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Migrants Face Bleak Christmas After Bosnia Camp Fire

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Hundreds of migrants fleeing hardship faced a bleak Christmas without shelter amid harsh winter conditions after a refugee camp was closed and set on fire in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Wednesday’s blaze added to tensions around the run-down facility near the Croatian border. Thick black was arising from the Lipa camp where over a thousand migrants escaping war, persecution, and poverty stayed since summer. The camp was set up to stop the coronavirus spread here in the northern part of Bosnia.

But the flames engulfed this temporary shelter, and residents ran away in panic from the blaze. No injuries were immediately reported. Bosnian officials claimed the fire started because the planned closure of the camp had triggered anger among migrants.

Witnesses said the blaze appeared to have started in a fuel storage facility and quickly spread to the tents where the migrants lived.

Bosnia has become a crossroads for thousands of migrants hoping to reach neighboring European Union member Croatia and then head toward wealthier, more welcoming EU nations.

Some have complained about mistreatment and abuse by Croatian border police pushing them back. Most refugees and migrants are stuck in Bosnia’s northwestern Krajina region as other areas in the ethnically divided nation have refused to accept them.

SMOLDERING REMAINS

And as winter sets in, many stay near the still-smoldering remains of the camp. Sajid Ali, a refugee from Afghanistan, appears desperate. “There is no place for immigrants. We request from Croatia to give a stay for immigrants. We request from Germany; they have to do something with those people, for these immigrants, ” he said.

Some aid groups try to help, explained Peter Van der Auweraert, who heads the Bosnia mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “What we will do, IOM and the Danish Refugee Council and the Red Cross is that we will increase our humanitarian assistance outside,” he told reporters.

“IOM is already providing humanitarian assistance to the 1,500 people sleeping outside. [This is] including winterized jackets, winterized sleeping bags, food packages, and hygiene packages. But let’s be very clear: While this reduces human suffering, this is not a solution, ” the IOM official added.

The European Union has warned Bosnia that thousands of migrants face a freezing winter without shelter. It has urged the troubled nation’s bickering politicians to set aside their differences and take action. However, EU nations such as Hungary also refuse to accommodate migrants facing hardship, building huge fences to prevent them from entering.

Thousands of men, women, and children cope with uncertainties in an area that already saw its first snow earlier this month. Many have been sleeping outdoors in makeshift tent camps or abandoned houses with no facilities and no imminent political support for their plight.