Efendi Hajji Suleyman Rexhepi, grand mufti of Macedonia, a poor country that used to be a part of Yugoslavia and whose population includes a sizeable ethnic Albanian population most of whom are Muslim, expressed his dismay at the actions of the Macedonian police and army who have forbidden aid agencies from reaching Kosovar refugees on their territory and have failed to handle the stream of refugees according to international law. He also talks about the unsympathetic attitude of the Macedonian Orthodox Church towards the refugees.