Refugees flee to Yugoslavia

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 20

Refugees flee to Yugoslavia

NZPA-Reuter Belgrade About 2000 Soviet-bloc refugees sought asylum in Yugoslavia last year, more than one half of them Rumanians fleeing harsh living conditions in their homeland, according to United Nations figures. Altogether 1932 refugees from the seven bloc countries and Albania were given the protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugess in Belgrade in 1985—1126 of them Rumanians.

Diplomats said the high tally of Rumanians, most of whom entered Yugoslavia illegally by swimming up to I.skm across the Danube, sometimes under fire from border guards, reflected increasing disenchantment with the

State’s bleak day-to-day conditions. The statistics confirmed Communist, but non-War-saw pact, Yugoslavia as a main escape route from Eastern Europe to the West and underscored its non-aligned profile.

The commission does not publish statistics in Belgrade out of deference to the Yugoslav Government for whom the issue is highly sensitive since it involves relations with other Communist countries. They are circulated, however, among the embassies of potential resettlement countries.

The figures closely shadowed those of 1984 when 2686 refugees from the East bloc and Albania, including 1212 Rumanians, sought

asylum. Czechoslovak citizens who defected while on tourist trips were the next largest group, accounting for 681 people. Diplomats said this showed a drop in numbers compared with the 1205 who sought commission protection in 1984.

It became easier for Czechoslovak citizens to defect when the Prague authorities last year abandoned the practice of issuing a special “Grey” passport for travel to Yugoslavia that had barred them from seeking a visa for the West. Rumanians crossed into Yugoslavia at the rate of more than six a day, according to the figures. Yugoslavs living on the border say many

Rumanians who swim across the Danube or simply follow the current, clutching car tyres, do so under fire from Rumanian border guards. Diplomats say testimony by refugees suggests that many would-be refugees are killed in the attempt or drown. Last year’s refugees included 63 Albanians who escapted their Stalinist homeland by evading border guards in rugged mountain areas or swimming across Lake Ohrid at night.

The number of Poles totalled 199, up from the 115 who defected in 1984, apparently refleclng an easing of travel restrictions by the Warsaw authorities.

Many of the 36 Bulgar-

ian refugees entered Yugoslavia illegally by dodging parols on the heavilyguarded land border or stowing away in trucks or coaches, diplomats said.

Nine Soviet citizens also defected, presumably tourists, 14 East Germans, and 17 Hungarians. Refugees who enter Yugoslavia illegally are held by the police for several days before being handed over to the commission for resettlement. Main resettlement countries in 1985 were the United States which took 42L refugees, Australia which offered a new start to 331 cases, and Austria which re-settled 235 people. Of the 207 accepted by West Germany, most were Rumanian ethnic Germans, diplomats said.