Kosovo bus service

Briefing notes

Kosovo bus service

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Kris Janowski – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

22 October 1999

UNHCR this week has replicated its successful Bosnian bussing programme in Kosovo. Two buses driven by Danish Refugee Council drivers enabled Serbs in the Gnjilane area to travel outside of their villages to shop and see relatives in other villages for the first time in months. The buses ran full last Tuesday and Thursday without incident, connecting 14 Serb-populated hamlets and villages despite a generally fairly tense situation in the Gnjilane area. The project will be expanded with two more buses and two more lines. The project primarily benefits minority Serbs, but Albanians are welcome to use it. The project is similar to a very successful Bosnian inter-entity bus project which operated 25 bus lines at its peak in 1998.