ITALY LEADER IN SOLIDARITY
Italians look around and find they are the most generous
From the very earliest stages of the current Kosovo crisis, Italians noticed that apart from the refugee camps they had set up in the midst of great hardships, there was nothing else to alleviate the suffering of thousands fleeing to Albania.
Italian aid has been concentrated in Albania, at the border with Kosovo, especially at Kukes, but elsewhere too.
According to a report in the Corriere della Sera newspaper on May 1st, Italians gave the UNHCR 9 million dollars (the US gave 8½ million, and France and Britain less than a million each). To this total must be added a further million donated by the Italian government.
For the aid mission in Albania, the "Rainbow Mission," the Government has set aside 123 billion Lire to be spent by the end of June. A further 70 billion has been set aside for the building of infrastructures in Albania.
Italians are especially proud of what their countrymen and women are doing on the front line at the Albania-Kosovo border.
Refugee camps are currently holding 24,300 people, and are aiding up to 80,000 others who have no room (including the 9,149 in German and 1,000 in French camps).
Faraway Japan has set aside 200 million dollars.
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