Albania becomes new road to EU for migrants

(30 Sep 2021) The spray-painted directions on the back wall of a small church point toward Albania and a route infrequently used by migrants and refugees who would rather try their luck somewhere other than Greece.
But the relatively smooth bit of the otherwise rugged border between Greece and Albania is becoming the main way out of the country and into the heartland of Europe.
On a recent visit to the area, The Associated Press witnessed about 50 people camped out at an abandoned army guard house and the surrounding woods a few hundred meters from the border, a half-hour's walk from the closest Greek village of Ieropigi and 220 kilometers (140 miles) west of Greece's second-largest city of Thessaloniki.
They waited to make their crossing attempt alone or with the paid help of smugglers.
Husam Hderi, 30, reached Greece a month ago, slipping across the land border from Turkey and then being driven by people smugglers to Thessaloniki. He said that so far, he has paid smugglers 2,200 euros (2,570 US dollars) to reach Ieropigi, and is determined to continue north: Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina and eventually Italy.
Shepherd Michalis Trasias, who grazes his sheep on the Greek side of the border, told AP he sees groups heading into Albania every day.
In the early 1990s, tens of thousands of Albanian migrants slogged through the oak woods near Ieropigi to seek work in Greece after the collapse of communism in Albania.
Thirty years later, the cross-border flow is reversed, though on a much smaller scale. It's now people from the Middle East and Africa who surreptitiously flit through the same oak woods.
Migrants or refugees who don't want to stay in Greece have several options, all illegal: to stow away on a ferry - or buy a berth on a smuggling boat - for Italy, use fake papers to catch a flight out, or walk through Bulgaria, North Macedonia or Albania.
But with Bulgaria being seen as too dangerous and North Macedonia increasingly well-guarded, large numbers are opting for Albania, even though its patrols are strengthened by officers from the European Union's Frontex border agency.
Police data show Albania has seen a rise in arrests for illegal entry this year, while North Macedonia - outside which 10,000 people had camped five years ago waiting to sneak in - reports a decline.
Albanian interior ministry spokesman Ardian Bita said his country is "doing its utmost to fight the organized crime" groups that help traffic migrants, and has arrested "a considerable number" of smugglers this year.
NGOs operating in Greece that were contacted by The Associated Press declined to comment on the route as they don't currently have a presence in the area.
The population near the border can rise up to a few hundred, most of whom are periodically rounded up and removed by Greek police. Few stay long.
Among the latter is Shaikh Musa Abdallah from Sudan who's stayed in the former guardhouse for 50 days, with his wife and five children aged between 5-15.
Abdallah said he's lived in Greece for the past three years, and now proposes to abandon his efforts to move on.
Mohammad Nour Mahmood Al Damad from Syria has also been turned back six times, in the past seven days. But he's travelling without children and determined to persist, after being refused asylum in Greece.
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[@aviationfansalbania2332]

To enter Albania are two ways from Grecce or north macedonia! And north Macedonia border are with Bulgaria and Grecce ! So two EU counties why this EU members Greece and Bulgaria don’t accept like first safe country ??? Albania and Balkans are all transit !

[@hamzamr.8693]

😢😢

[@adavazquez3378]

Where are this people COMING from? What are they, from what country?

[@linkme2dnet]

middle east, pakitsan, north african countries. they are economic migrants trying to enter EU and UK illegally.

[@anabmohamed9342]

@@linkme2dnet they are in for a shock if they are coming to uk, its not all its cracked up to be, i actually other eu countries are better, but people think uk is ,until they come and see it with their own eyes

[@redpill5849]

@@anabmohamed9342 how the hell can u enter UK illegaly, that"s near impossible

[@Arber-4673]

Because Greece, put Greece out of eu