• Greece, huge fire in the refugee camp in Lesbos.

    Thousands of migrants fleeing

  • Cronavirus and migrants.

    The covid in the refugee camp of Lesbos.

    Oxfam: health catastrophe risk

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10 September 2020After the fires in the Greek refugee camp of Moria in Lesbos, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, reached an agreement to welcome 400 unaccompanied minors in a joint action with other EU countries.



Very complicated task


Resolving the situation that has arisen on the Greek island of Lesbos, where the overcrowded refugee camp of Moria burned down the other night, is a "very complicated" task and "a large part" of the Greek government is on the island to try to find a solution.



The Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said this today in a hearing at the Foreign Affairs Commission of the European Parliament in Brussels.

"As for the Moria refugee camp - he explained - what we are trying to do, after the disaster of the destruction of the camp that left 13 thousand people homeless, is to try to give them a roof. We also try to give a feeling security to the islanders and we strive to prevent implications for the few positive Covid refugees and the possible positives that are mixed with other "



Migrants with nowhere to go


Meanwhile the suffering continues for about 13 thousand refugees and migrants evacuated from the Moria migrant camp on the he Greek island of Lesbos, after a second night of fires, spent sleeping on the street.

Thousands were forced to sleep in the open after a huge fire destroyed much of the refugee camp and a second fire destroyed what was left, driving those who tried to return to the camp once again.



Police reinforcements also arrived to block asylum seekers who wanted to enter the main city of Mytilene;

local residents and officials of the municipality of Lesbos also mobilized to prevent the resettlement of migrants in the Moria camp, which now resembles a war zone with scorched earth, loose tarps and burning metal.



The mayor of Lesbos, Stratis Kytelis, told reporters that he will fight for the complete closure of the camp and against the creation of any other facility to replace it: "we do not want facilities for migrants in Lesbos," he said.



The

Commitment, the greek government and the EU


The greek government, meanwhile, is trying to find solutions, primarily to accommodate the thousands of asylum seekers who are in limbo, with nowhere to go.

while a solution was found for the 408 unaccompanied refugee minors, who were flown to mainland Greece with the help of the European Commission.



The Greek ministry of immigration and asylum announced that "all necessary actions will be taken for the immediate reception of the weakest and families of Moria in specially designed areas".

these include ships and two military vehicles.

European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas has expressed her commitment to support Greece and should travel to Lesbos.



The European Commission "will announce the 'New Pact for Migration and Asylum' on 30 September" which will include provisions "on the speed of procedures" with regard to "asylum applications" in order to "ensure that people do not remain blocked for a long time "as happened in the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Thus Adalbert Jahnz, spokesman for the European Commission, during the daily press conference