Until recently, some 2000 people lived in appalling conditions in the tent camps on the border, hoping to reach the EU. Sometimes they were without food and water and temperatures were below freezing. Twelve people have died in recent weeks, according to a Polish aid agency, including a baby of 1.
According to the spokesman for Belarusian President Lukashenko, there are still about 7,000 migrants in the country. Earlier today, Belarus proposed to return 5,000 migrants and allow the EU to take in 2,000. The European Commission has previously said that the EU does not want to negotiate with Belarus about the fate of the migrants.
Iraqis back
It was also announced today that the first Iraqis stranded in Belarus have flown back to Iraq. Some 430 Iraqis had expressed their willingness to return after giving up hope of reaching the European Union from Belarus. 374 of them have since been taken to Erbil and Baghdad.
Some of the Iraqi migrants are still staying at the airport, others have been temporarily housed in a storage area nearby. There, according to the president’s spokesman, they will receive mattresses, water, food and medical care.
The West has accused President Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns to destabilize the EU, in revenge for the sanctions the EU has imposed on his regime. Lukashenko has consistently denied organizing the flow of refugees to his country.
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