The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Zukan Helez, spoke after the helicopter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, on which the authorities from Republika Srpska (RS) insist, is fighting a fire in the territory of Herzegovina, came into the spotlight again.
The Deputy Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Stasa Kosarac, yesterday asked the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transport and Communications and Defense of BiH to immediately approve the engagement of the helicopter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, which would help extinguish potential fires.
However, as stated by Zukan Helez, it is unclear why Kosarac, as well as the authorities from the RS, ignore the Armed Forcesof BiH (AFBiH) and insist that a helicopter from a neighboring country extinguish the fire, while BiH has its own, which can also extinguish the fire.
“The authorities and institutions of the smaller BiH entity of the RS still insist that the helicopters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia put out fires on the territory of BiH. Honestly, I am surprised by this insistence, that they want inferior helicopters from the neighboring country to put out fires on the territory of BiH, without wanting better helicopters of the Armed Forces of their own country. This behavior is a precedent and probably a unique case in the world. I note that the helicopters of the AFBiH are on standby and ready to take off and carry out firefighting missions,” says Helez.
He also says that it is obvious that the authorities in the RS are not only interested in putting out the fire but in abusing the accident to belittle and devalue the institutions of BiH.
“I will not approve the use of helicopters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia to extinguish fires on the territory of BiH. This task can be successfully performed by the domestic, competent institutions of the state of BiH, the AFBiH,” Helez concluded, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
