom aid agencies feared had "disappeared" after the evacuation of Blace had now been accounted for. Macedonia, criticised for the way it acted without consultation, said it had bused 5,500 refugees to Greece, 10,000 to Albania and the remainder to camps near the Macedonian capital, Skopje.

A Nato spokesman yesterday said the alliance was still trying to establish the whereabouts of at least 10,000. "In the early days [of the crisis] the Macedonians could do what they wanted but because attention is now on them, I don't think they'll do something like this again."

There is evidence that the Macedonians colluded with the Serbs in their harsh treatment of the Albanian refugees. An official with the Macedonian government privately admitted an informal "deal" was struck between the Serb and Macedonian border police to force back into Kosovo anyone suspected of links to the Kosovo Liberation Army.

"I suspect there was collusion. There was a case when there was co-operation to try and capture people who were KLA members. If they were found they were sent back." He added: "The government is very sensitive about the balance in this country. It does not want Macedonia full of Albanians because then they would have more power. If it had not been for the international community, Macedonia would have let these people die."