EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA-BORDER CAMP Syrian migrants stop in Serbia en route to western Europe

Record ID: 140005

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/SERBIA-BORDER CAMP Syrian migrants stop in Serbia en route to western Europe
  • Date: 11th September 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN COMPOSER, MUSICIAN AND FORMER TEACHER, BASIL KHALIL, SAYING: "Of course it (the music) is sad because our situation is sad. Maybe this is why the pain comes out (in the music)."
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA70CHW37O0G4T9B99KDMMJQAK2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As EU diplomats are set to work through the weekend to try to settle arguments about how to tackle Europe's refugee crisis, thousands of migrants continued to pour into Europe on Friday (September 11).
    The United Nations called for the swift creation of large-scale reception centres in frontline states such as Hungary and Greece, and one U.N. agency warned that millions more refugees could arrive in Europe if Syria's civil war continues to rage.
    Many of the tens of thousands of refugees now trekking from Greece via the Balkans and Hungary towards western Europe are fleeing the Syrian war in search of sanctuary, above all in more welcoming and generous countries such as Germany and Sweden.
    Dozens of migrants were trying to get into buses in the interim reception centre in Kanjiza, in northern Serbia, many being on the road for almost three months, such as Syrian musician and composer Basil Khalil.
    Sitting in a muddy camp surrounded by other migrants, Khalil played guitar and tried to cheer up the crowd with his songs.
    "We sing for peace, for the homeland, for the people, for love. For anything, but not with an agenda. Just for life," Basil Khalil.
    He said his songs were sad but no-one on the road would expect anything different.
    "Of course it (the music) is sad because our situation is sad. Maybe this is why the pain comes out (in the music)."
    "Everything I see I reflect, all the pain I see I reflect through playing music, through the melody, through the lyrics," Basil said.
    Syria's four-year civil war has so far displaced almost eight million people.
    So far this year, a record 433,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, more than double the total for all of 2014, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
    The European Commission, backed by Germany and France, wants EU member states to accept mandatory quotas to share out some 160,000 refugees but the plan faces stiff resistance in some capitals.
    On Friday the UNHCR said the number of people requiring relocation had now risen to 200,000.
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