The Assembly of Bosnia’s northwestern Una-Sana Canton (USK) concluded in an extraordinary session on Wednesday that the request to transfer the migrants that were staying in the Lipa camp, which was destroyed in a blaze on Wednesday as it was being shut down, to the Bira centre in the town of Bihac, is unacceptable.
The USK is the part of the country most affected by the migrant crisis as it is located at the border with Croatia, where most of the migrants entering Bosnia want to cross over into the EU.
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Some 1,200 migrants were staying at the improvised tent camp Lipa, near Bihac, until Wednesday when it was shut down.
Migrants staying at Lipa 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 establish the temporary migrant camp ‘Lipa’, which would consist of adapted shipping containers able to house 1,500 migrants in the Bihac area.
However, the IOM said the potential works in the camp cannot be conducted while the migrants are still there.
The BiH Security Ministry then asked authorities in the USK to reopen the Bira migrant reception centre which is located in the town of Bihac and was shut down in late September due to pressure from the local population.
On Tuesday, the USK Task Force for the Coordination of Migrant Activities said it opposes the reopening of Bira as it would further complicate the already difficult security situation in Bihac.
The USK Assembly on Wednesday asked the Council of Ministers to change its decision on determining temporary migrant camps in the former factories Bira in Bihac and Miral in the town of Velika Kladusa. It also asked for the migrants staying in Miral currently to be transferred somewhere else.
USK authorities do not oppose the establishment of the Lipa camp but want Bira to remain closed and Miral to close.
Locals in Bihac are patrolling the entrance to the Bira centre and said they will prevent any attempt to transfer the migrants there.