An AFP reporter near the Gibina border-crossing point in northeastern Slovenia said that soldiers were erecting two vertical rolls of the razor wire to about shoulder-height across fields at the rate of around 100 meters (yards) per hour.
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Army trucks carrying wire fencing arrived in the border village of Veliki Obrez in southeastern Slovenia early on Wednesday to begin work on the barrier.
Slovenian Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar said the measures “are not popular, but they are necessary”.
He insisted they were not closing the border and said the measures were aimed at avoiding a “humanitarian disaster” caused by an expected sharp rise in migrant numbers this week following a recent dip.
Slovenia began erecting a razor-wire fence along its border with Croatia Wednesday as dozens of refugees staged a hunger strike in a Czech Republic detention center and Denmark vowed to tighten its immigration policies.
Cerar has said that Slovenia, which has a population of only 2 million, is unable to accommodate large amounts of migrants, many of whom may remain in the country for a long period of time.
Slovenia’s announcement came ahead of a special EU-Africa summit in Malta on Wednesday, focused on how to reduce the flow via Libya, another key migrant route after Turkey and the Balkans.
He said that 25 member states had only offered “small amounts” so far.
The European Union has given Slovenia 10 million euros, or about $10.72 million, a fraction of the amount the country needs to care for the migrants.
The developments coincide with the final day of a migration summit of European and African leaders.
Slovenia denies that any part of the planned 80-kilometer (50 mile) fence is on Croatian soil.
“When a large number of people start pushing they are like a swollen river, and I don’t think this (fencing) can stop them”, said Zeljko Poljak, a resident of the village of Vukovo Selo.
A migrant boy waits to enter a makeshift camp at the Austrian/Slovenian border. “The flow of migrants hasn’t reduced or slowed down”, he said.
The Slovenian government has warned that the figure could soon reach 30,000 a day as the onset of cold weather has not stopped the surge. His government fears that if neighboring Austria restricts their entry, the thousands stranded in Slovenia would be too much for the tiny Alpine state to handle.
The migrants crisis has been the source of tension between two European Union nations that were once were part of the same country, Yugoslavia.
Anadolu Agency says Turkish Coast Guard divers are searching the waters for more possible victims.
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The talks on the Mediterranean island are being held not far from where rescue ships have plucked thousands of people from the seas this year.
