Snow was still falling, Saturday January 9, on hundreds of homeless migrants stuck in Bosnia on the road to Europe, and who are waiting to be relocated since the fire in their camp more than two weeks ago, reports a photographer from AFP.

Temperatures are freezing in the former Lipa camp in north-western Bosnia, near the border with Croatia, a member of the European Union.

Fog reigns and the area is covered with snow.

The camp, where more than 1,300 mainly Pakistani and Afghan migrants lived, was destroyed by fire on December 23 after the withdrawal of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), manager of the place.

Hundreds of migrants have since been waiting to be temporarily accommodated in some 20 tents set up in the area by the Bosnian army and many live in the nearby forest.

A new camp will be rebuilt, but not before April

"There is no water, no electricity, no showers. It's snow, rain, people don't have medicine. It's all a big problem. We just have a little of food, "Assad Ali, a Pakistani man in his thirties, told AFP.

The temporary tents, which will be equipped with heating and can accommodate around 900 people, will be usable "in the coming days", said the mayor of Bihac, Suhret Fazlic.

Red Cross volunteers distribute food to a thousand people, Selam Midzic, local manager of the organization, told AFP.

"It is very important that migrants feel that everyone is involved in helping them," he said.

The authorities have promised to rebuild a new solid camp, but probably not before April.

IOM had justified its withdrawal from Lipa by the fact that the camp was unsuitable for winter.

The Bosnian police suspect the migrants themselves of having started the fire to denounce this situation.

EU calls on local authorities to "assume their responsibilities"

The IOM demanded the reopening of the Bihac center, closed in October under pressure from residents, which the local authorities refused outright.

The EU, which has provided Bosnia with nearly 90 million euros since 2018 to manage migrants, has called on local authorities several times this week to "assume (their) responsibilities".

For his part, the mayor of Bihac accuses the IOM of having "provoked the humanitarian crisis".

"They bequeathed the problem to us and said 'it is a humanitarian crisis that you must resolve'," he protested on local "O Kanal" television.

For him, as for other local officials, Europe is shifting onto Bosnia, a poor country, the problem of migrants who dream only of reaching the EU.

For three years, tens of thousands of marchers fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa have crossed his city located on the "Balkan route". 

With AFP

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