State authorities have put together a plan that would entail moving all migrants in Bosnia’s northwestern Una-Sana Canton (USK) away from urban areas but local authorities there now refuse to implement it, BiH’s Security Minister, Selmo Cikotic, told N1 on Thursday regarding the problem of accommodating the migrants who left the Lipa migrant camp which was shut down the day before.
More than 1,000 migrants who stayed at the improvised Lipa migrant camp are now left without shelter and local authorities in the USK refuse to reopen the Bira migrant reception centre, in downtown Bihac, arguing that it would further complicate the already difficult security situation there.
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According to Cikotic, the situation that emerged regarding the issue in USK is the result of “a complex constitutional, state and security system in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
The migrants staying at the Lipa camp had no access to electricity, running water, or sewage. The camp also provided no adequate protection against winter weather conditions.
That is why Bosnia's government, formally the Council of Ministers, approved on Monday an initiative to officially establish the temporary migrant camp ‘Lipa’, which would consist of adapted shipping containers able to house 1,500 migrants in the Bihac area. However, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the works in the camp cannot be conducted while the migrants are still there.
The Security Ministry then asked authorities in the USK to reopen Bira, which was shut down in late September due to pressure from the local population of the town of Bihac, to accomodate the migrants.
As migrants were leaving Lipa on Wednesday, a fire broke out in the camp and destroyed most of the tents. According to the IOM, a group of migrants set it after most others already left.
However, USK authorities said they will not allow the transfer of the migrants to Bira, while locals in Bihac are patrolling the entrance to the centre saying they will block any attempts to accommodate migrants there.
Cikotic told N1 that his ministry had put together a comprehensive plan based on proposals from the Prime Minister of the USK and the Mayor of Bihac which would entail relocating the migrant camps outside of urban areas.
One of the first steps is relocating the Bira centre to the Lipa camp, he explained.
“After we made the plan, we had a difficult process of convincing the EU that Lipa, which served as a COVID settlement, should be turned into a reception centre for migrants. After that, the Prime Minister of USK violated the agreement and arbitrarily expelled 300 migrants, and Lipa was closed without explanation,” Cikotic alleged.
“We then suggested that at this moment we move the migrants to Bira for a few months until the Lipa is turned into a proper migrant camp. After that, we would permanently close Bira,” he said.
The USK Prime Minister and Mayor of Bihac, together with representatives of international organisations, opened the Bira centre three years ago, and up to 2,000 migrants would stay there back then while now it would be some 1,100, Cikotic said.
“We didn’t bring the migrants to the USK. The issue of migrations is very complex,” Cikotic said, adding that it would be better for the migrants to be kept in centres than for them to roam freely in the area and represent a security threat.
He also added that there is a “considerably bigger number” of migrants in the Sarajevo Canton than in the USK currently.
Cikotic alleged that the USK Prime Minister refuses to meet with him to discuss the issue.
“If it was up to me, I would put the migrants on buses and send them out of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nobody wants them. But they are here and that is the reality. Every country regulates this problem in an enforceable way, knowing whose responsibility it is. Responsibility for the issue in BiH primarily lies with the Presidency of BiH, the Council of Ministers, and then the local government level,” he said.
