Bosnian Serbs Want Border Closed to Migrants

Migrants camped out in Sarajevo Photo: BIRN

The government of Republika Srpska on Sunday called for tighter control of Bosnia's state borders, closure of the borders to migrants and an increased police presence on frontiers.

Zeljka Cvijanovic, Prime Minister of Bosnia's mainly Serbian entity, voiced dissatisfaction with the way the Bosnia’s state institutions were handling the issue of migrants, whose number has risen this year.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called "Balkan route" in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe.

Bosnia was not part of that route, which was effectively shut down in March 2016. However, migrants then started searching for new routes to Western Europe via Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, and now Bosnia.

“We have heard statements from various representatives of Bosnia’s institutions about being well prepared [for migrants] but also concerning ones about their inability to establish control,” Cvijanovic told the media on Sunday.

She said she was concerned that many migrants now in Bosnia had no identification documents, which could cause risks in terms of security and healthcare.

Cvijanovic said the RS government would not accept decisions on this problem that Bosnia’s state government, the Council of Ministers, adopted on its own, without due consultation.

Bosnia’s Council of Ministers has suggested assigning five military barracks to house an estimated 1,250 migrants and refugees, putting the matter to parliament for further discussion.

But Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, has opposed this idea, saying the RS would not agree to house migrants on its territory, and adding that no one can make that decision for the RS.

After the RS government called for for new talks on asylum policy, Dodik said he supported his government’s conclusions, adding that the current proposed measures were “not aimed at protection of the Republika Srpska.

“We want to protect our way of life. We don’t want changes to the future structure of the population,” Dodik said on Sunday, adding that “the West should solve this issue.”

The Council of Ministers has scheduled a session for Monday to discuss solutions for the issue of migrants in Bosnia.

Neven Crvenkovic, the UNHCR spokesperson for South-East Europe, told N1 media outlet on Monday that the situation would become "critical" unless solutions were agreed and implemented.

"There are action plans from 2015, which were made for the migrant crisis like those seen in Serbia and Macedonia, so we will see how these plans are implemented in Bosnia. The situation is challenging, but to avoid a crisis, the authorities must act in a timely way,” he added.

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