Over 1,800 Iraqi nationals brought back from Belarus

Migrants who have made their way to Belarus hoping to reach Europe are facing a humanitarian disaster on both sides of the Polish-Belarusian border in the freezing cold. The migrants cannot pass the border, facing the security forces on both sides. As their desperate wait in challenging conditions continues, the Iraqi central government stepped into action for the return of the migrants in mid November.

Iraq said it has flown out more than 1,800 migrants stuck in the Belarus-Poland border area. A total of 1,894 Iraqi nationals have so far been brought back from Minsk on four special flights, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Sahaf said Saturday, according to various media reports.

Another plane operated by state-owned Iraqi Airways is scheduled to take off for Minsk from the capital on Sunday to fly out 430 refugees, according to RojNews. The migrants are mostly Kurds.

The first special flight had brought more than 430 migrants from Belarus to Iraq, who were last stuck in freezing cold at the EU’s external border. Also on the plane were a few dozen people with permits to transit to Syria.

For months, thousands of migrants have been at the Belarusian-Polish border, trying to get to Europe. More than twenty of them are said to have died already because of cold and exhaustion, officially there is talk of fewer deaths.