The numbers of migrants trying to reach Western Europe via Albania have leapt this year, with people smugglers opening a new Balkan route for those fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, the Reuters news agency has said in the article headlined "Migrant numbers leap on new Balkan route across Albania".
“The flow of migrants heading for EU member Croatia across Albania and its northern neighbor Montenegro remains modest compared with the hundreds of thousands who took a route further to the east when the European migration crisis peaked in 2015.
“But the rate of increase this year is rapid. Officials say Albanian authorities caught 2,311 migrants in the first five months, up from just 162 in January-May 2017 and more than double the figure of about 1,000 for the whole of last year,” the news agency stated.
Croatian and Albanian interior minister discuss illegal migrations
Croatia’s Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Friday met his Albanian counterpart Fatmir Xhafaj for the talks on this topic.
“From the very start, Croatia has been against setting up wire fences because fences never stopped anyone. We can only stop them with well trained, well equipped border police and cooperation with all countries with each taking its share of the burden in that regard,” Bozinovic said in a statement to the press.
He reiterated that the current situation is by no means the migrant crisis experienced in 2015 nor were the number of migrants the same. Albania’s Minister Xhafaj said the two countries were cooperating in the fight against various challenges including illegal migration. Compared with last year, there has been an increase in the number of illegal migrants in Albania.
A few migrants in Albania interviewed by Reuters complained about the conduct of Croatian police.
“Moroccan, Algerian and Pakistani migrants said they followed advice from friends who had crossed earlier: ‘Go to Italy because you get ID papers there’ and ‘Be careful of Croatian police, they beat you up badly’,” according to the Reuters article.
Croatian police said they are acting within the law and protecting the borders.
Interior minister Davor Bozinovic said more than 144 people have been detained for people smuggling this year, the news agency added.
Cooperation in neighbourhood of utmost importance to fight illegal migration — ministers
Illegal migrants can only be stopped with well trained and equipped border police and cooperation between all countries in the neighbourhood, with each one taking on its share of the burden, the Interior Minister Bozinovic said after meeting Fatmir Xhafaj.
“Our efforts and endeavours aren’t sufficient when it comes to the migrant crisis,” Xhafaj claimed and added that it was important to have help from the European Union.
1,380 migrants seek asylum in Montenegro since start of year
Since the start of the year, 1,380 people have applied for asylum in Montenegro, which is considerably more than in previous years, a UNHCR spokesman, Mensur Bajramspahic said on Friday, adding that since 2006 when the Asylum Act entered into force, the number of asylum seekers in Montenegro has amounted to a total of 13,000.
Bajramspahic said that the majority of asylum seekers give up on their applications in Montenegro because they consider it to be just a transit country and their intention is to reach some of West European countries.
On average, they stay for a couple of days in Montenegro before heading off for some EU country.
Most migrants are arriving from Albania, and Montenegrin authorities are considering erecting a wire fence along the border with Albania. Hungary has offered to help Montenegro with this task.
New route considered difficult
The route north is difficult.
“I have come from Turkey, then from Greece and tried to go to Montenegro. Police caught me twice,” Hichem Boussadia, 29, told Reuters at the Border Police Station in Shkoder near the Montenegrin frontier.
Albanian police said they have arrested a handful of people smugglers this year ferrying migrants in taxis or vans, according to the Reuters article.
Southeast European countries set to step up control of influx of illegal migrants
Law enforcement authorities from southeast European countries held a conference on migration and asylum matters in Sarajevo on Thursday and concluded that the migrant crisis had to be kept under full control and agreed on a set of operational measures aimed at thwarting illegal migrant routes through the region.
The conference was held in Sarajevo following the developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina exposing that country to a tide of migrants since the start of this year.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Security Minister Dragan Mektic said on Wednesday that the country had recorded over 5,600 illegal entries of western Europe-bound migrants since the beginning of this year.
Currently, Bosnia is catering for 1,700-1,800 irregular migrants.
