The Red Cross organisation will pull its volunteers from the Vucjak migrant centre because of the catastrophic situation worsened by Tuesday's operation of the relocation of migrants from the centre of Bosnia's northern town of Bihac, head of the local Red Cross Husein Klicic told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
The Red Cross volunteers will pull out from the Vucjak centre due to the worsening security situation over there. After the local authorities decided to stop dealing with the migrant issue, the Red Cross will hand out only one meal a day, until the situation is completely resolved,” Klicic said.
After the Una-Sana Canton decided to relocate hundreds of illegal migrants from the centre of Bihac to the near by Vucjak migrant centre causing the number from 500 to 700 migrants situated there to swell to over 1,600, he added.
Bihac Mayor Suhret Fazlinovic also warned of the escalating situation in his town, when he said in Sarajevo on Tuesday, that the town provided some €50,000 from the town budget to scrub the migrant situation, and that they have not received a single cent back from the State institutions.
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He announced that Bihac authorities will stop spending their money on the crisis and that they would stop providing services in the camp Vucjak.
“The situation is not satisfactory. If it continues, if the authorities stop providing food and drinking water to the camp, chaos will ensue and the Red Cross will be forced to implement its exit strategy which means we'll provide them with only one meal with the protection of the local police until the situation is resolved,” the head of the Red Cross said.
According to him, the Vucjak camp has reached full capacity and not a single new tent can be raised there.
“The migrants spent the night in tents, showing solidarity with each other and many spent the night in the open,” Klicic added.
He also warned that they ask for the reorganisation or total shutdown of the camp if the situation is not resolved.
“We have no conditions of keeping them there and we can't bear the responsibility of a possible epidemic caused by the lack of water and tents. We can only provide them with food, bread and water and that is our survival mission. We won't be able to provide them with anything else,” Klicic noted.
He concluded saying the organisation spent most of its funds as well as funds from sister organisations like the Turkish Red Crescent.
For the past two years, Bihac was under constant pressure caused by the migrant crisis, and the citizens say they were left to fend for themselves. The town authorities claim they see 150 new migrants on average every day.
