Nine O'Clock: Defence Minister inspects military units in Har-Cov and Mures counties

Defence Minister inspects military units in Har-Cov and Mures counties
The visit might be connected to the referendum for autonomy ethnic Hungarian communities in the area are planning to hold, as a central newspaper suggests.
published in issue 3818 page 3 at 2006-11-27

Defence Minister Sorin Frunzaverde and Army Chief of Staff Gheorghe Marin began an official two-day visit to military units in Transylvania, in the counties of Covasna, Harghita and Mures, according to a report in central daily “Gandul” on Saturday.The minister’s visit comes about one month ahead of an autonomy referendum that will be held in the three counties, largely inhabited by ethnic Hungarians, the newspaper said, suggesting that Frunzaverde was checking military units in the area to see if they are ready to intervene in case of an inter-ethnical conflict.

The initiative to obtain territorial and administrative autonomy for ethnic Hungarians living in the three counties, also known as Szekler County, was announced recently by the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), a party in the ruling coalition. The initiative was widely criticized by the Romanian community and civil society in the area and by several politicians in both the coalition and the opposition.Since the announcement, several local councils in Szekler County decided to hold referendums on the autonomy issue.

Moreover, another party in the ruling coalition, the Conservative Party, recently asked the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) to explain what measures they take to prevent inter-ethnical conflicts in areas with a high risk of producing such disagreements, namely in Covasna, Harghita and Mures. A local official from Covasna rejected the call, saying that these three counties presented no higher risk of ethnic conflicts than other regions.

Frunzaverde rejected any connection between his visit to the area and the planned referendums, the newspaper said. The last visit of a defence minister to the area was done six years ago, still by Frunzaverde, who briefly held the post between March and December 2000.

First, the minister visited Sfantu Gheorghe and Miercurea Ciuc mountain ranger units, which are very important because they will “offer generating-regenerating forces” to the Brasov Mountain Ranger Brigade, one of the units Romania will make available for NATO and the EU after the country’s European integration, the newspaper said.During his visit, the minister admitted that military units in Covasna and Harghita have logistic, infrastructure and equipment issues.

While in Harghita, the minister commented on the MiG 21 plane crash last week, underlining that it would be wrong to suggest that pilots are using obsolete flight techniques, Mediafax news agency reported. An MiG 21 Lancer crashed in Beliu, Arad County, on Wednesday last week. The only person on board, the pilot, lost his life in the accident.Referring to the accident, Frunzaverde said that nobody wants innocent people to die, especially on MiGs and added tat the Army has plans to buy multi-role aircrafts.

The minister also asked that no speculations are made on the causes of the crash, saying the Defence Ministry will issue a statement about the causes of the crash.As for the acquisition of equipment for the Army, the minister explained that his institution will resort to foreign loans and is currently trying to find financial resources for six programmes to purchase equipment with the help of the Finance Ministry.

In Sfantu Gheorghe, Frunzaverde said that the Army needs at least 10,000 lodgings for soldiers in all military units around the country. The possibility of building such lodgings in Covasna, on the plots of land the Army owns in the area, was discussed by the minister with Covasna Prefect Gyorgy Ervin and Sfantu Georghe Mayor Albert Almos.
by Dana Florin

http://www.nineoclock.ro/index.php?page=detalii&categorie=homenews&id=20061127-5910