CRISIS LOOMS AS BOSNIA TRIES TO HELP MIGRANTS BEFORE WINTER
About 2,000 people have crossed the country to Croatia and don’t want to backtrack to shelters
Bosnia is racing to avert a humanitarian crisis for thousands of EU-bound migrants crossing its mountainous terrain and sleeping without proper shelter as winter approaches.
The impoverished Balkan state has become a stop on the new route to the EU for migrants escaping war and poverty in Asia and the Mena region.
About 20,000 have crossed the rugged country this year, headed for EU member state Croatia, authorities say.
But Bosnia, with its own economic and political problems, is not eager to host the newcomers and has been slow to open reception centres, especially in the north-west region where most are gathering near the Croatian border.
Last week authorities opened two new centres, one in the north-west and the other near Sarajevo. They double the total number of available beds to about 1,700.
That still leaves more than 1,000 in fragile conditions that could turn into a humanitarian tragedy when the first snow falls, the UN refugee agency said.
Many migrants have been living under tarpaulin, tents and inside an abandoned building in a wooded park around Bihac, a city in the north-west that has became a base for attempts to cross into Croatia.
Hundreds of others are clustered at makeshift camps in the area, or inside deserted homes. Toilets and showers are in short supply but aid groups and locals are stepping in to provide meals.
“We are very lucky that the weather has been mild so far,” said Peter Van der Auweraert from the International Organisation for Migration.
The goal is to provide roofs for about 3,700 people “who are in transit in Bosnia”, not permanent housing, Mr Van der Auweraert said.
Many of the migrants have been travelling for years and are eager to go on.
Mohsin, 27, from Pakistan, said he was planning to leave Bihac soon and hoped to reach Italy before winter.
“I tried three times but had bad luck,” he said. “I was caught twice in Croatia and once, the last time, in Slovenia after seven days of walking.”
Migrants refer to these attempts as The Game. While most continue north, some of them have been thwarted by border police who are increasing patrols.
The unlucky ones have reported many accounts of police abuse, saying officers stole their phones and money and beat them with tree branches, Doctors without Borders says.
“That is not the job of the police to break the phones, to steal the money and to beat the people,” said an Afghan migrant who gave his name as Commando, holding up his phone’s shattered screen.
Mobile phones are a lifeline for migrants on the move, allowing them to touch base with relatives and send co-ordinates of their route to others trying to follow, Bosnian police say.
The fast-approaching winter was one factor spurring several hundred migrants to march to the Croatian border last week, where they clashed with police blocking their path.
The group, which includes families with young children, has been sleeping in tents on the roadside for days, huddling around campfires as temperatures sink to about 5°C overnight.
They refuse to return to a makeshift camp in Velika Kladusa, where resources had run dry.
“The situation in Velika Kladusa’s camp is real agony,” said Zehida Bihorac, a local resident who has been taking food, clothing and other support to migrants.
“These people have been without electricity for more than a month and a half and their water was cut off.”
Up to 200 migrants have been arriving daily in the Bihac area in recent weeks, with tension rising as some locals came out to protest against them.
Police announced last week that they would no longer allow migrants into the northwest zone, sending at least 700 south back to Sarajevo in recent days. The decision was made because of the “deteriorating security situation”, said Snezana Galic, a spokeswoman for the regional police.
Early last month, police officers fired warning shots into the Bihac camp after being caught in a clash with migrants who had been fighting among themselves.
But those who have made it to within sight of the EU’s edge are not interested in backtracking.
“We had a good life and we have lost it,” said Majid Dayyani, an Iranian among those camped close to the Croatia border crossing.
“We want a life. Is that too much? That’s not too much. We want to leave this country. Someone should hear us.”
We are very lucky that the weather has been mild so far PETER VAN DER AUWERAERT International Organisation for Migration