The Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zukan Helez, sent a letter to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina requesting that the General Corps Structure Plan in the defense system of Bosnia and Herzegovina be included in the agenda, after which new generals should be appointed. Although the plan was submitted, it was not considered, what is a stumbling block?
At the beginning of March last year, the mandate of the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lieutenant General Senad Mašović, and his two deputies, Ivica Jerkić and Gojko Knežević, expired. Since then, NATO has insisted almost daily on the appointment of a new general corps, but the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet started the process of appointing a new staff or filling the general corps due to the retirement of several high-ranking officers. The plan was approved by the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously stated that “there is a constant possibility that in the background there is a silent intra-party conflict between BiH Presidency member Denis Bećirović and BiH Defense Minister Zukan Helez, and that explains it to some extent, but in no case justifies his obstructions.”
Bećirević’s cabinet for BHRT received different claims – there is no obstruction, it is only a matter of not attending additional consultations, according to the conclusion of the BiH Presidency, where the final proposal of the plan should be adopted.
“I don’t see any obstructions in this convocation of the Presidency because this issue was carried over from the previous convocation of the BiH Presidency when the new structure of the general corps was supposed to be adopted. It was precisely the Cabinet of the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Bećirović who initiated the Ministry of Defense to submit a new structure plan general corps, which the mentioned ministry did. This issue was also delegated at the previous sessions of the Presidency, when the conclusion was reached by all three members of the Presidency to schedule final consultations in which the Minister of Defense, two deputies, the Chief of the Joint Staff, two deputies and three representatives of the Cabinet would participate Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is precisely as a result of those consultations that the final proposal of the plan for the new structure of the general corps should be adopted,” Alija Kožljak, chief of staff of the member of the BiH Presidency, Denis Bećirović, told BHRT.
At the previous two meetings, not everyone who was invited responded, including the Minister of Defense, so no final conclusion could be reached, Kožljak emphasized.
“I hope that a new meeting of this working group will be scheduled soon, when a proposal for a plan for the new structure of the general corps will be adopted. According to the conclusion of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina signed by the Chairperson of the Presidency Željka Cvijanović, that working group of nine members should make the final proposal and I don’t think there will be any problems there.”
It is obvious that some in this time of crisis are trying to scare the people even more, Kožljak believes.
“There is no need for that. I also have a document signed by Cvijanović and the conclusion with which she requests that final consultations be carried out and that the final plan be submitted. All these participants are very serious and professional individuals who will make such a proposal in a short time which will open all the conditions to adopt the new plan for the structure of the general corps as soon as possible. I suggested that the consultations be held on Monday. Yesterday, at an informal meeting, I suggested that they be done before the annual vacations. We will see if they will respond on Monday.” , Kožljak said, among other things, in an interview for BHRT.
