Croatian President Asks Chief-of-Staff to Put Army on Higher Alert over Migrant Crisis

Migrants wait to enter a registration camp after they crossed between Serbia and Croatia near the city of Tovarnik, Croatia, 17 September 2015.

Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has asked Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Gen. Drago Lovric to put the army on a higher state of alert to protect the country's borders from a potential increase in migratory pressure, HINA reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Croatia’s Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic has said that the country’s capacities to accept refugees have been exhausted, the Croatian state news agency reported.

It is unacceptable that Croatia is treated as a country which has to abide by international agreements, while neighbouring countries through which migrants are passing en route to western Europe, do not have to, Ostojic said in the border town of Tovarnik. The town, has been the scene of increased flow of migrants from Serbia since Hungary sealed off its border with non-EU Serbia on Tuesday, making it almost impossible for migrants to enter the EU over land.

Croatia's Interior Ministry has registered about 7,300 migrants by noontime on Thursday after Serbia rerouted them to cross into Croatia instead of Hungary.

Croatia’s western neighbour Slovenia has offered to help the government in Zagreb cope with the present migrant influx but has ruled out ruled out the possibility of setting up a corridor for migrants to pass through the Alpine country, HINA said. The help was offered by Slovenia's Interior Minister Vesna Gjerkes Znidar to her Croatian counterpart Ranko Ostojic earlier on Thursday. 

 

 

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