The Bosnian Director of Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, Slobodan Ujic, said of the 6,000 migrants currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 130 want to go back to their countries of origin.
Ujic said the number of arrivals currently isn’t increasing and that in the first week of June about 350 migrants arrived, compared to the same period last year when there were 150 arrivals per day.
He said the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs supported the proposal of former security minister Fahrudin Radoncic to deport illegal economic migrants back to their countries of origin.
There are 5,500 migrants in the reception centers that are full in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and absolutely no one cares about those who are more and more on the street. At the same time, in the last 10 days, the pressure on the state border of migrants from the direction of Serbia has been increasing, where, according to available data, there are close to 9,000 of them, Avaz news portal reports.
The largest number of migrants are trying to cross the border on the Drina River in the area of Zvornik.
With the easing of the measures, a part of the 9,000 migrants, as many as there are in Serbia, are concentrated in Loznica and Banja Koviljac.
“By easing the measures, we see that migrants are moving again. In the last 10 days, we have registered about 450 newcomers,” Mirsad Buzar, Deputy Director of the Service for Foreigners Affairs of BiH, told N1.
Former minister of Security of BiH, Fahrudin Radoncic, stated that BiH can expect a new wave of migrants from Greece, The Srpska Times reports.
“There are about a hundred thousand of them and they will move across BiH to Croatia. You know that we have different opinions. What I am advocating is a very energetic approach, discouraging them, stopping them, and deporting them legally. Some others think that we should be silent, that we should make new camps,” Radončić told reporters in Sarajevo.
“BiH must take full responsibility sovereignly and without fear and clearly say that it does not want to accept illegal migrants. Firstly, because we do not know their identity, secondly, we cannot bear that burden economically,” Radončić pointed out and added that he would not agree to open the border for illegal migrants at the cost of not being the Minister of Security because, as he said, he knows what that means for BiH in five or ten years.
According to him, the key is regional cooperation, but also Brussels.
Members of Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina prevented more than 170 illegal border crossings on Saturday.
According to the Border Police, five people were deterred from trying to cross the state border illegally in the area of Trebinje.
In the north of BiH, in the area of Izacic, 17 citizens of Afghanistan were prevented from crossing the border between BiH and Croatia, while the largest number was found in the area of Zvornik.
Also, members of the BPBiH deterred as many as 150 people from crossing into the territory of BiH from Serbia. These are migrants who try to reach Bosnia and Herzegovina on their way to the countries of the European Union every day.
Namely, as expected, warmer weather and the relaxation of restrictive measures due to the coronavirus pandemic favored an increasing number of attempts at illegal border crossings on the migrant route.
On May 31st, members of Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina have prevented 120 migrants from Serbia from entering Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Migrants were caught in Debela Međa near Zvornik. Bosnian Border Police confirmed that the migrants tried to cross the Drina River in an area where the water level is very shallow.
Migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina come mainly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, and Morocco.
