The chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, stated that the Council of Ministers, as an institution of the executive power, does not have any official information about the eventual intention of the Republic of Croatia to build a migrant reception center on the site of the former Željava military airport near Bihać.
“Everything we learned and heard, read or saw, is what you also referred to, through the media. This institution does not have any official information about the construction of this center,” said Kristo at the last session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, answering the question of representative Albin Muslić (SDPBiH) whether the authorities of BiH, specifically the Council of Ministers, have taken actions to prevent the construction of a migrant reception center.
“What activities were specifically carried out to prevent the construction of the aforementioned migrant reception center on the state border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, which would definitely put the safety of the citizens of BiH, especially the Una-Sana Canton and the city of Bihać, in question,” asked Muslić.
In the past few weeks, he said, we have been informed through the media that the authorities of the Republic of Croatia, specifically the Ministry of Internal Affairs, intend to build a migrant reception center on the site of the former Željava military airport, where around 1,500 migrants would be accommodated, with certain facilities, containers, security services and so on.
Muslić reminded that on February 23 of this year in the area of the Plitvička jezera municipality, in the Korenica settlement, a protest organized by the Plitvička jezera municipality was held, where citizens expressed their displeasure regarding the intention to build a migrant reception center in the area of the former Željava military airport near Bihać.
“Also, there is certain information from the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia that it is intended to build a migrant reception center on the said site. In this regard, I think it is high time to get involved now in order to thwart the said construction, so that a situation does not occur where a center is built and we only react later. I am afraid that it will be too late then,” warned Muslić.
The same problem was pointed out by MP Jasmin Emrić (NES-For New Generations), who asked the BiH Ministry of Security about the possible construction of a migrant reception center.
He said that a month ago, the media published information that the authorities of the Republic of Croatia were planning to build and establish a migrant center at the former location of the Željava military airport.
According to him, this news quickly resonated throughout Lika in the Republic of Croatia, but also in the Una-Sana Canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina, “which, if the announced plan were to be realized, would be directly exposed to security risks and all the negative impacts that are emitted to the wider environment of such a migrant center”.
“Municipalities and cities of the entire affected region in Bosnia and Herzegovina have already declared that they do not accept the construction of a migrant center on the border with our country, nor in the immediate vicinity of our inhabited places. I remind you of the migrant crisis in the Una-Sana Canton and the situation in 2019, when the authorities in the Republic of Croatia opposed the stay and accommodation of migrants at the Vučjak location in the immediate vicinity of the border, and all self-initiatively established camps and tents were closed location by migrants and the establishment of a temporary reception center at the location of Lipa”, said Emrić.
He noted that the temporary reception center for Lipa migrants was established at a great distance from the border, in the depth of the territory of our country, which was the request of the Croatian authorities.
“As the complex of the former Željava airport is located on the state border between our country and the Republic of Croatia, and in order to protect the interests and security of the northwestern part of BiH, I ask the Deputy Minister of Security, who holds the office of minister, Ivica Bošnjak, what procedures and actions was carried out by that ministry in connection with the announcement by the authorities of the Republic of Croatia that they will build and establish a migrant center at the location of the former Željava military airport. What measures have you taken or will be taken by the Ministry of Security and the Council of Ministers of BiH to protect the interests and security of the northwestern part of BiH, as well as in order to prevent the establishment and construction of a migrant center in the immediate vicinity of the state border at the location of the former Željava airport”, is the question that Emrić asked the competent institutions, he writes N1 BiH
