by Slobodan VASKOVIC
The residents of Srbac were the victims of a handful of wild, rowdy and totally drunk foreign troops in mid-March.
According to claims by eyewitnesses, a handful of totally drunk members of SFOR burst into the Sky [Nebo] disco in Srbac shortly after 1 a.m. and immediately began to muscle their way to the bar.
"They were shoving aside everyone who happened to be in their way without any regard whatsoever for whether the people were young women or men," one of the eyewitnesses of the unfortunate incident tells Reporter. He adds that the purported "peacekeepers" were also exceptionally vulgar and insolent.
Scattering people in their wake, they pushed B.P. aside and then delivered a long string of verbal abuse on his account. "When he asked them what was going on, one of the SFOR soldiers approached him and hit him as hard as he could on the forehead with his own head. B.P.'s forehead burst and the blood gushed," says our source.
According to his account, at that point several of the foreign soldiers ran to join them but instead of calming down their wild colleague, they knocked the unfortunate B.P. to the floor.
"All of them were literally kicking him all over the body, paying no attention whatsoever to the other guests in the disco, about a thousand people that night," says the eyewitness, adding that one of the soldiers drew his gun and threatened the others.
He emphasizes that the SFOR troops left the disco only after the Srbac police intervened.
"However, that's when all hell broke loose for everyone in the disco," he says. Instead of going back to their base, the raging soldiers took their rifles from their transporter and "courageously" laid siege to the discotheque. With weapons ready to fire, they circled around the Sky, apparently hoping that someone would show some resistance so they could demonstrate their "military skills and valor".
"Reporter's" source claims that panic ensued in the disco and that some guests were completely beside themselves with fear.
But all this was not enough for the unrestrained members of SFOR. They needed more to make up for the lack of "real action".
"After they were done conquering the yard around the disco, they got in their armored vehicle and drove through the streets of Srbac at great speed, breaking suddenly, accelerating again... At the same time, they made liberal use of their sirens and thus managed to alarm a considerable number of the residents of Srbac," says our source.
But that was not the end of the Srbac drama. Apparently dissatisfied by the lack of applause, the members of SFOR targeted a security guard at the town water department and harassed him without mercy. At the close of "a good time out" they continued to drink and provoke the guests at two other bars in Srbac.
It was almost dawn when these "brave young men" left Srbac and went for a "well-deserved" rest. Courageously, without doubt.
The Srbac episode is not the only instance of SFOR soldiers running wild this Mrch. According to Reporter's information, at the beginning of the month members of SFOR near Doboj obstructed an escorted convoy, which happened to include RS president Mirko Sarovic. Even though they were reprimanded, they continued with their provocations and did not withdraw until some time later.
And RS president Mirko Sarovic is not the only one to have had a close encounter of this sort; so has Zivko Radisic, the chairman of the BH Presidency. His convoy was also harassed in a very insolent manner by SFOR members who were so aggressive that they represented a personal threat to Radisic and completely endangered his safety. "At one point we thought they were going to assassinate Radisic," says one of the people traveling with him, adding that fortunately everything ended well.
The appropriate RS institutions have advised SFOR command of all such incidents but it remains unknown whether any sanctions were taken against the "courageous young men" and what those sanctions were.
Nevertheless, one thing is certain. Such behavior cannot be caused by alcohol but only by the arrogance and complete scorn which some members of SFOR "nurture" toward the local citizens. One wonders how SFOR command would react if by some chance a member of one of the nations in BH should take it upon himself to demonstrate "peacekeeping, courage and training" toward the members of SFOR in the same way?!