SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2015 INTERNATIONAL Trek to Europe brings risk, heartbreak ‘I feel like I’m not a human being’

VELES: This is the moment when Sandrine Koffi’s dream of a new life in Europe ended - and her nightmare of an infant lost in the Macedonian night began. As club-wielding police closed in, the 31- year-old from Ivory Coast couldn’t keep up with her fellow migrants. Not after more than a week of treacherous hikes through mud and bone-chilling rain; of leaky tents, stolen food and fitful sleep; of loads too heavy to bear. Koffi had given her 10-month-old daughter, Kendra, to a stronger person to carry as the 40-member group of West Africans walked with trepidation into Veles, Macedonia. They hoped, because it was pitch dark and miserably cold, that no one would see them and raise the alarm. But after a 10-day trek over 150 kilometers, their luck ran out. Officers captured Koffi and deported her with most of the group back to Greece. Others who escaped carried Kendra all the way to the Serbian border. That was more than two weeks ago. Now, the mother cannot stop crying for her distant daughter - or wondering why they can’t travel like “normal” people. “I feel like I’m not a human being,” Koffi told The Associated Press from the migrants’ safe house in Greece, where she and her daughter had arrived last month in hopes of being escorted through the Balkans to Hungary and, eventually, to family in Paris. “Why is it necessary to separate a mother from her child? Why is all of this necessary?”

Human tide Each month, a tide of humanity pours through the hills of Greece, Macedonia and Serbia in hopes of entering the heart of the 28-nation European Union through its vulnerable back door in the Balkans. This is the newest of a half-dozen land and sea routes that Arab, Asian and African smugglers use to funnel migrants illegally from war zones and economic woes to opportunities in the West. MELILLA: Sub-Saharan migrants climb over a metallic fence that divides Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla. —AP Most don’t make it on their first attempt. Nor their third or fifth. morning, he and another Malian are arrested shortly after the 45 cooking gear as he curses them. The easy part of the trip has ended. A Malian woman, 34-year-old Miriam Toure, falls with a cramp. Many, it seems, just keep trying - and failing - over and over. arrive at the Thessaloniki bus station. Unlike the others, those two Two young soccer players in the group offer her a sports massage The AP followed a group of migrants to document the chal- have no ID papers. Bright start as she howls in pain. A man with a chronic leg injury, Mohamed lenges of the Western Balkans route, witnessing key events on the The smuggler deliberately keeps his distance at the station, The first day’s hike from Polikastro takes the group along a rail “Mo-Mo” Konate, applies some ointment he uses for himself. journey: the confrontations with police and locals, disagreements communicating by phone to reduce chances of being spotted as a line, and they must navigate a rickety wooden bridge, hoping no Nothing works, so men take turns carrying Toure, joking she’s only with the smuggler leading them and among themselves, and other trafficker. Tell police you’re going to Athens, not the border, he train comes. Within the first hour, both women carrying infants faking to get a piggy-back ride. After a half-hour, they’re worn out difficulties along the way. The flow of migrants has grown from a instructs them. Don’t all sit together; spread out. In every direction become weary. “This is my souvenir!” jokes Apetey as he agrees to and she’s told to walk or stay behind. She limps barefoot, weeping trickle in 2012 to become the second-most popular path for illegal are migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea, all looking suspi- carry Sandrine Koffi’s daughter, Kendra. Another man takes silently while trying to keep up. Christian, the 10-month-old son of a Cameroonian woman, Mireille Djeukam. Kendra was born in Turkey, Christian in Greece. Both have relatives in Paris. After 10 hours, the 43 reach the border with Macedonia before midnight. They don’t bother with tents, prefer- ring sleeping bags in the open air. The smuggler doesn’t want the full group to cross the border in daylight, but they’re already short of supplies - and the cheapest local shop is on the Macedonian side. So he leads three men on a reconnaissance trip through the trees. A border patrol vehicle sits on a hilltop but doesn’t move. The three others crouch down in the woods as he heads alone into the supermarket. A cashier inside warns the smuggler to hide because police are shopping in anoth- er aisle. After a tense wait, he emerges with six trash bags full of bread, canned sardines, juice and water.

