Bihac

A state of natural disaster has been declared in Una-Sana Canton, one of ten cantons in Bosnia's Federation entity, after heavy rain.

"Our citizens have had a sleepless night, the situation is extremely difficult," Una-Sana Canton's Prime Minister, Mustafa Ruznic, said, N1 reported.

Many roads have been flooded, cutting off towns from the rest of the country. Photo: N1

Since 2015, when migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Asia and Africa began crossing the Balkans in significant numbers, Trieste has been a hub for those trying to reach bigger Italian cities or continue deeper into Western Europe.

Ramiz Hodzic pleaded not guilty at the Cantonal Court in the city of Bihac on Wednesday to committing a war crime against the civilian population in the Velika Kladusa area in 1994.

"Honourable court, I understand the indictment and the charges against me, but I am not guilty," Hodzic said.

The migrant-smuggling business in Western Balkan countries is worth at least 50 million euros a year, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime NGO said in a report published on Monday.

A cold wind carrying snow lifts the tarpaulin that has been tossed over a wobbly metal frame as an improvised tent.

Winter is only just under way in northwestern Bosnia; worse is yet to come.

"We're not animals," said Yusuf, from Morocco. "We need water, electricity, food, shelter."

After locals in the town of Bihac in northwest Bosnia protested against plans to relocate migrants and refugees from the torched Lipa camp to the Bira centre, inside the town, Bosnia ordered its armed forces to set up new tents in the Lipa camp where the migrants can stay until the winter adaptation of the camp is completed.

The International Organization for Migration, IOM, has warned that it will cease to provide services at the Lipa camp for migrants and refugees by Wednesday if authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to fail to meet their commitments.

In an operation codenamed "Lipa", executed on the orders of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian Border Police, together with partner police and security agencies,  on Wednesday arrested members of an organised crime group suspected of smuggling hundreds of illegal migrants from Bosnia to EU member Croatia.

The authorities in the Una-Sana Canton, in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, moved a first group of about 120 migrants and refugees to the new reception centre in Lipa, not far from the town of Bihac, on Tuesday.

The state court in Sarajevo has asked Interpol to call for the arrests of Dusan Cimes, Slobodan Curcic and Goran Mojovic, who are all wanted to face war crimes charges but are currently living abroad.

Cimes is accused of participating in a widespread and systematic attack by the Bosnian Serb Army and police against the Bosniak civilian population.