Kosovo Braces For Winter

Snow is already beginning to fall in Kosovo, announcing the start of what will be another season of misery for Kosovar Albanians, CBS News Correspondent John Roberts reports.

After suffering more than a year of terror at the hands of Serbs, 78 days of NATO bombing and a mass exodus from their homeland, many of these former refugees now face a winter without heat, running water or a safe place to live.

"I think that shelter really is the overriding issue," said Neil Boothby of Save the Children.

Boothby has made several trips to Kosovo since the war ended. In some areas, 30-40% of houses have been destroyed. Many others are missing roofs or walls. And a UN program to create a winterized room for every family displaced by the fighting has little hope of meeting its goal.

" "It's safe to say that the program is woefully behind. It's fraught with disagreements over what's appropriate materials. Logistics have been a huge problem, just getting supplies in through Macedonia.

On his five-country swing through central Europe this week, President Clinton has been stressing to world leaders the need to rebuild Kosovo quickly, but the President admitted before he left the White House that it will be difficult.

"It's a problem, but I think we'll deal with it," Mr. Clinton said. "And I think the Kosovars know that it's a problem, because they all got to go home so fast. And we just have to work it through and find out whatever is necessary to get them through the winter."

Mr. Clinton will be on the ground only a few hours in Kosovo. He is scheduled to meet Albanian and Serb leaders in Pristina, give a speech to former refugees at a school outside the capital city, then travel to the US base Camp Bondsteel for an early Thanksgiving with the troops. But already, the same bad weather that is adding to the suffering of Kosovar Albanians is threatening to limit the President's visit.