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Slovenian army to help control migrants at border, thousands held up in Balkans
A mounted policeman leads a group of migrants near Dobova, Slovenia, October 20, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic
By Marja Novak and Aleksandar Vasovic
20/10/2015
LJUBLJANA/BERKASOVO, Serbia (Reuters) - Slovenia said on Tuesday it would deploy the army to guard its border and appealed for help from the European Union as migrants streamed through the tiny country and many thousands more spent another cold night outside in the Balkans.
Attempts by Slovenia to ration the flow of migrants since Hungary sealed its border with Croatia at midnight on Friday have triggered a knock-on effect through the Balkans, with thousands held up at border crossings.
At least 12,100 migrants were currently in Serbia, the prime minister said on Tuesday, and the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) reported at least 2,500 migrants stranded in no man's land between Croatia and Serbia.
By late morning on Tuesday, 5,000 migrants had entered Slovenia, after some 8,000 in total had crossed the border on Monday, the Slovenian Interior Ministry said.
As the smallest country on the Balkan migration route, Slovenia had "limited possibilities of border control and accommodating migrants", the government said in an earlier statement.
Slovenia, which borders Croatia, Hungary, Austria and Italy, has a population of two million people.
"Therefore Slovenia publicly calls upon the (EU) member states and the European institutions to actively engage in taking over this burden," the government said.
SHIVERING IN THE COLD
At the Berkasovo border crossing between Serbia and Croatia, Jamal, a 50-year-old Syrian from the city of Tartus, spent the night at the border crossing with his daughter and wife.
"It was very cold, very, very cold, we are shivering, we received some food, but (there were) no tents for everybody, so we slept under a van, they gave us blankets," Jamal said.
Astrid Coyne-Jensen, a program coordinator with the Danish People's Aid humanitarian organization, said that its medical team treated around 150 people from late Monday until Tuesday morning.
"Mainly we had flu-like infections, sore throats, fevers, unlike in the summer when we were treating blisters and foot injuries. People are mainly seeking immediate help to relieve symptoms as they are in a hurry, they rarely stop for a prolonged intervention," she said.
In the morning, hundreds of people bypassed a border checkpoint and police cordon, and walked straight into Croatia along a path between an orchard and a vineyard.
Croatian authorities said more than 2,000 people were sheltered in the Opatovac camp near the border. From there buses were taking them to the nearest train station in Tovarnik or straight to the Slovenian border.
On Monday, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said many more migrants were on their way to Serbia from Macedonia.
(Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Raissa Kasolowsky)
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