The International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Montenegro, regarding the possible acceptance of some migrants from the Dikoti ship, believes that the question is whether they want to come to Montenegro and stay there.
A ship carrying 150 migrants, mostly from Eritrea, has been in Sicily for days.
The Italian Embassy contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the possible acceptance of some of the migrants from the ship Dikoti, but the Montenegrin authorities, as announced on Wednesday, have not yet decided on that request.
The head of the IOM for Montenegro, Dušica Živković, told the MINA agency that there is no question whether or not migrants should be accepted, because Montenegro, as a serious country, already accepts migrants who come and provides them with the necessary help and support.
"The question is, do these people want to come to Montenegro and stay there. Bearing in mind that migrants do not see Montenegro as their final destination, it could be expected that if we accept migrants from Italy, they will immediately look for others a way to reach Europe", said Živković.
Answering the question of how many migrants, given the capacities, Montenegro could accept and whether the state has adequate conditions for their stay, she said that Montenegro accepts migrants every day and so far there have been no major problems.
"Considering that so far migrants have only transited through Montenegro and that we have provided accommodation for 200-250 migrants without any major problems, I think that even a slight increase would not cause any problems", Živković assessed.
She assessed that the Montenegrin authorities have so far had a very professional and humane approach towards migrants.
"I believe that this will not change", said Živković.
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