Crossing borders That night, the group crosses the border and a highway. Each approaching set of headlights is feared to be police. The chill means it’s time to sleep in the 10 tents they’ve brought. At the campsite, Hilarion Charlemagne illustrates his journey with a collection of cellphone SIM cards. “This one is from Togo, where I was a refugee for one year and eight months,” the 45-year-old Ivorian teacher says, EVZONOI: West African migrants walk on train tracks on their way towards the border with Macedonia identifying others as from Mali, Mauritania and Algeria. He tells of UDOVO: In this photo Jean-Paul Apetey of Ivory near the town of Evzonoi, Greece. —AP being turned back at the Moroccan border because he lacked 500 Coast helps carrying a baby near the village of euros; of working as a tutor for an Algerian family for a month; of Udovo, Macedonia. —AP cious. Some hide in toilet stalls as the police canvass the crowds, trying to reach Europe by boat five times and managing to reach immigration into Europe, behind only the more dangerous option checking documents. At least 20 from other groups are taken to a Greece on the sixth attempt. Charlemagne and others have anoth- Passing through cabbage fields, some stuff the greens in of sailing from North Africa to Italy. nearby police station. Fear of arrest keeps the West Africans from er way to remember the countries they’ve visited: recounting the their backpacks. They jostle to refill bottles when passing a tap Frontex, the EU agency that helps governments police the boarding their intended morning bus north to the frontier town of racial epithets hurled at them in a half-dozen languages. bearing an Orthodox sign and the inscription “holy well.” Around bloc’s leaky frontiers, says it appears nothing will deter migrants Polikastro. 4 am, in the rain, they pitch tents - difficult in the dark - under a from trying the long walk that starts in northern Greece. Their mon- It’s not illegal for documented asylum-seekers to board a domestic Suspicious minds freeway overpass marked by graffiti from Afghan migrants. After itors have detected more than 43,000 illegal crossings on the bus in Greece, so nerves eventually settle, and all 43 get on four later The group is startled by a Macedonian shepherd and his snarling sunrise, several members accuse each other of stealing their Western Balkans route in 2014, more than double the year before. buses: Greeks in front, Arabs in the middle, and blacks in the back. dog. Tents are hurriedly packed. But in the rush, one of the smug- food, drink and bags as they slept. The smuggler threatens to And 2015 already looks on pace for a record number, with 22,000 They’re a half-day behind schedule as the last members arrive in gler’s helpers has lost his cellphone. Angry accusations are levied, return them to Greece, where Syrian smugglers will charge arrivals in Hungary in the first two months. One pivotal point for Polikastro. The hatred of some locals toward the Africans is clear near and everyone is searched without success. The trek resumes at night. them triple for the journey. Apologies are demanded and given. the route is Turkey, a magnet for refugees of wars in Syria, Iraq and the town square as women prepare to boil water for the babies’ formu- They scramble over an exposed ridge and sprint across a road junc- Nearby, Charlemagne reads from the Book of Job. Afghanistan. The Turks provide easy travel visas to residents of most la. A motorist drives over their bags, smashing the milk powder and tion, hiding in long reeds. They catch their breath under a full moon. of Asia and Africa, too. Breaking point Another is EU neighbor Greece, where migrants can claim asy- That night, the rain turns to snow, and the tents start to lum and usually, after a short detention, are permitted to travel break. Sheltered campsites on the trail are occupied by other freely within the country. But few intend to stay in Greece, with its migrant groups, and the crying of the two infants is incessant. debt-crippled economy and locals’ antipathy to the migrants. Key land, sea routes to Europe Some question whether the children, so cold and hungry, could “Europe has not faced a situation like this since World War II, with so be at risk of death if they continue. They keep following the many conflicts happening so near to home, with fallen states from DUBLIN: Most migrants who live illegally in the European Western Balkans Vardar River north, but near a village abandon the 41-year-old Libya to Syria and unrelenting conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Union fly to the 28-nation bloc on valid visas and simply From Greece to Hungary via Macedonia and Serbia. This is the “Mo Mo,” who cannot continue even with his cane. Food is so Frontex spokeswoman Ewa Moncure. “And it’s a lot easier to take a overstay their welcome. But for the poorest and most desper- fastest-growing smuggling route, and increasingly the seamless scarce that sardines are rationed to one can daily for three peo- boat from Turkey to Greece than to cross the open Mediterranean. ate travelers of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the journey