270 migrants who had been living in tents in a park in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s capital Sarajevo were transferred to asylum in the southern town of Salakovac after an hours-long standoff between regional and national authorities, local media reported on May 18.

Bosnia is struggling to cope with the arrival of thousands of migrants and refugees, many of whom are sleeping in parks in the capital and other towns as they seek ways to move to western Europe. In order to resolve the situation, the state-level government took measures to take care of those who have already entered the country and, at the same time, to prevent others from crossing the borders.

Bosnia’s Defence Minister Dragan Mektic has repeatedly said that the country had become part of an alternative route, starting from Turkey via Greece and Albania through Montenegro. Migrants from Serbia are also entering the country.

According to Bosnian estimations, some 1,200 migrants mostly from Syria, Pakistan, Libya and Afghanistan have entered Bosnia since the beginning of 2018.

Despite the state-level authorities’ decision, however, on May 18 the police stopped busses transferring 270 migrants to the asylum in Salakovac upon the orders of the police of the Herzegovina-Neretva canton (HNK), which is dominated by ethnic Croats, Klix.ba reported.

The move provoked significant tensions as a conflict between state-level and local authorities turned into a political fight between the leaders of ethnic parties ahead of the general and presidential elections in October.

Representatives of the Croats living in Bosnia have claimed that the decision of the state-level government to transfer migrants to their territory is aimed at destabilising the area.

At the same time, Republika Srpska’s President Milorad Dodik, who is running for the state-level tripartite presidency, used the opportunity to say that his entity will not allow the establishment of refugee asylums on its territory. Dodik is demanding closure of the borders for migrants too.

Mektic said that he will demand the prosecution investigate the decision of the local authorities to override the state-level ruling and stop the migrants. The state-level authorities have already launched an investigation and have summoned the head of the HNK’s police Ilija Lasic for interrogation.

Mektic also claimed that the move was a "coup attempt" by the Croats, calling an emergency press conference in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Republika Srpska. Mektic has said that his ministry was not informed why the migrants were stopped.

The Bosnian centre-right Alliance for a Better Future (SBB) also reacted negatively to the decision of the local authorities, saying it was unacceptable.