hundreds of migrants stranded in
northwestern bosnia have spent
a fourth night in freezing temperatures
and squalid conditions
after the camp that housed them burned
down the u.n and other international aid
groups are urgently appealing
to the authority as in bosnia hurts a
government to provide alternative
shelter for the migrants
they say people could die if they don't
act soon
they were already living in misery
then things got worse
freezing temperatures no heat in a big
tent
and just plastic sheeting for a roof one
that threatens to cave in from snow
piling up on top
some people here say they aren't even
being regularly fed
the weather is very cold and we can't
sleep in here
in here is nothing anything for example
no water no
toilet no shower no food without food we
are
sleeping here without food about 1200
refugees were relocated because their
former camp burned down a few days ago
the fire allegedly set by frustrated
occupants
located near bosnia's border with
croatia the u.n camp at lipa was
scheduled to be closed because bosnian
authorities
allegedly ignored its appeals to help
restore basic services
the cold weather froze showers and
toilets weeks ago
bosnia has become a bottleneck for
thousands of migrants hoping to reach
western europe
those here try to get into the nearest
eu country croatia
though croatian authorities have been
loathed to allow them entry
and usually push back
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if we will go to crucial question police
beating
and push back bosnia bosnia police don't
give him everything to for
for our life where we'll go
for now there's still no solution in
sight for these migrants
who are in dire need of help
and for more insight on this we are
joined by peter van der oert
in the western balkans coordinator of
the international organization for
migration
peter thanks for speaking to us uh we've
seen the misery these people
are enduring is anyone doing anything to
help them
well what we're seeing really is a
political deadlock we have been
asking as iom and other international
organizations and also the eu
for the bosnian authorities to identify
an alternative location
for the people that you just saw in lipa
but also for the estimated 1500 people
that were already sleeping outside in
forest camps and in abandoned buildings
and unfortunately despite i think our
collective-based efforts
no political agreement has been reached
and
today i don't expect any progress either
and it's really a political issue
because unlike in other humanitarian
crisis we actually have sufficient
resources to immediately help
all the people the only thing that we
need is for the authorities to identify
where these people can be properly
housed that we are ready to deploy
within the next half an hour if such
decision would be forthcoming
and you know we've seen this in other
places like lesbos greece where
once again a camp was apparently burnt
down by the people living in it
in a gesture of desperation um
is a european union to blame therefore
then for not taking action
should no i i don't believe so
the the fire started after about we had
to
decided to pull out of the camp because
it was unsafe
and there were no basic services we've
been asking for months from the
authorities to connect the camp to
the electricity grid and the water
system so that we could winterize it so
it could be a location where migrants
could stay during the winter
and then a few migrants were disgruntled
because they had to leave lipa without
any
alternative solutions indeed did set
fire to the tents but in this particular
case i do not believe that the eu is to
blame the eu has been
providing all the financial support to
bosnia-herzegovina to take care of the
migrants that are
on its territory let's not forget there
are not that many in total 8 000. that
should not be a problem for a country of
3.5 million to deal with and the
european union i think has done
everything they can
to provide financial resources but we
need critical decisions
where these migrants can be housed in
the problems
and just very briefly is there anything
governments in the region or abroad can
do to help the camp
uh now well i think what they can do
is to put pressure on the bosnian
authorities and where necessary
help them to come to a consensus amongst
the different parties
that on the one hand form the state
government but also a consensus between
the central government and the lower
level com governments bosnia chicago is
a very decentralized country
so i think that the country needs all
the help it can get to come to a
political
consensus the money is there but we need
a political consensus on how to move
forward and as you've seen from the
images it is super urgent
thank you so much for that urgent indeed
peter vander howard from the western
balkans
coordinator of the international
organization for migration
thank you for having me
you