A rapid fire has destroyed an immigrant camp in Bosnia heavily criticized by rights groups for being inadequate due to its lack of resources.
The fire broke out in the Lipa camp, near the border with Croatia, on the same day that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) declared the effective closure of the facility, saying Bosnian authorities had ignored it. their appeals to provide basic services.
Thick black smoke was seen rising as residents, mostly from the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, fled in panic. A United Nations official said the fire was believed to have been started by disgruntled migrants over the temporary closure of the camp.
“As far as we know now, a group of former residents set fire to three tents and containers after most of the migrants had left the camp,” said IOM’s Peter Van der Auweraert. He said that to the best of his knowledge, there were no casualties.
IOM has urged the Bosnian authorities to make the camp suitable for the winter and offer an alternative shelter option while the work is done.
Hundreds of immigrants, including children, are now left without shelter, as temperatures in Bosnia are expected to reach -4 ° C.
Bosnia has become a bottleneck for thousands of migrants hoping to reach the EU. Most are concentrated in the Bosanska Krajina region in the northwest of the country, as other regions of the ethnically divided nation refuse to accept them. From there they try to cross the border with Croatia into the EU and fight back.
Bosnian authorities ordered the relocation of thousands of immigrants to the remote time camp in March at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
A few weeks ago, when temperatures dropped to -6 ° C, more than 1,400 people were still living in the countryside. The showers and toilets had been frozen and people were forced to use the surrounding forest to relieve themselves.
The EU has warned Bosnia that thousands of immigrants are facing an icy winter without shelter and has urged the country’s political authorities to put aside their differences and take action.
But others believe that behind the Lipa incident a deep political rift is unfolding between the UN and the EU and the Bosnian authorities.
Attempts to reopen another camp, Bira, in the Bihać region, have been opposed after authorities in the Una-Sana canton closed it in late September.
“What is happening in Bihać is a political crisis that has been going on for almost two years,” said Paola Lucchesi, a former Bihać-based journalist and president of the NGO Centar za Odrzivi Razvoj “One”.
“In the last two months, a confrontation between the cantonal and municipal authorities and IOM, which acts as an operational partner of the EU commission, has escalated to the point of a full-blown constitutional crisis in the country.” added.