Ninety percent of the migrant crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina is concentrated in the northern-Bosnian town of Bihac where the situation is escalating, Mayor Suhret Fazlic said on Tuesday in Sarajevo.

“I've come to Sarajevo to say that the migrant crisis is most prominent in Bihac. We're not satisfied because no one is talking about it any more, and (Bosnia's Security) Minister Dragan Mektic even minimised the effects of the migrant crisis. His today's statement that there is a total of 4,000 migrants in the country (is not true) because I can say that there are 6,000 of them in Bihac. All our temporary, as well as illegal migrant centres, are full,” the Bihac Mayor said.

Over the past two years, Bosnia found itself on the new European migrant route. Migrants trying to get to western EU countries are entering the country mostly from Serbia and Montenegro and heading to Bosnia’s northern-most cities of Bihac and Velika Kladusa – the closest to the border with Croatia.

There, they are faced with Croatia’s border police that is much better equipped than their Bosnian colleagues and prevent migrants from entering their territory much better. This forces the migrants to flock to overcrowded centres.

Bihac Mayor said the city authorities have been dealing with the migrant problem the entire summer and that they spent some €50,000 on the Vucjak migrant centre alone.

“No one gave us a single cent. We can't work like this any more. We don't think we should be the ones solving this crisis or the humanitarian issues of these people,” Fazlic said adding “next week, we'll stop providing all services to the migrants. If that doesn't work either, we – the people of Krajina will come in front of the Parliament building until this is resolved.”

According to him, Bihac authorities are asking for a plan for their city and for someone to take the leadership role and solve the issue because the Mayor said they cannot keep them in the centre of the town.

“Winter is coming and those poor people are going through Bihac covered in blankets,” he said, noting that Croatia is still returning the migrants caught illegally crossing the border.

Fazlic emphasised that government's plans about the migrants are unacceptable to them because they do not reflect the situation on the ground.