The Republika Srpska (RS) entity Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said she was dissatisfied with the way Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions are handling the migrant crisis in Bosnia. For that reason, she said the RS would further strengthen its Interior Ministry.

“This country has neither institutions nor mechanisms to respond to any issue. A small crisis of some 300 migrants can cause a whole mechanism of quarrelling and disagreements among different government levels,” Cvijanovic said.

She spoke at the opening of a three-day conference in Bijeljina titled “Regional Cooperation in Combating Trans-border Crime: Contemporary Challenges of Terrorism and the Migration Crisis,” attended by experts from this entity, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the German foundation Hanns Seidel.

She pointed out that RS will continue to strengthen and invest in its Interior Ministry.

“They are the only force in RS wearing uniforms. We have strengthened it for years, providing equipment, vehicles, arms and uniforms, and we will continue to do so in the future, preparing our police for contemporary challenges and threats,” she stressed.

In this regard, she said conferences such as this one are of paramount importance because they provide answers to common problems equally burdening all the countries in the region.

In the end, Prime Minister Cvijanovic expressed her support to the efforts contributing to solving all the contemporary security challenges.

Last week, a five-bus refugee convoy on its way from Sarajevo to the refugee asylum centre “Salakovac” near Mostar, was intercepted by the local police and stopped in the town of Konjic, preventing them from reaching the Salakovac centre. The convoy, carrying some 270 migrants, was allowed to continue on its path after several hours and the refugees settled in the Salakovac centre.