Return of Bosnians from camps in Syria postponed

N1

The return of Bosnian nationals from the camps in Syria, initially scheduled for this Saturday, has been postponed, the Security Ministry said Friday afternoon.

Acting upon the conclusions of the State Presidency and the Council of Ministers, the Security Ministry carried out necessary preparations to accept the first group of Bosnian nationals consisting of women and children but due to, what the ministry called, sudden and unanticipated circumstances, the return has been postponed.

The ministry continues the communication with the international partners in order to ensure a safe return of Bosnian nationals from Syria as soon as the conditions for that are met.

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Security Minister Dragan Mektic said earlier this week that the Presidency made a “shocking” decision on the return of Bosnians from camps Syria and Iraq, noting that the collective head of state had to consult security agencies before it passed the decision.

“I don't know if they consulted any security agency before, and they had to contact the Ministry about having decided to return so many persons to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been announced for Saturday,” Mektic told N1.

“There are many persons that we know nothing about, there are women, children, the ISIS fighters,” he said. “By doing that, the Presidency jeopardised the safety in this country. We don't know who those persons are or what they were doing.”