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Slovenia Expands Army's Power to Combat Refugee Crisis

  • Police officers escort Fatima from Syria (front) and other migrants as they make their way on foot after crossing the Croatian-Slovenian border.

    Police officers escort Fatima from Syria (front) and other migrants as they make their way on foot after crossing the Croatian-Slovenian border. | Photo: Reuters

Published 22 October 2015
Opinion

More than 12,000 asylum seekers crossed into Slovenia from Croatia in the last 24 hours, after Hungary closed its border with Croatia last week.

Slovenia appealed to the European Union on Thursday for help with the tens of thousands of refugees streaming into the country after already passing new legislation giving extra powers to the army to police the border.

More than 12,000 asylum seekers crossed into Slovenia from Croatia in the last 24 hours, with many more expected, after Hungary closed its border with Croatia last week.

RELATED: Audio: Why the UN Meeting Is No Friend to Refugees

“We need fast assistance of the European Union,” Slovenian President Pahor told a news conference in Brussels after meeting EU Council President Donald Tusk and EU Chief Executive Jean-Claude Juncker.

Croatia, which has taken some 217,000 refugees since mid-September, has also asked the EU for assistance to police the border and process those entering.

As borders and routes close up around Europe, many refugees are being forced to sleep in freezing open air conditions in Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees expects almost 10,000 to enter Serbia on Thursday.

"It is alarming, because the weather is getting cold," Seda Kuzucu, UNHCR field coordinator in Presevo told Reuters.

Anas Kaial, a Syrian from Hama where he ran a snooker bar, spent the night under open skies with his mother, wife and three children.

“It was so cold,” he said. “The only way we could distract our children from the cold and make them stop crying was by telling them that they will get all the Barbie dolls they want once we come to Germany.”

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Kaial added, “We just want to have a normal, simple life. We can't afford more bloodshed and shelling.”

Slovenia’s reaching out to the EU came after its Parliament passed emergency legislation on Wednesday to allow the army extra powers to guard the border after Croatia lifted restrictions at its frontier with Slovenia without warning.

EU members have been sluggish in ratifying the pledged financial aid, forking out just about US$527 million of the US$3.1 billion pledged at an emergency EU summit in September.

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