Aid for migrants in Croatia arrives from Qatar.
After talks between Croatian deputy prime minister and interior minister Ranko Ostojić and ambassador of Qatar in Croatia Moze Bint Nasser Bin Ahmed Ali Al-Thani, a plane with 50 tons of humanitarian aid intended for refugees landed at the Zagreb Airport. According to Ostojić, humanitarian aid has been delivered to the winter refugee camp in Slavonski Brod and is ready for use, reports Vecernji List on October 15, 2015.
“They donated thousands of tents, blankets, food items, medical equipment for adults and children. The aid will be used in the winter transit centre in Slavonski Brod, as well as in the reception centre in Opatovac”, said Ostojić in Opatovac adding that the aid is very valuable and stressing that the government of Qatar has sent it within 72 hours after the agreement was made. Ostojić pointed out that the police, army and other agencies engaged in the field are keeping the situation with refugees under control and that there are no problems. He said that the entry of refugees to Croatia is being organized at the designated locations, from where the refugees are first sent to the camp in Opatovac, and from there back to the Schengen Area. He added that, on the second day of the refugee crisis, when all accommodation capacities became full, Croatia stopped registering refugees according to the Dublin rules.
Talking about the opening of the winter camp in Slavonski Brod, Ostojić said that he as the minister will not allow the members of the police, army, State Administration for Protection and Rescue, Red Cross members, volunteers and refugees to freeze during the winter. “All those who criticize the relocation of the refugee camp probably will not mind that our people, that is the police, the military and others, have more humane conditions to do their jobs. As minister, I personally guarantee that there will not be any damage to the local community”, said Ostojić, adding that any resulting damage will be covered by the government.
Asked to comment on the statements by the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović that it will be necessary to install a fence on the border with Serbia, Ostojić said that Hungarian prime minister Orban has not managed to stop the refugees even with barbed wire and guns. “The control over the Croatian border is total, and at this point I would not comment on all the croaking and listening to these things. You should remember that at the beginning there was the idea that Croatian soldiers should form a wall without weapons and save the Croatian border. If there is no decision on the adoption and implementation of rigorous measures, for example, that anyone who touches the wire ends up in prison for five years or that we are going to shoot at those people, then we should not threaten with an empty rifle. In the past month, while we have been fighting with the refugee crisis on the frontlines, very often we were backstabbed”, said Ostojić.
According to the latest data, from midnight to 9 pm on Wednesday, 3,805 migrants entered Croatia. Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, a total of 174,960 migrants have entered Croatia. Today, the temporary refugee reception centre in Opatovac will be visited by Croatian foreign affairs minister Vesna Pusić.
