Faced with the increase in controls in North Macedonia and the dangerous nature of the Bulgarian route, migrants mainly turn to Albania to try to reach Western Europe by land. Mainly from Africa and the Middle East. -Orient, these people are stationed in Greece hoping to fall through the cracks.
If in the 90s, the fall of the communist regime pushed tens of thousands of Albanians to cross the Greek border, this migratory flow has now been reversed.
Near the Greek village of Ieropigi, about fifty people are camping in the hope of crossing the border, in order to then pass through Serbia. For many, the crossing ended in a return to Greece, the Albanian border being guarded by Frontex agents.
Other alternatives, all illegal, exist for these migrants: getting on a ferry illegally, paying smugglers to get on a ship, using false papers to board a plane.
In a forest near the Albanian border, Mohammad Nour Mahmood Al Damad, a Syrian migrant, answers journalists’ questions, lying on the ground. Injured in the leg “by a sniper” in his town, Derra, the man said he wanted to pass.
An abandoned military post also serves as a shelter for some migrants. Located a few hundred meters from the border, it is currently occupied by Shaikh Musa Abdallah and his family.
“I want to go through Albania to go to Serbia, but at the Albanian border, there are Frontex agents from Germany, Italy and Hungary,” explains the Sudanese.
“It is very difficult to go there. We’ve been here for over a month, about 50 days, we’ve tried six times, but we haven’t managed to get through, ”he says.
Albanian authorities say they have seen an increase in illegal border crossings, while North Macedonia reports a decrease.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com