GEVGELIJA, Macedonia: Around 7,600 migrants entered Macedonia in just 12 hours overnight – a record according to a UN official quoted by Macedonia’s state news agency Friday.
“Around 7,600 migrants, mostly from Syria, entered Macedonia between 6pm Thursday and 6am today,” Alexandra Krause of the UNHCR refugee agency told MIA.
“We have information from our Greek colleagues that more migrants are travelling towards the Macedonian border in buses,” she added. Some 500 migrants per hour, including refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East, were arriving in Macedonia, according to humanitarian workers and AFP journalists.
Once arriving in the former Yugoslav republic, they walk to a reception centre set up by the UNHCR where they register with the authorities and later board buses that take them north to the border to Serbia.
From there they enter Hungary, a European Union member. On Friday, some 30 buses were waiting to transport them. Meanwhile, Thursday’s incessant rain had stopped, making the migrants’ difficult situation marginally more bearable.
Along with Serbia, Macedonia has become a major transit country for tens of thousands of migrants who trudge up from Greece, after risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean crammed into makeshift boats.
The majority are heading for Germany, which has pledged to welcome hundreds of thousands more refugees having already taken in 450,000 to date since January.
Meanwhile, in Presevo, on the Serbian border, hundreds of migrants were waiting to obtain documents allowing them to continue their journey through the Balkan country.
“The night was difficult, we are soaked to the skin,” Mustafa Osman, a 28-year-old man, told AFP. The former Syrian police officer from the northern town of Aleppo was hoping to get to Germany.
His father, brother and sister were accompanying him on the long and dangerous journey.
“The only goal of this exodus is to survive,” added Wahid Rashid, 37, while trying to dry his passport holding it above an improvised camp fire.
The first rains hinted at the problems that autumn and winter would bring migrants crossing the Balkans region.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic warned Thursday his country would face “many problems” from September 15, when tougher migrant legislation enters into force in Hungary.
“After September 15, the refugees who were staying in Serbia between two and three days will stay longer, between five and ten days, and we must be prepared for this new reality,” Vucic said.
Hungary completed a razor-wire barrier along its 175-kilometre (110-mile) border with Serbia in late August, but it has failed to stop anyone crossing into the country.
However, it is also building a fence four metres (12 feet) high that it aims to complete by late October or early November, and the government has said it will be manned by the military.
-AFP