second half of the Eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey. Once ple. On the sixth day of walking, they reach the town of Thousands drown taking the other route.” often takes months by sea or land, with payments to traffick- reaching Greece, asylum-seekers cannot easily reach other EU ing gangs. Frontex, the EU agency that helps member states except through the former Yugoslav nations of Macedonia Nogotino, two days behind schedule and with a freezing wind howling. At 1 a.m., Sandrine Koffi passes out and slides down a From Abidjan to Athens nations detect migrants on the bloc’s frontiers, documents and Serbia. Neighboring Hungary has become the preferred EU muddy embankment. She is revived, and they walk another “Never in my life was I even on a boat,” says Jean Paul Apetey, a the flow of illegal immigration on principal smuggling opening for travel by road or rail to immigrant favorites Germany hour. 34-year-old Ivorian with a reputation as a sharp-witted opportunist. routes. and France. Many walk the entire Macedonian section because Mireille Djeukam, the other woman traveling with a child, And so, when smugglers ask him if he wants to pilot the vessel to These keep evolving in response to every government ini- locals refuse to drive the migrants, citing harsh anti-smuggling has tried and failed to pass through EU airports about 10 times Greece in exchange for a free ticket, he goes straight to the stern tiative. Ewa Moncure, spokeswoman for the Warsaw-based laws. Alongside the Greek influx, the Balkans themselves gener- already, but finds this trip much harder. “It’s very hard. Too hard,” engine of the rigid inflatable boat, overloaded with 47 migrants, agency, compares efforts to quell immigration on any particu- ate heavy illegal immigration to the EU, particularly from Kosovo. she said. “If I knew it was this difficult, I wouldn’t have done it. and acts as if he knows what he is doing. Smugglers rarely ride on lar route to “squeezing a balloon.” “You tighten a law in one More than 43,000 were recorded arriving in Hungary in 2014 I’m not used to this type of walking. I’m always in the back.” The one-way journeys, facing prison if caught. Instead, they charge country, another route swells up elsewhere,” she says. Here are using this route, double the previous year. Kosovars, Afghans and youngest and fittest men grumble under their breath that they 1,000 euros ($1,100) or more per passenger, rich compensation for the main four smuggling routes listed in order of popularity in Syrians led the way. might be in Serbia already if not for the women and children. the sacrifice of a boat. The smugglers point Apetey to a Greek 2014 as recorded by Frontex. Each lists the total number of Laughter amid such suffering seems impossible, but a limping island in the distance - he doesn’t know if it’s Kos, Samos or Lesbos migrants detected in destination EU countries last year, the Western Mediterranean Miriam Toure brings down the house with an exasperated ques- because he had no map - but boasts of reaching the target in 17 change from 2013, and the top three nationalities of migrants. By boat from Morocco or Algeria to Spain, or by land to tion: “Where is Macedonia?” minutes flat. “I have many witnesses,” he says proudly. Spanish outposts in North Africa. Once a top route for people- Central Mediterranean smugglers, but Spain’s tightened border security and bad econo- Casualties and chaos The safe house By boat to Italy. Most sail from the anarchic coast of Libya my have limited growth of migrant numbers. Relatively few As the group reaches Veles, the first major Macedonian town The walls are sweating in the safe house in Thessaloniki, Greece, to Italy’s southernmost islands or fellow EU member Malta. attempt to breach security barriers to Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s on the route and 145 kilometers (87 miles) into their hike, a windowless basement apartment with no furnishings, two bed- More than 170,000 reached Italian soil on this route in 2014, enclaves on the Moroccan coast. Instead, migrants use private Djeukam cannot go on because of her aching legs. The group rooms and a camp-style cooker on the floor. It’s the end of quadruple the previous year and a record annual figure for boats and public ferries from Algeria and Morocco to reach leaves her and 10-month-old Christian at an Orthodox church. February, and an African smuggler has brought 45 clients to this any country in EU history. Numbers have surged since the Spain’s Balearic Islands and mainland. Just to reach the North The 40 remaining try to stick to Veles’ riverside railway, but base camp to escort them on off-road paths through Macedonia to 2011 overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who had African coast, many Africans must walk for weeks along the around 10 p.m. they are confronted by youths. They run onto a Serbia. Among the group are 11 women, including two with 10- enforced a bilateral agreement with Italy. The overcrowded Atlantic coast or through the Sahara Desert. Spanish border road, startling motorists. Two police arrive, brandishing clubs month-old children. The smuggler, a