Closure of Belarus migrant camp puts coda to crisis

MINSK, Belarus

A camp on the Belarusian-Polish border for would-be Europe immigrants has been closed, the Belarusian State Border Committee announced on Tuesday, seemingly putting an end to a migrant crisis that made headlines last year.

In a statement, the committee said no one is left at the logistics center, which the government had turned into a camp for those trying to cross into Poland, most of whom came to Belarus from Iraq, in Belarus’ Bruzgi border area in the city of Grodno.

The migrants left the camp, the statement said, adding that 98 people also left Belarus’ capital Minsk for Erbil, northern Iraq on an evacuation plane under an International Organization for Migration (IOM) assistance program.

The rest were temporarily placed in hotels and other places in line with their wishes, the statement added, stressing that these people will also await flights back home.

“The refugees’ decision to return to their countries is largely determined by their awareness of the meaninglessness of waiting and the indifference of European Union countries to solving their problems," the statement said.

Migrant crisis on the Belarusian-Polish border

Starting last November about 2,000 people came from Iraq and Syria to Belarus, most of them trying to cross into Poland, and waited for some time in camps in wooded areas near the border, often lacking shelter or basic humanitarian needs.

The EU said Belarus had lured the people to the area, falsely claiming they could cross over into the EU, in order to create a crisis. The EU imposed sanctions on Belarus over the crisis. Belarus denied the claims.

Later, the people evacuated the camps and moved to a logistics center prepared by the Belarusian government in the Bruzgi border region.

Most have now returned to Iraq.

*Writing by Merve Berker