The urge to get home in the belief that Kosovo was safe for Albanians proved too strong to resist for two refugees yesterday, with tragic consequences. Both were killed by landmines which exploded as they walked across a field near the border with the Macedonian town of Blace.
Last night, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees urgently appealed to ethnic Albanians not to return to their homes yet. "My urgent message to all the refugees in the camps is `Don't come back yet, it's not safe'," UNHCR envoy Mr Dennis McNamara said in Pristina.
About 2,000 refugees who were camped near the border in Macedonia crossed it in mid-morning. When they found their way blocked by mainly military traffic on the main highway, they took alternative routes towards Pristina and some of them wandered into a minefield.
"Our worst fears about refugees coming back too early came true. Two refugees died and one was injured," said Mr McNamara.
But for many refugees the urge to go home is irresistible.
"We've had enough. We know from people in Pristina that houses are still there. If our house isn't there, at least the land is," said Mr Naim Mustafa (32), who was returning after more than two months in Macedonia.
In steaming heat, a line of cars carrying refugees stretched for a kilometre at Blace.
"The people are voting with their feet," acknowledged Mr Sren Jessen-Petersen, UN assistant high commissioner for refugees. "This exodus is building up very fast. The only worry is that they are going back faster than the Kfor can make the area safe," he said.
UNHCR officials walked down the queue of refugees to distribute leaflets warning that the situation in Kosovo was still dangerous. "We are not encouraging them. But we are not telling them not to go. The important thing is that they should know exactly what the situation is," said Ms Irene Kahn of the UNHCR.
Unlike on Monday, when most of those crossing were men travelling alone, entire families passed through the border yesterday.
There was a similar picture in Vermica a border crossing on the Albanian frontier which the Kosovo Liberation Army quietly agreed to hand over to German NATO troops.
By lunchtime yesterday, some 3,000 ethnic Albanians, who also ignored warnings to stay in camps, had set out.
The KLA, who occupied this former Yugoslav border post after German NATO troops told Serb forces to withdraw on Sunday, were noting the names of the refugees and then letting them through. The Germans also removed their barbed wire barriers.
"I am going to see what has happened to our farming machinery and our house," said Mr Reshit Rama (85), from Suhareka. "If my house is all right, I will return today and will take everybody back."
As Rama, the sole male member of his family making the return journey, was heading towards Suhareka, Arush Krasniqi (52), who had stayed in Prizren, was crossing to Albania to search for his son who was forced to flee.
No incidents were reported during the reverse exodus yesterday as more Serbs decided to leave rather than face the wrath of the returning Albanians. On the road from Vermica to Prizren, two burnt buses and dead sheep could be seen, and a school in Vlasnja had been destroyed.
But in Prizren, shops were open for the first time in months and four German NATO tanks patrolled the road to Vermica. On Monday, there were ugly scenes when Albanians lined the streets to jeer, and throw sticks at departing Serbs - military and civilian.