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Due to the dramatic situation of hundreds of immigrants following the evacuation of the Lipa camp in Bosnia, the EU Commission appealed to the local authorities to give people shelter. “It is clear that the immediate and practical solution is to reopen the reception center in Bira,” Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson said Thursday in Brussels.
There is heating, electricity, running water and space for 1,500 people. The EU has already provided financial support and promised more. Johansson explained that this could alleviate the plight of people stranded in the snow.
More than a thousand homeless
Camp Lipa was cleared a week ago by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) because Bosnian authorities had not winterized it. But initially no replacement was offered. More than a thousand refugees and migrants were left homeless in the inhospitable area 25 kilometers southeast of Bihac.
The Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers confirmed Thursday morning that, from its point of view, reopening the center in Bira on the outskirts of Bihac was the preferred solution, explained Johansson. “We call on the Bosnian national and local authorities to work together to provide these people with the shelter they deserve,” he added.
Bihac and Una-Sana canton are close to the border with the EU state, Croatia. Many refugees and migrants are lured there in the hope of entering the European Union.
