The Minister of Interior of Bosnia’s Serb-majority region of Republika Srpska (RS) reiterated after a meeting with Bosnia’s Security Minister on Thursday that the RS will not allow for any migrant camps to be set up in its territory.
Since the beginning of 2018, the number of migrants passing through Bosnia has drastically increased. The country became a significant transit point for the thousands of migrants after numerous surrounding countries closed their borders.
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The migrants aim to reach EU countries through Bosnia and Croatia. Croatian border police, however, often turns them away from the border and back into Bosnia.
The northwestern Una-Sana Canton (USK), and near Croatia’s border, is affected the most by the situation.
USK is located in the semi-autonomous Federation (FBiH) entity, and Republika Srpska authorities have thus far refused to set up any migrant camps on RS territory.
The Bosnian Serb Presidency member and leader of the ruling party in the RS, Milorad Dodik, recently said that any migrants found in the RS will be sent to FBiH.
RS Interior Minister from the same party, Dragan Lukac, once again expressed this stance following meeting with State Security Minister, Selmo Cikotic.
“We will provide them (migrants) with sage and uninterrupted passage toward wherever they want to go,” Lukac told reporters in Banja Luka.
“We will continue to aid Bosnia’s Border Police in protecting the eastern border,” he added. A vast majority of the migrants who enter Bosnia do so using the eastern border with Serbia.
