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image captionOn 1 January Bosnian soldiers erected basic tents for the migrants at Lipa
Thousands of refugees and migrants urgently need proper shelter in Bosnia-Herzegovina after weeks outdoors in freezing cold, the UN has warned.
Some 2,500 people are in unheated tents or sleeping rough near the northern town of Bihac. A UN official says some are now being moved to heated tents.
Local authorities have refused to reopen a nearby reception centre.
Instead hundreds have been forced to return to a temporary camp that was ravaged by fire last month.
Peter Van der Auweraert of the UN s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has tweeted photos of the basic tents erected at the Lipa camp by the Bosnian army a few days ago.
Reuters Reuters
7 January, 2021, 4:03 am
A migrant bathes in the river next to Camp Lipa in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
BIHAC, Bosnia (Reuters) – Nearly 3,000 migrants are stranded in northern Bosnia without shelter, the International Organization for Migration said, and some are suffering from respiratory problems and other complications as night-time temperatures plunge.
Some of those sleeping in the open were forced to flee the Lipa camp near the Croatian border two weeks ago when much of it was burned to the ground. A few remain at the facility, relying on makeshift tent structures, while many more have left.
Hundreds of migrants stranded in
freezing conditions at Bosnia camp January 01, 2021
Nearly a thousand migrants are facing unforgiving winter conditions without shelter on Thursday after being forced to return to the burnt-out shell of their former camp in Bosnia. Courtesy photo
SARAJEVO Nearly a thousand migrants are facing unforgiving winter conditions without shelter on Thursday after being forced to return to the burnt-out shell of their former camp in Bosnia.
Having spent 24 hours waiting on coaches to be taken to a former army barracks, they returned to their fire-ravaged camp after a lack of agreement on their re-housing.
The Lipa camp, on the Croatian border in north-western Bosnia, was set up as a temporary measure in the spring to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic but is devoid of any utilities and now shelters, leaving migrants with no refuge from icy winds and snow.