German deportations criticised

HUMAN rights groups and churches criticised the German authorities yesterday for planning to deport thousands of illegal refugees back to Serbian-controlled rump Yugoslavia. They said the measure might threaten the refugees' lives and appeared insensitive at a time when Germany has declined to join its allies in sending peace-keeping forces to former Yugoslavia.

The repatriation programme, which is due to start tomorrow, affects ethnic Albanians from the southern Serbian province of Kosovo as well as Serbs, Montenegrins and some people of mixed nationality. It does not apply to refugees from Croatia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, but Germany is involved in separate negotiations with Croatia to return some Croatian refugees.

Critics of the deportations said the measure would harm Germany's international image because the Kosovo Albanians would face discrimination at the hands of the Serbian authorities on their return. Other refugees were Serbs or Montenegrins who had entered Germany rather than face the prospect of service in the Serbian-led Yugoslav armed forces.

Germany's Roman Catholic and Protestant churches appealed to the federal government in Bonn and to regional Lander authorities to delay the deportations. 'This would give many refugees from countries where their lives are threatened a sense of safety and a perspective on their stay in our country,' the churches said.

Burkhard Hirsch, a member of the Free Democratic Party, which is a coalition partner in Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government, said the deportations could damage Germany's relations with its West European allies. 'Obviously we can mention the fact that we have taken in more refugees than all our West European neighbours put together. But now people will say: 'Think about it. Some countries are sending UN troops, while others send conscripts back to where they can be drafted and be placed against the UN troops',' Mr Hirsch said.

The government of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous Land, intends to send about 100 refugees on Thursday on a Romanian plane from Dusseldorf to the Romanian city of Timisoara, where they will be put on buses and driven into Serbia. This indirect route is necessary because international flights to rump Yugoslavia are banned under UN sanctions.

Since the Yugoslav wars broke out in June 1991, Germany has taken in about 400,000 refugees, but about 200,000 are not considered to be genuine cases of political asylum. More than 50,000 are in North Rhine-Westphalia.