BOSNIA: EVACUATION OF MIGRANT FROM BURNED DOWN CAMP CANCELS AMID FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Thu 31 December 2020:

Hundreds of migrants in Bosnia were left out in the cold for another night as attempts to relocate them after a blaze destroyed their camp failed.

The relocation of hundreds of migrants and refugees from a fire-damaged tent camp in Bosnia has been cancelled amid protests by residents, reflecting confusion in the Balkan country’s handling of the crisis.

The migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East were supposed to be taken from the Lipa camp in northwestern Bosnia to a former army barracks in the central town of Konjic on Tuesday. But protests by the town’s residents and disagreement among local authorities meant the migrants ended up spending about 24 hours in evacuation buses.

Disaster upon disaster in #Lipa #Bihac #BiH – as far as we know now a group of former residents put three tents and containers on fire after most of the migrants had left the camp. Luckily no casualties to our knowledge at this point but disaster nevertheless @UNmigration @UN_BiH pic.twitter.com/Ro7vtUFkcy

— Peter Van der Auweraert (@PeterAuweraert) December 23, 2020

A massive fire broke out at a migrant centre in Bihac, Bosnia, which houses about 1,200 people. The camp was set to be shut down for winter refurbishing, but authorities have failed to find alternative accommodations for its residents pic.twitter.com/LWKO0nilGI

— TRT World (@trtworld) December 23, 2020

It’s been a week since a devastating fire broke out at Lipa Camp, a refugee camp in #Bosnia.

Islamic Relief is working closely with partners and local NGOs to respond to those in need. Our teams are distributing emergency food supplies and carrying out assessments for response. pic.twitter.com/XxQqTu4svc

— Islamic Relief UK (@IslamicReliefUK) December 30, 2020

On Wednesday afternoon they were eventually told to disembark and return to the now-empty camp.

“The buses are leaving the Lipa area and the migrants have been left behind,” Nermin Kljajic, the Interior Ministry chief in Unsko-Sanska county, told news portal Klix.ba.

Instead, they spent about 24 hours in buses before they were instructed on Wednesday afternoon to disembark and return to the now-empty camp.

The migrants lit fires to warm up while waiting to see what would happen next.

About 1,000 migrants were stranded at the camp in snowy, windy weather after it was demolished in a fire last week.

The tent camp, located near the border with Croatia, lacked basic facilities such as running water and heating.

“We are living like animals.”

More than a thousand refugees and migrants are stranded in freezing temperatures in Bosnia after their camp burned down on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Fkkdmj7rQO

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 28, 2020

European Union officials and aid groups warned of a humanitarian disaster and increased pressure on Bosnia to move the migrants away from the camp.

Peter Van der Auweraert from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) shared a video on Twitter of the migrants returning to Lipa, saying that they had “close to no shelter for the night” and that “last-minute political negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome.”

This is current state of former Lipa camp #Bihac #BiH where 900 #migrants who spent the night on the busses were just returned to by local police, as last minute political negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome. Close to no shelter for the night. @UN_BiH @UNmigration pic.twitter.com/SalRFIOgsk

— Peter Van der Auweraert (@PeterAuweraert) December 30, 2020

The Lipa camp has repeatedly been criticized for its “inhumane” living conditions. It was opened as a temporary shelter for the summer months and was due to be shut this week for winter refurbishing.

The IOM said last week that it was ceasing to run the camp in a bid to pressure the government to close it. A fire — allegedly started by the residents — then broke out at the site, destroying most of the tents. Since then, some 1,000 migrants at the camp have been left to face plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfall without running water and heating facilities.

The EU, which has supported Bosnia with €60 million ($73 million) to manage the crisis and pledged €25 million, has warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the country.

The troubled Balkan country, which went through a devastating war in the 1990s, was struggling before the pandemic to respond to an influx of thousands of people seeking to reach Western Europe by crossing from Bosnia to Croatia.

Nearly 10,000 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East are stuck in Bosnia, with many seeking to cross the border into neighboring Croatia, an EU member.

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