Slovenia Can Not Stand the Burden of Any More Croatian Refugees

Ljubljana, 21 October - There are today 20,468 refugees from Croatia officially applied in Slovenia today, by far exceeding all possibilities which the Republic of Slovenia has to aid these Croatian refugees. As we have heard at today's assembly commission for defence, their agreement with the Republic of Croatia to aid in accommodating the refugees in Istria, so as to settle part of the costs Slovenia has, and that it will daily report which areas of its territory are under threat, are not being implemented. That is why Slovenia has requested the help of neighboring countries, members of the Alps-Adriatic Community and the International Red Cross. As the number of refugees is not diminishing, the Slovenian government will probably propose a sharpening of criteria for acquiring the status of refugee, otherwise it will not be able to handle this problem. The health representatives also warn that winter is coming, and that this will increase the number of the sick among the refugees, which will cause additional costs for which it is not clear as to who will settle them.