Funnelling them forward

THE SIGHT of desperate folk treading hard roads is familiar in Macedonia and Serbia. In the Kosovo war of 1999, more than 250,000 ethnic Albanians entered Macedonia; Serbia had to absorb even more of its own kin, for longer, after the Serb cause was defeated in various conflicts. But a new tide of migrants from further afield is startling for both countries.

On a road near Presevo in southern Serbia, once used mainly by farmers, a couple of young women trudge onwards, chattering in Arabic, followed by a larger Middle Eastern group of 20 with children, then a cluster of Africans. Tomor Misini, an ethnic Albanian war veteran, leads a group of local volunteers who help the travellers.