Macedonia to erect wired fence on border to control migrant flow

The Macedonian army on Thursday started preparations to erect a barbed wire fence on the southern border with neighboring Greece to prevent illegal migration on its territory.

Soldiers are preparing a fence at a border crossing at Bogorodica -- called Point 59 -- intended to channel the movement of migrants and prevent unregistered border crossings. Another fence will be set up stretching several kilometers up to the village of Selemli.

The border fence was authorized by the Macedonian National Security Council at a meeting held Monday in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

The fence allows migrants to enter Macedonia only through Point 59 and continue towards the refugee camp for registration.

"Setting up fence at the border is a legitimate right for every country that attempts to protect its security in this huge migrant influx, although it is not always the most humane measure," director of the Macedonian Center for Crisis Management Suzana Saliu said.

"We don't want to put up fences, but we simply don't have other choice. The security of the countries in Europe, in this region, including Macedonia, is not guaranteed after the events in Paris," she added.

Up to 8,000 migrants cross into Macedonia every day from Greece, to continue their journey towards Serbia onto northern and western European countries.

Since Wednesday, Serbian authorities only allowed select migrants from regions such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to enter its territory. This left nearly 300 migrants in limbo as they were assessed to be economic migrants.

Macedonian Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki said Macedonia received demands from European countries to improve border controls.

"The risk we are trying to avoid is continued inflow of migrants from Greece to Macedonia but their reduced admission up north from other European countries at the same time. At this point, especially after the events in Paris, it is a real risk," Poposki said in an interview with Radio Free Europe.

Security measures were strengthened after it was discovered at least one of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in Paris probably used the so-called Balkan migrant wave through Greece-Macedonia-Serbia-Croatia to reach France.

"Macedonia is stable for now, but the security situation is fragile. We need to have an exchange of information not only with other security and intelligence services from the region, but also with their counterparts in the crisis regions because they can offer the most relevant information for the possible combat or terrorist activity of the persons trying to use the migrant wave and cross into Europe," Blagoja Markovski from the NGO Balkan Security Forum told Xinhua. Enditem