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  Angela Merkel warns of ‘military conflict’ in Balkans

Angela Merkel warns of ‘military conflict’ in Balkans

REUTERS
Published : Nov 3, 2015, 10:51 pm IST
Updated : Nov 3, 2015, 10:51 pm IST

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that fighting could break out in the Balkans, along the main route of migrants trying to reach Europe, if Germany closed its border with Austria, in remarks publ

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that fighting could break out in the Balkans, along the main route of migrants trying to reach Europe, if Germany closed its border with Austria, in remarks published on Tuesday.

Amid ever-louder calls for Ms Merkel to undertake drastic action to stem the tide of people entering her country, she again rejected the appeals, noting that tensions were already running high between the Western Balkans countries.

With an eye to deep rifts exposed after Hungary closed its frontier with Serbia and Croatia, Ms Merkel said blocking the border with Austria to refugees and migrants would be reckless.

“It will lead to a backlash,” Ms Merkel was quoted in media reports as saying late Monday in an address to members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the western city of Darmstadt.

“I do not want military conflicts to become necessary there again,” Ms Merkel added, referring to the Balkans.

She said disputes in a region already ravaged by war in the 1990s could quickly escalate, touching off a cycle of violence “no one wants”.

Germany has become the main destination for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia via the Balkans, with up to one million people expected this year.

Meanwhile, Austria’s Ca-binet, facing record numbers of asylum requests in 2015, proposed a tough new bill on on Tuesday to deter Afghans that the United Nations refugee agency criticised as likely to increase the migrants’ suffering.

The move follows the German interior minister’s call for Afghans, who make up a large proportion of the hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking refuge in Europe, to stay in their home country.

Austria’s new law would force most Afghans to wait for three years, rather than one year under current rules, to be able to bring family members to Austria.

Meanwhile, exhausted rescue volunteers on Greek island of Lesbos have started holding their heads in despair as the bodies of drowned migrants wash up almost daily there.

“The situation is crazy,” says Essam Daod, a Palestinian doctor working with Israel-based humanitarian agency IsraAid.

“There are thousands of migrants coming every day. We can’t handle the situation,” says the Haifa resident, who took unpaid leave so he and his wife could come and help out.

Lesbos lies on the frontline of a massive migration wave that has overwhelmed Europe, with over 7,00,000 people crossing the Mediterranean in 2015 and thousands dying in the attempt.

Location: Greece