The hundreds of migrants staying at the Lipa camp finally have access to running water, electricity and heating in the tents Bosnia's Armed Forces set up for them to stay in but some 100 kilometres north, in the forests around the town of Velika Kladusa, there are still seven migrants staying out in the open, braving the extreme cold.
Dozens of migrants set up the makeshift tent settlement months ago deep in the forest, away from locals in Velika Kladusa. Only seven of them, all of them Bangladeshi nationals, remain there today. The others were relocated to the nearby Miral migrant reception centre.
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“Forty-five people were taken to the camp the other day, we stayed. I didn't want to go,” one of them, Muhabetrulah, told N1, explaining that there are “problems in the camp.”
“I'm fine here, people are helping me. In the camp, Pakistanis and Afghans always confront us from Bangladesh, it’s a big problem. I am happier here though,” she said.
The migrants said the hardest part of staying in facing the extreme cold in the mornings and evenings and that it is difficult to war up, despite the firewood they gather.
About 100 kilometres away, things are looking much better at the Lipa camp after authorities secured running water, electricity, heating and toilets there.
Hopeless, stranded in #Bosnia – the country they did not know they would get stuck in when they started this journey; #migrants in an improvised tent camp surviving winter, waiting for another chance to go for what they call the Game (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/hcnm1sUawb
— N1english (@N1info) January 20, 2021
Hundreds of migrants were left without shelter after the Lipa camp was shut down on December 23. The IOM pulled out of the camp because the migrants staying there had no access to electricity, running water or sewage. The camp also did not provide shelter from the extreme weather conditions in the winter.
The Council of Ministers adopted a decision last month to turn the improvised tent camp into an official one that would provide adequate shelter and basic necessities to the migrants.
The migrants were supposed to be relocated until the works are completed but any attempt to do so failed due to resistance from local communities.
It is warm in the tents now and the migrants are mostly placed together according to their country of origin.
N1 entered one of the tents where some 30 Pakistanis are housed.
We spoke to 25-year-old Osman. He says – everything is much better here now.
“I am much happier now, now we are provided with everything, there is electricity, we all have beds, mattresses. We had a lot of problems because there was no electricity or water in the past days,but now it's all good,” 25-year-old Osman told N1.
“The situation is a lot better compared to the previous several weeks, now we have heating in the tents, the tents are good, you can see we have electricity, the food is fine, and now we have water and toilets,” another Pakistani migrant, Seklen, added.
The migrants said they pass the time playing cards and dice and that there are no problems between them.
“We get along well. Earlier, some others used to cause problems over charging cell phones, but we don’t have that here anymore,” one od them said.
There is also a tent for the Red Cross, containers for members of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs who are on duty monitoring the situation 24 hours a day and a tent for doctors visiting the camp.
Instead of international organisations, this time state authorities have taken control of the situation.
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