13.01.2012.
Deputy Chief of General Staff visits Sjenica
Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Major General Milan Bjelica and his associates visited today the members of the Second Army Brigade engaged in clearing the snow-blocked roads in the municipality of Sjenica.After the state of emergency has been declared in the municipality of sjenica, the Army was the first to react and come to help to the affected population.
In the municipality of Sjenica, General Bjelica was received by Mayor Muriz Turkovic, who pointed out that the it has been for a longer time, and especially in the past two years providing assistance to the population of the Pester plateau, that the Serbian Armed Forces has undoubtedly regained the trust of local people in the military.
- In the area of Sjenica, the emergency state was declared on 6 January, when dozens of mountain villages remained blocked with snow. It was only on the second day that our army arrived to help and started to clear a larger part of 550 kilometers of the road network. So far, all the main roads have been cleared. Machines of the Serbian Armed Forces are powerful and strong and can clean a large amount of snow at once, the Mayor of Sjenica Municipality said.
Answering to the welcoming words by the leaders of Sjenica, General Bjelica said that the military, in accordance with its capabilities, helps people at the Pester plateau, which has been cut off from the world for days due to snow drifts several meters high.- The military, in accordance with its capabilities, within its third mission, has been providing assistance to the people of this region. Our emphasis is now put on helping the residents of Sjenica, Nova Varos, Crna Trava and Vranje, but our machines are operating also in the Ground Safety Zone and on the roads to the liaison centres, which are also snow-bound. What I can now safely say is that the Minister of Defence and the Chief of General Staff have been monitoring the situation since the first day and that the members of the Second Brigade engaged in clearing the roads to cut-off villages will to stay here as long as necessary, General Bjelica said.
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