They have come a long way … but are likely to return to the starting point. The Iraqi government announced Thursday the organization of a first repatriation flight for Iraqi migrants stranded on the border between Belarus and Poland “on a voluntary basis”.
“Iraq will make a first flight for those who wish to return voluntarily on the 18th of this month” from Belarus, Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told Iraqi public television on Sunday night. see you Monday.
More than 500 Iraqis stranded at the border
He did not specify how many people would board this Minsk-Baghdad flight. On the other hand, Iraq “has identified 571 Iraqis” stranded at the Polish-Belarusian border who said they were ready to return “voluntarily” to Iraq, explained Ahmed al-Sahaf.
These Iraqis, mostly from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, are part of a group of thousands of migrants from the Middle East who camp on the border between Belarus and Poland, a member country of the European Union.
Regular air links between Baghdad and Minsk have been suspended since August and Belarusian consulates in Baghdad and Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, have been closed for a little over a week.
These measures, explained Ahmed al-Sahaf, “have reduced Iraqi trips (to Belarus, editor’s note), but the problem is that some now go there on indirect flights, via Turkey, Qatar. , the Emirates and Egypt ”.
They are fleeing economic hardship and instability
Iraqi Kurdish migrants say they are fleeing the economic difficulties and instability that plague their region, located in northern Iraq. Some of them, interviewed by AFP, say they want to enter Poland and then go to Germany or Great Britain in the hope of finding better economic prospects there.
Their fate is a source of deadlock in relations between the Union and the United States on the one hand, and Belarus on the other, supported by Russia, its ally.
This migration crisis was raised Monday during a meeting in Baghdad between the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas and Prime Minister Moustafa al-Kazimi.
In a statement released at the end of this meeting, Moustafa al-Kazimi underlined “the importance of taking the necessary measures to guarantee the security of Iraqi citizens throughout Europe”, while warning against ” the risk for the latter of being victims of migrant smuggling ”. Moustafa al-Kazimi also said according to the statement that his government wants to ensure the “voluntary return of all stranded Iraqis, and in a manner that preserves their dignity”.