Migration crisis in Belarus: Baghdad plans repatriation flight for Iraqis

Published on : 11/15/2021 – 09:12

The Iraqi government announced the organization, Thursday, November 18, of a first repatriation flight of Iraqi migrants stranded at the border between Belarus and Poland “on a voluntary basis”, without however specifying how many people were going to board the plane. this Minsk-Baghdad flight.

In total, Iraq “has identified 571 Iraqis” stranded at the Polish-Belarusian border who said they were ready to return “voluntarily” to their country, said Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry during the night. from Sunday to Monday.

These Iraqis, mostly from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, are part of a group of thousands of migrants from the Middle East who are camping on the border between Belarus and Poland, a member country of the European Union. .

However, regular air links between Baghdad and Minsk have been suspended since August and the Belarusian consulates in Baghdad and Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, have been closed for a little over a week.

Migrants pass through third countries to reach Belarus

These measures, explained Ahmed al-Sahaf, “reduced Iraqi travel [vers la Biélorussie], but the problem is that some now go there on indirect flights, via Turkey, Qatar, the Emirates and Egypt. “

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 European Union and Belarus, supported by Russia, its ally. The Europeans are preparing in particular to adopt new sanctions against Minsk

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, is due to travel to Baghdad on Monday to discuss this migration crisis.

With AFP