The soldiers of the Bundeswehr in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are warmly welcomed, says the commander of the European Union Force for BiH (EUFOR‘s) LOT house in Vlasenica, Major Mike Lange. But, he says, it can be noticed that one part of the population has a neutral attitude towards them, while the other has a positive attitude.
There are currently around 1,100 EUFOR soldiers or 21 contingents (from the same number of the European Union – EUcountries) in BiH, who are housed in 19 LOT-houses in several cities, and in the Butmir base near Sarajevo. The commander of EUFOR in BiH since January this year is Major General Helmut Habermayar, a member of the Austrian Armed Forces.
The military operation Althea is a mission by which the EUFORcontrols and monitors the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Major Lange points out that he generally has a positive opinion of how the local population reacts to their presence:
“I think the attitude of the residents towards us is neutral or positive. We have good experiences and we haven’t had a single problem in those relationships so far. They are especially positive towards us in restaurants,” says Lange with a laugh, adding that he likes to eat well and that he really likes Bosnian dishes.
The people are friendly and the nature is beautiful and it reminds me of Bavaria, says this German, adding that the only thing he doesn’t like is that a lot of plastic waste ends up in that nature, DW reports.
photo: Marinko Sekulic/DW
E.Dz.