former soldier, agreed to allow boats sometimes capsize; an estimated 3,500 drowned last guards recorded 7,840 used this route last year, barely 1,000 more and beating stragglers. Five are caught, including Sandrine Koffi. an AP journalist to accompany them on condition he not be identi- year. Syrians, Eritreans and sub-Saharan Africans are the most than in 2013, led by migrants from Cameroon, Algeria and Mali. In the melee, members of the group drop their gear and scatter. fied because what he’s doing is illegal. common travelers. A woman breaks an ankle and is hospitalized in the Macedonian He goes from migrant to migrant, checking their readiness for Others capital, Skopje. By 3 am, the smuggler has found only eight of the journey to Serbia. By car, it would take less than five hours. On Eastern Mediterranean “Eastern Borders” is Frontex’s umbrella term for dozens of his clients. foot, it’s an estimated 10 days. When some giggle at his questions, By boat or land from potential routes along the The next day, Aicha “Baby” Teinturiere returns to Veles to he sets a stern tone: “Shut up. This isn’t a joke once you’re out there. Turkey to EU members EU’s 6,000-kilometer (3,600- search for her bags and stumbles into the police. She claims, false- If you think it’s funny, I’ll send you back to Athens.” He’s taken three Greece, Bulgaria or Cyprus. mile) frontier with Russia, ly, to be looking for her baby; she has none. The police believe her other groups on the route, and charges those on this trip a wide Numbers are soaring Ukraine, Belarus and and agree to help search - and in the process discover and arrest range of prices, depending on their ability to pay but averaging because of Turkey’s hosting Moldova. The EU side - many of her comrades. By the end of the 10th day, all but 13 are in around $500. Discounts apply if they help him keep the others sup- of more than 1 million chiefly Finland, the three custody and put on trucks back to Greece with scores of others plied and disciplined. Kids go free. Most are French speakers from refugees from Syria, Iraq and Baltic states and Poland - from Syria, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. But Teinturiere is not Ivory Coast, Mali, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Only a few speak Afghanistan; its policy of employ firm border checks among them. The sympathetic police set her free so she could English. One - a Congolese whose communist parents named him making air travel from Africa that keep illegal immigration keep searching for the make-believe child. Fidel Castro - speaks both. All are hungry, so a Malian woman easy; and, above all, its inti- relatively static, including named Aicha “Baby” Teinturiere boils macaroni on the camp stove, mate proximity to the east- 1,270 migrants recorded in Next steps adding to the humid air. The smuggler sends others to stock up on ern islands of Greece. While 2014, half coming from Two days later, the West Africans reach a smuggler’s safe sleeping bags, socks and gloves for those who haven’t brought the land border controls have Vietnam, Afghanistan and house in the border town of Lojane, Macedonia. Teinturiere is giv- necessities. been toughened, it’s proved Georgia. The Western Africa harder to stop migrants from route, involving boatloads of en responsibility for caring for Kendra until Koffi can complete the trip. Others, mostly the strongest men in their 20s, cross into Shame and regret completing trips to Greek Africans arriving in Spain’s Serbia, where they meet the next smugglers, who charge them Some are confident of reaching Germany or France. Sekou Yara islands just minutes from Canary Islands, was Europe’s 100 euros each to drive them hidden in trucks to the Hungarian is not. The 28-year-old Malian has failed three times to breach EU the Turkish coast using busiest route a decade ago. border. Three weeks into the journey, the first few make it to immigration checks at airports, costing him at least 3,000 euros. smuggler-supplied rigid Tougher enforcement means Hungary and send triumphant messages to friends. The smuggler This is his first attempt on foot, and he has mixed feelings. “I left inflatable boats. More than migration has slowed to a returns to Thessaloniki with his deported clients. He organizes a many people whom I love so much. I left my wife and our 4-year- 50,000 used this route last trickle, with only 275 arrivals second trek combining new migrants with many from the original old child,” said Yara, frustrated at sacrificing so much only to be year, double the 2013 figure, in 2014 - less than 1 percent group, including Koffi and the first person arrested on the previ- stuck in Greece, where he says migrants can’t find jobs and some- led by Syrians, Afghans and GRADSKO: West African migrants warm them- of the levels recorded in ous trip, Sekou Yara. They depart a week later but run into a police times must dig for food in the trash. “It is shameful to live like this. I Somalis. selves on a bonfire near Gradsko, Macedonia. —AP 2008.- —AP ambush south of Veles. All are returned to Greece. —AP just want a normal life,” he said. Yara’s trip doesn’t last long. The next