BRUZGI, Belarus, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Belarus authorities on Thursday cleared the main camps where migrants had huddled at the border with Poland, in what could potentially be a turning point in a crisis that has spiralled in recent weeks into a major East-West confrontation.
The European Commission and Germany poured cold water on a proposal by Belarus that European Union countries take in 2,000 of the migrants currently on its territory, however, in a sign the border tensions may not by fully resolved.
European countries have for months accused Belarus of deliberately creating the crisis by flying in migrants from the Middle East and pushing them to attempt to illegally cross its borders into Poland and Lithuania.
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Minsk, backed by Moscow, rejected those accusations in a stand-off that had left thousands of migrants trapped in freezing woods at the border.
In a cruel illustration of the harsh conditions, a couple, both injured, told the Polish Centre for International Aid, an NGO, early on Thursday that their one-year-old child had died in the forest. At least eight more people are believed to have died at the border in recent months.
A spokesperson for the Polish border guards said the camps on the border in western Belarus were completely empty, which a Belarusian press officer confirmed. Belarus state news agency Belta said the migrants had been brought to a warehouse in Belarus away from the frontier.
“These camps are now empty, the migrants have been taken most likely to the transport-logistics centre, which is not far from the Bruzgi border crossing,” the Polish spokesperson said.
“There were no other such camps … but there were groups appearing in other places trying to cross the border. We’ll see what happens in the next hours.”
In recent weeks, migrants have tried, mostly at night, to cross the frontier, sometimes clashing with Polish troops.
INTENSIFIED DIPLOMACY
The move to clear the camps came during a week of intensified diplomacy. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone twice in three days to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, normally shunned by European leaders.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on Lukashenko to start a dialogue with his opponents – who swiftly poured cold water on the idea unless Lukashenko freed political prisoners first. read more
Belarus said earlier on Thursday that Lukashenko had proposed a plan to Merkel to resolve the crisis, under which the EU would take in 2,000 people while Minsk would send another 5,000 back home.
But German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer rejected the proposal and talked of misinformation.
“If we took in…
Read More: Belarus clears migrant camps at border with EU, as crisis with West eases