Canada's Kosovar programme ends

OTTAWA, July 25 (UNHCR) - Six Kosovar Albanians returned home Tuesday, bringing to a close Canada's participation in a unique programme to protect refugees fleeing the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. Some 96,000 refugees were evacuated to 28 countries, including Canada, under the UNHCR-inspired Humanitarian Evacuation Programme, to ease political and economic pressures on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), which had received an estimated 242,000 civilians fleeing Kosovo. The 5,851 Kosovars who came to Canada were given the option to return home at Canada's expense within two years and receive a reintegration grant of 500 Canadian dollars (US$ 330), or to settle permanently in the country. A total of 2,408 chose to return.