With Balkan route closed, migrants "could go via N. Africa"

After the closing of the Balkan route, refugees from Syria and Afghanistan could switch to the northwestern Africa route in their bid to reach Europe.

Izvor: Tanjug

Tuesday, 29.03.2016.

11:06

With Balkan route closed, migrants
(Tanjug, file, illustration purposes)

With Balkan route closed, migrants "could go via N. Africa"

The paper said the estimated number of refugees that could take this path to Europe ranges from 200,000 to 800,000, but notes that the diverting of refugee waves from the Balkan route towards the central Mediterranean has not yet occurred.

At the same time, the number of refugees who are arriving it Italy has been growing for weeks - "although still at a low level."

Most of those migrants come from sub-Saharan Africa, while Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are not even among the top ten countries of origin, said UNHCR spokesman Flavio di Giacomo.

He said that, when one route is closed, another opens "automatically" and is usually more dangerous.

This, the paper said, applies to the route through the Mediterranean, which is "significantly longer and more dangerous."

The article said that alternatives "are being considered", for example, via Bulgaria or Albania - "but unlike these routes, those through North Africa have already been used and there is a network of smugglers."

Di Giacomo expects that in the coming period an increasing number of migrants will be reaching Italy via the Mediterranean from North Africa.

"The refugees might try to get to Europe from Egypt, where they are safer than in Libya. Or they will try to reach Italy from Turkey in bigger ships," he explained.

It is also expected that smugglers will "as early as next month again start to significantly profit from the wave of refugees."

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