Migrants in Belarus border camp say they refuse to return home

During a visit to the Belarusian-Polish border on Friday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told migrants that his government could help them return to their home countries. But FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from a border camp in Belarus, said few were drawn to the offer.

Outside a huge warehouse in Bruzgi, Belarus, near the Polish border, migrants line up in orderly lines, waiting for food and warm clothing to face the brutal Eastern European winter. Migrants are allowed to sleep in the warehouse.

“All the people we spoke to said they do not plan to take advantage of the free flights being offered back to Iraq. They are still determined to try to join the European Union, ”says FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Bruzgi.

A migrant standing in a food line said: “I am an Iraqi citizen. I promised myself that I would never go back to Iraq because in Iraq we are neither physically safe nor financially secure. “

The West accuses Belarus of bringing in potential immigrants, mostly from Iraq, under the false pretense that they would cross into EU member Poland and Lithuania.

Belarus has denied the claim and criticized the EU for not accepting immigrants.

Iraq has been sending more planes to Belarus to repatriate more than 800 migrants trapped at the border. About 1,000 migrants have been picked up since operations began, Iraqi authorities said on Friday.

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