NICOSIA, Cyprus — The United Nations refugee agency on Friday said government authorities in ethnically divided Cyprus have rounded up dozens of migrants and pushed them back inside a U.N.-controlled buffer zone that they crossed to seek asylum.
UNHCR spokeswoman Emilia Strovolidou said that as many as 99 asylum seekers were ''pushed back'' into the buffer zone between mid-May and Aug. 8. Strovolidou said the agency is working to end the asylum seekers' ordeal, urging Cyprus authorities to process their claims and to establish procedures that would prevent any more migrants from being left stranded in the buffer zone.
The asylum seekers entered the European Union member country from the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and crossed the buffer zone into the south where they could file their applications with the internationally recognized government.
Of those 99 migrants, 76 people from countries including Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Iraq and Gaza remain stranded in two locations inside the buffer zone, to the west and east of the capital Nicosia. They include 18 minors, six of whom are unaccompanied.
Strovolidou said although the U.N. has supplied the asylum seekers with military food rations, tents, blankets, toilets and washing facilities, they remain exposed to extreme heat, dust and humidity.
''Their humanitarian needs are increasing, and their physical and psychological condition is deteriorating as they continue to remain in these conditions, some for nearly three months,'' Strovolidou told The Associated Press.
She said some are survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking and people suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer, asthma and serious mental health issues.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after supporters of a union with Greece mounted a coup with the backing of the junta then ruling Greece. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, but only the south enjoys full membership benefits.