Minsk said Thursday (November 18) that a temporary immigration camp on the border between Belarus and Poland has been cleared because hundreds of Iraqis who failed to enter the EU through the border crossing have returned home.
After German Chancellor Angela Merkel had two telephone conversations with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, people’s hopes for alleviating the crisis have grown in recent days.
The European Union accused Belarus of creating a border situation to retaliate against sanctions imposed on the former Soviet Union country. Minsk and its main ally Russia rejected these allegations and criticized the EU for not accepting immigrants seeking to cross the border.
Approximately 2,000 people, mainly Iraqi Kurds, were trapped in a camp in the woods near the Bruzgi border crossing, hoping to enter Poland, a member of the European Union.
But on Thursday, the Belarusian border guards announced that the camp had been cleared and the residents “voluntarily” moved to a nearby reception center, where they were given hot food and warm clothes.
A picture of the camp that appeared to be abandoned was published, and Polish authorities confirmed that it had been emptied.
The relocation took place on the same day that the first returning flight from Belarus with 431 people landed in Iraq.
“The situation is very bad. We had to eat grass and leaves from the trees and it was very cold,” a returning resident from Albil told AFP.
Polish NGOs said they found a Syrian couple who had slept in the forest on the border for a month and lost their one-year-old child. This is another sign of severe border conditions.
“Weaponization of Immigration”
The flight is the day after Merkel and Lukashenko’s second phone call-this is the first time that a Belarusian leader has talked with a Western leader since the controversial presidential election last year.
On Thursday, Lukashenko’s spokeswoman Natalya Eismont said that there are about 7,000 migrants in the country, including those from border areas.
She said that if they want to go home, Belarus will be responsible for sending 5,000 migrants home and that Merkel will negotiate with the European Union to establish a humanitarian corridor to Germany.
But Berlin denied any agreement with Lukashenko on the possibility of such corridors, saying it “supports” neighboring Poland.
Polish Prime Minister Matusz Morawiecki earlier warned against holding direct talks with Minsk, saying that this would legitimize the Lukashenko regime.
The Polish government also warned against reaching any agreement on crises that might “beyond our minds”.
Warsaw warned Minsk that if the crisis cannot be resolved by Sunday, it will stop rail traffic with Belarus.
The European Union and the United States also issued new warnings on Thursday.
The foreign ministers of the European Union and the Group of Seven countries called on the Lukashenko regime to “immediately stop its aggressive and exploitative campaigns.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken told reporters during a visit to Nigeria that the United States may increase the sanctions it has already imposed on the country.
“This effort to weaponize immigrants must stop,” he said. “First, it caused terrible injustices to these people, making them the victims of chess pieces.”
Dozens of people detained in Poland
The Polish Border Guard said on Thursday that 200 migrants were detained after entering the country illegally, and about 500 of them tried to cross the border.
The Ministry of Defense claimed that the Belarusian Special Forces led the attempt, stating that they first carried out reconnaissance and “probably” damaged the barbed wire at the border.
“The Belarusians then forced the immigrants to throw stones at the Polish soldiers to distract them. The attempt to cross the border occurred hundreds of meters away,” it said.
It added that a family of five, including three children between the ages of seven and nine, were injured in the incident and taken to the hospital.
Polish media stated that at least 11 migrants have died since the crisis began in August.
The President of the European Parliament David Sassoli called for an end to “inhumane behavior”.
“It is heartbreaking to see a child freezing to death at the door of the European Union,” he said on Twitter.
I am following tragic reports on the border between Poland and Belarus, where a one-year-old child was found dead in the forest. It is heartbreaking to see a child freeze to death at the door of the European Union.
The exploitation of immigrants and asylum seekers must stop, and inhumane behavior must stop.
— David Sassoli (@EP_President) November 18, 2021
