29.02.2012.
Army commander's press conference
In the command of the Army in Nis a press conference of the Army Commander Major General Milan Mojsilovic was held today who presented the overall results of the engagement of the Serbian Army in providing relief of consequences of natural disasters caused by heavy snowfall.
At the beginning of the press conference General Mojsilovic stressed that the Serbian Army in the last two months had been continuously engaged in providing assistance to citizens and supporting civil authorities in relieving the consequences of natural disasters caused by heavy snowfall and very cold temperatures."The initial deployment of the Army of Serbia - said the general Mojsilovic - started on the 8th of January by engaging five working groups in five municipalities, with twelve heavy engineering machinery. As the weather conditions made the situation even worse and how abundant snowfall interfered with normal life and work of citizens, a number of municipalities declared emergency situation, which caused the Serbian Army to expand its involvement in more than 30 municipalities. We have engaged 88 engineering working machines and about the same number of working groups. "
According to General Mojsilovic 2000 soldiers and officers in critical moments were engaged on daily basis, and the emphasis in clearing the snow was at the health centers, schools, kindergartens, public and government institutions.
- Over 11 thousand members of the SAF was engaged in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters. When the weather situation permitted it, assistance was provided to vulnerable population by air, when a helicopter of the Serbian Army was deployed, special teams of search and rescue were engaged, said Mojsilovic.
Despite the decision of the Serbian government to cancel the state emergency, the members of the Serbian Army, their working groups and working machinery continued to provide assistance to local governments in rehabilitating the consequences of heavy snowfall investing special efforts to minimize the consequences."As the weather situation, so to say, stabilized, in the course of one day we discontinued the use of our machinery in the municipalities of Babusnica and Ivanjica. The Serbian Army is still working in the municipalities of Nova Varos and Sjenica and this has a some sort of a symbolic character, because the beginning of our involvement was in these municipalities. So far we cleared about 8500 kilometers of main and regional roads, and unclassified roads, and this number will certainly be even higher considering that the machines are still in the field and in the function of eliminating the consequences. Despite partial distribution of fuel, which we use for our purpose, and with the municipal funds allocated for these tasks, of course supplemented by the Government of the Republic of Serbia for priority need for fuel, the operating costs of the Serbian Army from 8th January till today have reached some 35 million RSD, "said the commander of the Army.
In particular, he expressed satisfaction that the assumptions are not proved true on the rapid melting of snow and we now in the Republic of Serbia does not spill water flows from river beds, and therefore no flooding.
"I want to assure the public - said general Mojsilovic - that the Serbian army with all their available capacities, suitable to the nature of the problem, will continue in future to provide assistance to anyone with an emphasis especially on those who are really in need. For dedicated work, selfless dedication and humane treatment of members of the Serbian Army, who stood out in their personal contribution will be rewarded and praised by Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac and Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic. On this occasion I would like to announce that disengaging the Serbian Army to help citizens and civil authorities in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters will be on the 5th March, when members of the Army and all the working machinery will be returned to their respective units.
At the end of his address General Mojsilovic thanked the media for their support and the manner in which the media supported the activities of the Serbian Army from the beginning of the engagement and during this hard battle with the natural disaster.
Responding to reporters' questions about the maintenance of roads in the Ground Safety Zone, general Mojsilovic remarked that 24 security forces units of contained type were stationed in this 5 km wide stretch of roads along the administrative line with Kosovo and Metohija in the length of 382 kilometers."Natural disasters do not choose with either time or place, they appear and affected the performance of our tasks in the security zone. We have assessed the situation in terms of prevention, and our engineering capacities of 27 machines were located as early as November last year, on roads all the way to container type military bases. It was our responsibility to maintain the bases, it was a difficult task, but the realization of the tasks in the security zone was at no time compromised. I should point out that 27 engineering machines were engaged exclusively on these tasks and they were not included in the hiring of engineer capacities to assist civilian structures. "
General Mojsilovic answered the question about funding of these activities and stressed that the Serbian Army is a budgetary user, however these operating expenses were not planned in the budget.
"We did spend budgetary funds to help everyone in need - said General Mojsilovic - but that cost was not envisioned by the budget plan, so it is expected that the Government of the Republic of Serbia will make a refund for fuel."
