The Evening Press today launches an appeal to relieve the desperate plight of the refugee children of Kosovo.

John Layfield, of Yorkshire Water, with some of the water purification equipment being sent to aid refugees

We are asking readers to help UNICEF - the United Nations Children's Fund, one of the leading charities - provide essential drugs, medicines and supplies in the stricken area.

With an estimated one million people on the move, either still within Kosovo or crossing the borders in search of safety, your support could make the vital difference to children trapped in a worsening cycle of violence and despair.UNICEF says just £5.44 will pay for 100 syringes to administer drugs, £21 will provide enough rehydration salts to treat 300 dangerously ill children, and £37 could provide an emergency sanitation kit including soap, antiseptics and disinfectants.

The charity's regional organiser for the north-east, Sandra Howarth, said: "Every penny counts and everybody can make a difference to so many people. I think this appeal with the Evening Press is an ideal opportunity - it gives it a local ownership, and a chance to help at the local level."

The appeal was launched as fears were growing today for thousands of Kosovan refugees who apparently disappeared from a makeshift camp on Macedonia's border with Serbia. Aid officials said 10,000 refugees were unaccounted for after the rushed, secretive and possibly forced clearance of the squalid camp at Blace.

Meanwhile, a £70 million special EU aid package for countries bordering Kosovo is expected to be formally approved today, as Europe's governments attempt to contain the refugee crisis within the Balkans.

A national television appeal, launched on Tuesday by BBC presenter Jill Dando and actress Juliet Stevenson, to help the Kosovan refugees has raised £6 million in 36 hours.

Plans for an aid mission by the Haxby-based charity WATCH (World Air Transport Communications and Health) received a massive boost today when Yorkshire Water announced it is giving £200,000-worth of equipment to help purify drinking water for tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the horrors of Kosovo.

One million purification tablets, and filtration equipment worth £200,000, will be given to Watch, which will then ship it to agencies operating on the Kosovo-Albania border. A company director, John Layfield, said he hoped the equipment would go some way towards easing the refugees' suffering, and also spur other businesses into action.

WATCH secretary Clive Phoenix said: "This is a tremendous gesture by Yorkshire Water, which we hope will act as a catalyst for other organisations across the country. I ask all Evening Press readers 'For God's sake help us".

Meanwhile, a council emergency planner from York has gone out to Macedonia to help Kosovan refugees. John Simmons, City of York Council's emergency planning co-ordinator, is also a reservist and has been called in by the Ministry of Defence to assist in the settlement of refugees.

To help: send in a donation - cheques and postal orders should be made payable to UNICEF - to UNICEF/Evening Press Kosovo Appeal, 54 West End, Strensall, York YO32 5UH. Or send off for a fundraising pack. Quick to organise events can range from a coffee morning, to a raffle or sponsored word search. Every penny counts.

If you decide to hold a fundraising event, please give details to the Evening Press Newsdesk on 01904-653051.

Help can also be given by sending donations to The Disasters Emergency Committee's Kosovo Crisis Appeal at PO Box 999, London EC 4A 9AA or for credit card donatiions call 0990 22 22 23.

see NEWS 'Give and let live'

see COMMENT 'We must save their lives now'

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.