The transfer of the migrants from the burnt-down Lipa tent camp in Bosnia’s northwest to the barracks in the southern village of Bradina was postponed after local authorities said that the decision to accommodate the migrants there was not made according to procedures.
Eleven buses arrived at camp Lipa in the afternoon on Tuesday to relocate the migrants.
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“We asked the BiH Presidency to let the Service for Foreigner’s Affairs use the facility for four months,” Bosnia’s Security Minister, Selmo Cikotic, said regarding the facility in Bradina.
However, Finance Minister, Vjekoslav Bevanda, pointed out that the Council of Ministers did not adopt such a decision and accused Cikotic of disrespecting procedures.
Meanwhile, locals in Bradina gathered around the barracks to block the accommodation of the migrants there.
The government of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNK) also adopted a conclusion saying that the decision to transfer the migrants to Bradina was not in accordance with procedures as it was not coordinated with local authorities.
“Since the representatives of the Municipality of Konjic and the Canton have not been informed or involved in any way regarding the transfer of migrants to the HNK, the Government and its bodies cannot accept participation in this activity,” it said.
The migrants at Lipa spent the past six nights out in the open after the camp was shut down and destroyed by a fire last Wednesday.
The migrants staying at the Lipa camp had no access to electricity, running water or sewage. The camp also did not provide shelter from the extreme weather conditions in the winter.
That is why Bosnia's government, formally the Council of Ministers, approved last week 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), which ran the camp, the works cannot be conducted while the migrants are still there.
The BiH Security Ministry then asked authorities in the northwestern Una-Sana Canton (USK) to reopen the Bira migrant reception centre in the nearby town of Bihac.
Bira was shut down in late September due to pressure from the local population.
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.
Heavy snowfall made the situation worse on Saturday, casing fears that people could start dying at Lipa.
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