TIRANA, Sept. 9 – Albania has so far made no pledge to welcome refugees from war-torn Middle East, and authorities have said the country has few capacities to do so, despite growing calls from civil society for Albania to help.
Authorities say the country has a limited capacity of 170 beds to accommodate refugees, but officials say they getting ready in case of an emergency that would see a large flow of refugees through Albania.
The small Adriatic-Ionian republic has hosted about 2,000 refugees so far this year, mostly Syrians trying to transit to Montenegro.
The flow stopped in August when the shorter Macedonian route was inundated.
Albanian officials have recently met at international summits with their EU counterparts to discuss on coping with the influx of the refugees from war-torn areas in Middle East countries.
Candidate countries for EU accession like Albania, have been sitting on some EU meetings, to discuss migration and the challenges that the EU and the candidate countries face.
