RUNIĆ: RETURNEE MUNICIPALITIES WILL NOT BECOME PLATFORM FOR MIGRANTS

DRVAR, JUNE 21 /SRNA/ – Drvar and other Serb returnee municipalities in the Federation of BiH will not allow themselves to become a platform for migrant settlement, said Drvar Mayor Dušica Runić.

"Five years ago, with the support of cantonal authorities, we prevented the construction of a migrant camp in Drvar. Today, we will once again seek that same support, because our municipality cannot and will not bear any additional burden," Runić told SRNA. She emphasized that, although sparsely populated, Drvar has a decent level of security that must not be jeopardized. “We will not pour salt into the wounds of our already suffering people. We are aware that Western countries want to clean up their cities, but they will not dump their problems onto our regions. Everyone is welcome – but only as tourists,” Runić said. She stressed that the municipality of Drvar will not allow itself to become even a stopover on the migrant route, let alone a place of settlement. “Perhaps authorities in BiH made promises to someone, but without our consent, it won’t be possible. We will use all legal and administrative mechanisms to protect our people and our territory,” Runić emphasized. The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik has submitted an initiative to the National Assembly of Republika Srpska to review the current migrant situation and propose appropriate measures, following announcements regarding the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants to BiH. The UK government has officially expressed its intention to resettle around 60,000 unwanted migrants from Asia and Africa to the Balkans — including Serbia (Kosovo and Metohija), BiH, North Macedonia, and Albania. The European Commission has joined with the announced that EU countries will extradite tens of thousands of problematic asylum seekers to the Balkans, while the business portal Bloomberg reported that the United States plans to relocate migrants from Latin America to the Balkans as well, specifically naming Serbia.