First Iraqi plane takes off to evacuate migrants from Belarus border
The border between Belarus and Poland has been going through one of the most difficult times in recent memory. Thousands of refugees are trying to reach Poland from Belarus, but Warsaw's refusal to take them in leaves migrants in limbo and they are now forced to return to their country. Iraqi Airways has already sent the first plane to Belarusian territory from Baghdad to begin evacuating the migrants at the border. The director of information at the Ministry of Transport, Hussein Al-Rubaie, has assured that this first flight has had more than 80 people, a number that is expected to increase in the next connections due to the harshness of the situation.
Already last week, the Iraqi embassy in Moscow offered its help in evacuating Iraqi nationals at the border. Poland's inflexible stance on the influx of refugees is forcing those who still hope to find a solution before returning home to look for new alternatives. The Iraq News Agency (INA) has quoted Foreign Minister Ahmed Al-Sahhaf as saying that "the Ministry is working hard to provide the highest level of response to voluntary return, and we are dedicated to the diplomacy of national response".
"Consular teams residing in Belarus continue to register the names of another 50 people," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Al-Sahhaf was quoted in an interview with the French press agency as saying that the ministry "noted the registration of 571 Iraqis in two provinces within eight camps", although he also pointed out the complexity of recognising all the nationals on the border, given that there are more than 680 kilometres of border strip and a large section of refugees who are reluctant to return to Iraq.
One of the measures Baghdad took to try to curb the arrival of Iraqis in Belarus was to cancel connections with Minsk from 5 August - with the exception of flights organised by the government itself. However, the Iraqi government has pointed to neighbouring countries as a conduit for Iraqis arriving in Belarus: "The problem is that there are those who travel to Belarus via flights from outside Iraq who have provided corridors such as Turkey, Qatar, the Emirates and Egypt".
Indeed, some countries have taken the decision to ban Syrians, Iraqis, and Yemenis from travelling to Belarus as an urgent measure to facilitate the easing of the situation on the border. The tension on the so-called 'Belarusian route' is provoking a major confrontation between Belarus, not only with Poland, but also with the European Union, which is promising new sanctions against the Lukashenko regime. In turn, Minsk is threatening to halt gas supplies in the Yamal-Europe pipeline, as they believe that "while they heat up Europe, they threaten to close the border", said Lukashenko.
Despite the Belarusian president's assertions, the EU directly accuses Minsk of facilitating the arrival of refugees from the Middle East and forcing them to cross the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland because of sanctions already imposed on Belarus. Brussels sees the regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko as bearing the greatest responsibility for deliberately creating a crisis. The president has been in contact with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the problem but has so far failed to find common ground. Berlin says that 'the chancellor stressed the need to provide humanitarian assistance and options for the repatriation of vulnerable people', albeit with the cooperation of the European Commission.
