ŠEHOVAC: FORMATION OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ARMY WAS CRUCIAL FOR DEFENSE OF SERB PEOPLE AND CREATION OF SRPSKA

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MAY 10 /SRNA/ - The Republika Srpska Army defended Republika Srpska honorably and fairly, and its formation was crucial, said Goran Šehovac, Deputy President of the Presidency of the Republika Srpska Veterans' Organization /BORS/.

Šehovac assessed that the decision by the then political leadership of Republika Srpska to form the Army of Republika Srpska and appoint General Ratko Mladić as its commander "saved Republika Srpska". "When the Army of Republika Srpska was formed, the people gained a great sense of security. People saw that they had their own army, their own units, and young people who joined the defense of Republika Srpska. Everything stood under one flag, the flag of Republika Srpska," Šehovac told SRNA ahead of the Day of the Army of Republika Srpska, May 12. He emphasized that, as a former member of the Republika Srpska Army and the Ilidža Brigade, he is proud of the role the army played during the Defensive-Patriotic War. He said that before the army was formally established, the defense of the Serbian people had been carried out by members of the Territorial Defense forces and the police, adding that the first victims in the Ilidža area fell before the official formation of the Republika Srpska Army. Šehovac reminded that the first attack on Ilidža took place on April 22, when 12 young members of the Territorial Defense forces were killed. Šehovac said that with the formation of the Republika Srpska Army, a unified system of command and defense was established, noting that at the time, there had been various units and not all of them were under control. "With the formation of the Republika Srpska Army, everything was organized under one command and one flag," Šehovac said. He said that the Ilidža Brigade was one of the largest in Republika Srpska and that it demonstrated a high level of organization in the defense of Serbian Sarajevo and Republika Srpska. He announced that on May 12, more than 250 students, veterans, and family members of fallen soldiers from Istočno Sarajevo will visit the Kozara Barracks in Banja Luka, as part of the observance of the Day of the Republika Srpska Army. "We will visit the museum of the Republika Srpska Army and the central memorial dedicated to fallen members of the Army and the Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska, and our generals and colonels will speak to young people about the importance of the Republika Srpska Army during the Defensive-Patriotic War," Šehovac said. According to him, the goal is for younger generations to learn about the importance of the creation of Republika Srpska and its institutions, as well as to preserve tradition and the culture of remembrance.