Croatia’s authorities set up barriers at the Maljevac border crossing with Bosnia and Herzegovina and prepared foundations to do the same at two other border crossings, explaining that the move was in line with the Schengen regulations, Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Monday.
The removable barriers were installed by the Finance Ministry, which is in charge of the construction and maintenance of border crossings, at the request of the Internal Affairs Ministry.
The border crossings where the fence was installed and prepared to be set up – Maljevac, Gejkovac and Pasin Potok – are linking Croatia with Bosnia’s northwestern region, which is currently struggling with the migrant crisis with thousands of migrants roaming the area and hoping they would eventually reach their final destinations in the European Union.
As Croatia keeps its borders closed for illegal migrants, they are stuck in this part of Bosnia, accommodated in three temporary shelters.
According to Bosnia's Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, over 9,000 migrants entered the country since the beginning of the year. As a part of a regular procedure, 8,466 of them expressed the intention to seek asylum but only 196 did so.
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Migrants were reported recently to take part in several major incidents in the northwest of Bosnia, which triggered the authorities of the Una-Sana Canton to ask the state-level bodies to relocate the migrant centres from urban zones for security reasons.
