Migrants stuck on their way to the EU at Bosnia’s northwestern border to Croatia will be ac will be bussed back to Sarajevo and accommodated in newly refurbished military barracks near the capital, the country’s Security Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of 2018 scores of migrants have been arriving at Bosnia’s northwestern border area, the Una-Sana Kanton (USK), in their attempt to cross over into Croatia, often only to be turned back by either Bosnian or Croatian border police.
The population of Bihac and Velika Kladusa, towns affected by the influx of migrants, has sought help from the government in Sarajevo and has protested against the government’s inaction, accusing it of letting the situation get out of control.
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Security Minister Dragan Mektic discussed with the UNHCR Representative in Bosnia, Anne-Christine Eriksson, options for providing adequate health care in migrant centres, especially the new one at the Usivak barracks near Sarajevo and in those in USK.
“It is necessary to provide for as many services as possible, from registration to healthcare, at a single location,” the Security Minister said, adding that this location should be the migrant centre so the migrants do not have to go anywhere else.
“We need to provide adequate protection for the migrants, but also ensure the local community to normally function and for citizens to feel safe,” he stressed.
The Ministry announced it will also secure accommodation for families with children in the asylum centre in Delijas, also near the capital. It said it wants to provide for the best possible kind of protection for the most vulnerable migrant categories, and that the Cazin ‘Sedra’ hotel and a migrant centre in Salakovac, near the town of Mostar, are already being used for this.
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