POLICY TOWARD UNRRA
       OPERATIONS IN THE BALKANS
 
General Picture of UNRRA Accomplishments
 
     Some 1200 persons have been recruited, including
an excellent Bureau of Supply and Health Division. As 
to finance, contributions of nearly $1,800,000,000 
have been provided for operating expenses and most of
the members have paid their administrative quotas. As 
to operations, while UNRRA has not yet taken over di-
rection of relief in any liberated area, the following 
facts may be noted: (1) it is running refugee camps 
in the Middle East for some 50,000 Greek, Yugoslav, Al-
banian and Italian refugees; (2) it has arranged with
the military to care for displaced persons in Italy and 
to send supplies to Italy early this year to supplement 
the military relief program; (3) it has sent personnel 
into Greece to act for the military and is prepared to 
do the same in Albania .and Yugoslavia; (4) it has ar-
ranged with SHAEF to attach UNRRA health and displaced 
persons personnel to the SHAEF G-5 missions; (5) it has 
arranged with the U.S. Typhus Commission for interchange 
of personnel on typhus teams; (6) it has concluded agree-
ments with Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and 
Luxembourg to send UNRRA missions to those countries for 
health, welfare and displaced persons activities; (7) 
it is prepared, as soon as they have the consent of the 
Soviets, to send supplies to Poland and Czechoslovakia, 
and WSA has promised a small amount of shipping for this 
purpose commencing this month; (8) UNRRA has made sub-
stantial progress with respect to the acquisition of 
supplies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada 
and the American republics; (9) an UNRRA mission is in 
Ethiopia; and (10) regional offices for the Far East 
have been opened at Sydney and Chungking.
 
Immediate Balkan Problems
 
       An important difficulty in UNRRA operations in the 
Balkans has been the shipping shortage in general and 
the necessity hitherto of dependence on the military for 
shipping allocations. Arrangements are now being made 
for ships to be allocated to UNRRA for Northwestern Europe, 
and this arrangement may later be extended to the Balkans. 
UNRRA has made no plans for operations in the ex-enemy 
states, Rumania, Bulgaria or Hungary, or in Austria ex-
cept as it may be desirable to handle, for the military,
 
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