SalfordOnline
Your local community website
  In the Military Yesterday, Civilians Today in Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina helps the return to civilian life of former military personnel released as part of defence reforms. Today, a NATO project enables Ranko Prodanovic and his wife to open a sports club. Shotlist: ITW Ranko Prodanovic, Former Deputy Commander in the Republika Srpska army (in Serbo-Croat) «Trideset godina sam bio vojnik : prije rata pripadnik Jugoslovenske Narodne Armije, posle toga pripadnik Vojske Republike Srpske i zbog reforma oružani snaga u Bosni i Hercegovini ja i supruga smo ostali bez posla. Teško nam je bilo da se priviknemo na civilni nacin života ali pokušavamao na sve moguce nacine. » "I served in the forces for 30 years. I was in the Yugoslav national army before the war, and after that I became part of the army of the Republika Srpska. As a result of the reform of the armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, my wife and I were left unemployed. We have had a very hard time adapting to civilian life, but we are doing everything we can." In order to deal with their new situation, Ranko and his wife decided to establish their own business. They set about opening a sports club together. ITW Jan Braathu, Norwegian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (in English) "At the end of the war in the 1990s there were more than 400,000 men under arms here in Bosnia Herzegovina. Today the security needs of Bosnia Herzegovina are much less than 10,000." In 2006, to ease the transition and maintain stability in a country under reconstruction, NATO set up a trust fund through which Alliance member states could support the defence and security reforms if they so wished. ITW Col. Roger Batho, UK Defence Attaché to Bosnia and Herzegovina (in English) "We believe that having a good redundancy programme and a follow-on resettlement programme as part of the normal personnel management strategy for the military is very important." Ranko and Branislavka live in Nevesinje, a town in the Republika Srpska in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As in the rest of the country, unemployment in this town of 18,000 inhabitants is high - about 40%. Reviving the economy is a real priority if the unity of the region is to be maintained. The trust fund therefore provides welcome assistance. ITW Sead Muratovic, Assistant Minister for Personnel Management, Ministry of Defence, Bosnia and Herzegovina (in Serbo-Croat) « Naravno dakle Bosna i Hercegovina kao zemlja koja je prošla kroz jedno razdoblje nestabilnosti ima visok nivo potrebe da zapravo ima stabilnost, da tu stabilnost širi i na prostor regiona ali da participira i u širim aspektima price o sigurnosti : kolektivnoj, regionalnoj i ja bih rekao globalnoj. » "Of course, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country which has experienced difficult and unstable times, and now badly needs to regain stability in terms of security, be it collective, regional or global." Kathleen Kerr works for the International Organization for Migration in Sarajevo. This intergovernmental organization is the Executing Agent for the NATO Trust Fund programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In partnership with the Ministry of Defence, it carries out projects for the resettlement of former military personnel. ITW Kathleen Kerr, Programme Manager, International Organization for Migration (in English) "We provide really a large range of assistance. A lot of our beneficiaries have requested agriculture machinery because they have this land but they are not cultivating all of it because they don't have any machinery at all."
Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
