"THE GREATEST SONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA"

Rally of Support to Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic

AIM Banjaluka, February 23, 1996

A rally of support to the President of the Republic of Srpska, Dr Radovan Karadzic and General-Staff Commander of the Army of the Republic of Srpska, colonel-general Ratko Mladic, was held today in Banjaluka. This manifestation held in sports hall "Borik" was organized by the Municipal Committee of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS). The rally which was announced for days, was held for workers brought from enterprises in Banjaluka itself and the surrounding municipalities who did not work today. Workers had to pay in advance for transportation to the site of the rally. For failing to appear, the workers were threatened with dismissal. For the sake of "spontaneous" gathering, elemetary school pupils did not go to school, and secondary school students had lessons only in the morning.

The rally began with the opening speech of the mayor of Banjaluka, Predrag Radic, M.A., who expressed disagreement with impermissible treatment of the Serb nation as a whole, then supported the peace initiatives, but not at all costs, that is, "not at the cost of sacrificing the greatest sons of the Republic of Srpska, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic".

The people who carried placards saying "Defence against Crime is not a Crime", "If you try them, try all the Serbs", and pictures of the President and the military Commander of RS, were addressed by Bishop of Banjaluka, Mr Jefrem, Prof. Dr. Miroljub Jeftic from Belgrade, Dragos Kalajic (introduced as the Vice-President of the Committee for Protection against the Hague Tribunal), Borivoje Sendic, member of Presidency of the SDS, Mirko Jovic, President of the Serb National Revival, and representatives of the Serb Radical Party, Serb Patriotic Party, Party of Serb Patriotic Unity, Radical National Party "Nikola Pasic"...

Words about a just defensive war and undoubted heroic roles of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic were heard at the rally. According to the words of Dragos Kalajic, there is a great world conspiracy, and the Hague Tribunal is illegitimate, it should submit its resignation, because mostly Muslims and Americans are sitting in it.

Professor Dr. Miroljub Jeftic mentioned that implementation of the Dayton Agreement directly tyrannized the Serb people, because "an Osmanli army and Marko Kraljevic cannot exist together in a single state".

The rally lasted two hours, and the orators met with approval of the audience. The first reaction to the gathering arrived from the Liberal party in Banjaluka: "Such a hypocritical manifestation of the SDS is an expression of extreme irresponsibility in relation to all the nations in B&H, but primarily in relation to the Serb people, because apart from dismantling factories in Sarajevo, moving the Serbs out of Sarajevo, this is another in a series of moves aimed against implementation of the Dayton Agreement".

When speaking of moving the Serbs out of Sarajevo, the League of Communists - Movement for Yugoslavia in Banjaluka also reacted by sharply condemning the negative role of the leadership of the Republic of Srpska in it. This party said in its proclamation: "Advocates of war, ethnic cleansing, impossibility of coexistence, forced these people with the power of weapons to leave everything that means life itself, in the attempt to save their lives".

(AIM) Radmila Karlas