GENERALS REMOVED

Military Leaders of RS Replaced

AIM Banja Luka, 12 November, 1996

The Main Staff of the Army of Republica Srpska ceased to exist. By a decree of the President of the Republic, Dr Biljana Plavsic, who is also pursuant the law the supreme commander of the Army, it was replaced by a General Staff headed by anonymous major-general Pero Colic. That is how the political leadership - by way of reorganization of the Army - got rid of the charismatic general Ratko Mladic and influential high officers who were not members of a party and who were believed to have been inclined towards Belgrade.

The decision caused incredulity in the ranks of the Army, but no less among the people of Republica Srpska. Contradictory information keep arriving from various sources. According to those which are emitted from circles close to the Main Staff, Mladic is not giving up command of the Army which is loyal to him, and according to information from the leadership of the RS, he has accepted this decision.

Even if Mladic's relieving of duty is not surprising, since the international community is exerting pressure on him and his departure was accepted by the public, the choice of the new military leaders caused consternation. Newly appointed head of the General Staff, Pero Colic was promoted major-general a month ago by Ms Plavsic. His publicized curriculum vitae is interesting. It includes his war credits as the commander of the 5th Kozara Brigade and commander of the Tactical Group 4. He was decorated with the medal of Obilic, as it is stated in the official curriculum vitae, for breakthrough of the corridor in Western Slavonia, for expanding the corridor in the Sava River valley and defence of Prijedor in the last offensive in 1995. He undoubtedly deserves credit for the defence of Prijedor, while the rest were joint operations of the 1st Krajina Corps. As a reminder it should be said that the first to cross into Western Slavonia was Veljko Milankovic with the "wolves" from Vucjak, and then there was the 329th armoured brigade (later the 1st armoured brigade) under command of Ratomir Simic. The operation of widening the corridor in the Sava river valley was commanded by generals Simic and Talic, while Colic with his brigade was only on one of the wings of the operation. Statement that Pero Colic had not graduated from Military Academy, but only from a school for non-commissioned officers, arrived from Mladic's staff. They do not recognize his rank of a general and call him colonel. The statement also claims that he was retired as a major before the war and that at the age of 58 he certainly cannot be brought to the active forces with the explanation about "rejuvenation of the presonnel". It is also added that he distinguished himself in the election campaign of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) in the region of Prijedor municipality and that for that he was rewarded by an apartment and a luxurious car.

Nothing is said in the statement about other members of the General Staff. It is said that "colonel" Dragan Josipovic, nominated for deputy head of the General Staff, "has not graduated from Military Academy but quartermasters' school, and due to attempted procuring material benefit for himself during moving out of Sarajevo, he ran away to Yugoslavia and requested early retirement from there". They call Mile Renovica, assistant for information and security, "so-called colonel" and they claim that he worked for state security service, and that he too had not graduated from military schools. Vinko Pandurevic, assistant for moral, religious and legal affairs, is said to have had to answer to the Main Staff for leaving the frontline in "dubious" circumstances.

This conflict was announced. The discharged colonel Milovan Milutinovic, head of the Information Service of the Army of RS, in a text published in one of the latest issues of NIN pointed out to the attitude of the state and political authorities towards the Army. On the basis of his chronology of developments between the army and politics it can be concluided that the Army of RS has been left to take care of itself and that the attitude of the state towards it can best be described as that of a bad stepmother.

Retired general Milan Gvero, who was sent into retirement by the Assembly of RS together with general Zdravko Tolimit on 16 September last year, appeared in public again and proclaimed the decision of the Assembly illegal. "Decisions of the Lady President are her personal problem, because the wish of the SDS to make its own army is well-known", says Gvero. General Tolimir was offered the post of the advisor for implementation of the military part of the Dayton accords, while generals Momir Talic, Novica Simic, Bosko Kelecevic and Budimir Gavric were offered guarantees that they would keep their posts. Radovan Grubac would be made available to the General Staff. According to the news coming from military circles, about three hundred officers were sent off to retirement or transferred to other posts.

With this reorganization of the army the political leaders tried to finally resolve the conflict between the military and the political top echelons which has lasted the greatest part of the war. After the unsuccessful attempt to do it at the session of the Assembly in Sanski most, state leadership assessed that legitimacy give to it by the elections was the chance which should be grabbed. Confusion and contradictory news do not inspire hope that the conflict has actually been resolved.

If the decision of the political leaders is going to be effectuated, the big issue of authority of the newly nominated head of the General Staff remains open. There are few who believe that he will be able to control those who were his commanders until yesterday. The disposition of the people is not promising either. Mladic still has the halo of the warrior who had not been compromised and it is believed that he is the only one who could set these people, absorbed by mere survival, in motion again. Colic certainly does not have that kind of force. Perhaps he could have been replaced only by Manojlo Milovanovic who enjoys a good reputation in the Army of RS, but for the moment he is not even mentioned in combinations of the state and the new military leadership. He just made a statement that the army was still loyal to Mladic and that it did not recognize the decree of the President of RS.

Should the replacement of the Main Staff succeed and should allegations about relieving three hundred officers of duty prove to be true, it will be a more than certain indicator of creation of a party army. The assessments are that it would be disastrous for the people in RS. For the time being everyone is hoping for a peaceful denouement.

(AIM) Igor Gajic

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