Despite the opposition of herders, environmental activists and nature lovers, the Army of Montenegro will conduct a mortar firing exercise in Sinjajevina in seven days.
The army warns the herders every day to get away from the mountain, and they claim that they are upset and that they are not giving up their mountain.
The Ministry of Defense announced in a technical mandate that the Army of Montenegro, in accordance with the monthly work plan for October, will organize a stationary camp and carry out mortar shooting at the training and shooting range in Sinjajevin, from October 19 to 23.
Preparations are already underway, so a large part of the area near Sava's waters, where cattle are mainly watered, is already exemplary.
Herders claim that the soldiers have been warning them for days that they should not keep their cattle on the mountain for the next few days.
"As you can see, we have to build. The army came on the first day and warned us that they should start practicing from the 15th to the 20th. With the fact that now they have exercises, so the months of May and June. Where I guard, where we is the main part and water and grazing and everything. They told me from the 15th not to drive," said Milan Minjić, a livestock farmer from Sinjajevina.
Livestock farmer Mileva Jovanović hoped that the Government would abandon its intention.
"The most beautiful part of Sinjajevina has been taken for a military training ground. Instead of the same government that made a unanimous decision for the training ground, they should have made a unanimous decision for the people, to use some smart programs to bring herders and livestock here," said Jovanović.
Citizens' Initiative (GI) "Save Sinjajevina" claims that the announcement of the Ministry of Defense is an unprecedented decision.
They warn that the military exercise can threaten not only the largest pasture in the Balkans, but also the entire region.
"Sinjajevina is an extremely important place not only for Montenegro, but also for the region and Europe in general. Because it is a snowy mountain that is a reservoir of water. Those several meters high snows melt and feed the Tara, Morača and other rivers and are a source healthy and potable water that we all drink. To poison such an area really borders on complete madness," said Petar Glomazić from GI "Save Sinjajevina".
At the place where the military exercise is planned, Glomazić claims that there is also an unexplored archaeological site.
"It is frightening that today, instead of returning the bullocks and cattle and giving conditions to young herdsmen and young married couples who can earn and export food with honest work, we are bringing artillery there and allowing the army to practice," Glomazić said.
Herders who, as they claim, are being forced by the outgoing government and Minister Predrag Bošković to leave the mountain ahead of time, they say.
"We will not give Sinjajevina. I invite all of Montenegro, the entire nation to sign the petition, to all sign it, and Sinjajevnina will return it all to us, as it has returned it to us throughout the ages," said Jovanović.
The Ministry of Defense has previously announced on several occasions that military exercises cannot threaten Sinjajevina, that ammunition will not be destroyed there, that the Army has practiced there before, and that everything they are doing is for the benefit of the state.
Related Articles
Bonus video:
