TABANOVCE (Macedonia), (Sputnik) – A RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the ground on the migrants and refugees fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands in the Middle East and North Africa who do not want to return.
From Small Village to Front Page News
The town of Gevgelija on the border with Greece to the south, and the village of Tabanovce on the frontier with Serbia to the north, turned from little-known provincial locales into the capitals of news stories broadcast across the world.
The unprecedented wave of new arrivals into the EU was partly stemmed after Serbia shut its border and the EU launched talks with Turkey on a migrant-for-Syrian-refugee exchange that took effect later in March.
Running the risk of turning into an enormous refugee camp for those who had not managed to reach Serbia and travel to frontier EU states and further west and north, Macedonia followed suit and sealed its own border.
As a result, an estimated 800 of those who stayed behind are now housed in the official Tabanovce camp in the border village. Its only claim to fame is its proximity to Serbia and the railroad that links the 1,600-foot stretch leading to another former Yugoslav republic.
Temporary Camp Turns Permanent
Seeking to somehow organize the spontaneous process, authorities in Macedonia provided temporary accommodation in the village. They erected tents, cabins, bathrooms, installed electricity and wireless internet for the migrants to communicate with friends and relatives back home, or those who had reached Germany or the Netherlands.
The temporary accommodation turned into a permanent camp after Serbia sealed its border, with the 800 stranded migrants.
"I got here with my family on March 8, the very next day after the border was closed," an elderly native of the Syrian city of Aleppo says.
His friends have been able to cross the northern frontier, reach Serbia and trek further north, leaving him behind, he adds.
"This camp is crowded. It was not designed for so many people to live here for long. It was built as a transit site for people to spend the night before crossing the Serbian border," a Red Cross employee working at Tabanovce admits.
Indeed, migrants are forced to cram inside small four-person trailers up to 12 people in each.
Hard to Complain, but Boredom Ensues
The shabby conditions at Tabanovce and scores of illegal migrant camps scattered across the Balkans are no comparison to life in Aleppo. The camp’s inhabitants have a roof over their heads and heaters, while Macedonian authorities provide the camp’s canteen with food and Red Cross and other non-profits monitor the migrants’ health.
"We have absolutely nothing to do here. All day long, we do nothing and browse the internet," 25-year-old Javad Najafi from Afghanistan complains.
He fled the third-largest Afghan city of Herat, where he obtained a decent education and speaks very good English, but was unable to apply his talents.
"I spent $4,000 and two months to reach Europe, from Afghanistan to Iran, then Turkey, Greece. But I came here not to sit in a camp – I want to get a job, then get married and become a normal citizen," Javad explains.
So far, the government is not yet able to say whether the migrants would be allowed to cross into the EU, sent back to their homelands or allowed to stay in Macedonia.
The Macedonian Interior Ministry tells the RIA Novosti correspondent that the issue is being resolved at a high level and vows that the migrants would be taken care of.
Meanwhile, Javad admits that they are "bored to death sitting here."
"We are fed with dry rations, some cookies and juice. One shower for 800 people, we have to wait for hours for our turn to wash. We are even thinking of organizing a hunger strike to be let into Serbia and then further to Germany," he says.
Everyone here believes that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would still welcome them, offer them housing, social benefits or work.
From time to time, the escapees are caught in Serbia and returned to Tabanovce.
The fate of others remains unknown. They either disappear somewhere in the European expanses, risking to fall easy prey to Balkan thieves, or find themselves stranded in yet another migrant camp.
