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With Milorad Ulemek Legija and the Serbian Voluntary Guard (SDG), of which he was a colonel, he passed through the battlefields of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He miraculously escaped death at the “Intercontinental” along with Arkan. He did all the most important work for Luka Bojović and carried the coffin at the funeral of Luka’s brother, Nikola. He was shot in 2014 at the “Mariki” cafe on Zvečanska Street.
Rade Rakonjac was one of the last survivors of the 1990s. A few months before his death, he gave his last confession to journalist Milomir Marić, of which only fragments have been taken in the last seven years (except for those who watched the show when it aired in 2013).
These are the most interesting parts of Marić’s conversation with Rakonjac, in which he talked about criminals, war, liquidations in Belgrade, Arkan and his family …
They leveled the house
Rakonjac began the story with little-known events in 1993, when Milan Martic and former JNA generals tried to liquidate Arkan at Benkovac. The ODS commander miraculously survived.
When the “Storm” began, Arkan’s forces were in Velika Kladuša.
– It’s already starting to fall there, Knin, in a row. The Legion invited me and Rajo Božović because their wives came to visit them two or three days before the “Storm” because they couldn’t, they were commanders, they took their days and came to Belgrade. Normally, women came to visit them, unfortunately, in bad weather. They called me and said, “Rade, here’s your wife, drive.”
I have the most difficult task, realistically. Maja, Legija’s wife, and Rajo Božović’s wife, were already surrounded by some who left Slunj as they left Kladuša for Vojnić. Scarves, different uniforms, I am not a driver, in a jeep, two women behind me, they are in civilian clothes, and they are both beautiful, I saw that something was wrong, and Knin, Benkovac, Petrinja are falling, everything is in general disorder luckily one of them recognized me, greeted me and we talked. Then he told me that they had left Slunj, that there was nothing in Slunj, almost everything. During that time, we heard on the radio about the great resistance of our forces. I quickly went to Petrova Gora to refuel so that we would not run out of fuel. I dated them for 48 hours.
We arrived in 1993 at Obrovac, which was abandoned, and then at Benkovac, which was on the verge of collapse. There was no queue in the vicinity of Benkovac, Obrovac was abandoned, only two policemen and a girl, who put on the police uniform on his own initiative. Then the commander gathered the president of the municipality, the commander of his military unit, the chief of police and made a speech – says Rakonjac.
Guard in disarray, Legion had an accident
Rakonjac says about who called them to go help Fikret Avdić:
– The Guard was already disbanded at that time, the commander had a difficult situation, that is. for him the most beautiful, because he fell in love with Ceca, I was the only one with him all the time, Legija had an accident, so he recovered, the guard does not exist, people returned home, to their work, and I moved with my family to Belgrade. Five or six of us got together. The late Shuca, Cayman, is going to Bosnia, some of our officers want to sell something there, the line will be broken near Doboj. Let’s get together quickly, a hundred of us. The legion chose 40 of us, we went to Tara for two days, approached Petrova gora on the second or third day and said, “We have been deceived.” In fact, the Fifth Corps drove out Avdić’s forces and now we have to take Kladuša, Cazin, Vrnograd, various places where the road to Knin is really shortened.
Then he tells how they tried to kill Arkan.
On the day of the murder, he was supposed to go to “Intercontinental”
Rakonjac miraculously escaped being assassinated along with Arkan in “Intercontinental”.
– On January 9, I married my wife Marija. Seven days before his death, Arkan was at a wedding with Ceca. My wife and I agreed to go to the Intercontinental that Saturday when Zeljko was killed. Let’s go get the cookies, Maria, me, my friend the lawyer and her husband. Now, there was something a little late, I don’t know why, if it was snowing, it was cold. As we headed towards the “Intercontinental”, since it was near the Partizan stadium, on the other side of the Gazelle, I saw Arkan’s car and then I said to him: “Don’t go in because surely Manda will be there too.” So it happened that I went to a restaurant and Manda was there and then everything was paid for and then I felt very stupid that people didn’t think that I would come to get paid, a cake or a lunch with my wife, who is pregnant. And then I said, “Let’s go to the Hyatt, don’t go there.” We got to the Hyatt and I got him to order cookies and coffee, when someone called me and said, “The Commander was shot.” I was a hundred meters from him, I arrived almost first at the Emergency Center.
Rakonjac begins the story of how the conflict between Arkan and Martic arose:
– We were in Kopaonik, the commander, Natalija, the children and I with them. The uproar started there in Krajina, they report that the line near Benkovac was broken. I was in a room across the street from the apartment, the commander (that was the nickname that his fighters gave Raznatovic) told me: “Rasho, get ready, let’s go.” We arrived at the headquarters, changed our clothes, there were about 200 of our people in Erdut. We carry them. We went out, there Zecevic was waiting for us, Spanovic, RSK’s defense minister, was waiting for us, and everything was fine, Zecevic put us in the hotel “Benkovac”. The next day we had the first action. We went to the Commander, the late Vule, to him, behind Arkan Legija. We conquered a dozen villages, returned the line, describes Rakonjac and continues:
– The home of one of their outstanding headquarters, the RSK Soldiers Command, was an unfinished three-story building. When we left Arkan said, “Go Legija, take this, you Rasho, take this”, only the late Vule stayed with him. They entered that house. At that time, entering the house, the VBR (multi-barreled rocket launcher) fired, knocking down two entire slabs of the house, only the ground floor remained, where Zeljko and Vule were. I don’t know how they survived, they were completely white with dust, as if someone had thrown a sack of flour on them. In no subsequent action, and we stayed there for months, the Croatian grenade never fell even close. The newspapers of the time wrote that Martic ordered the bombing of the house and that Arkan was killed. And some generals from the JNA. I think yes, that is correct.
Serious charges
As Rakonjac said, Martic attacked them for being thieves.
– He accused us of stealing tiles, stoves. Yes, I came to Velebit to rob the stove. What am I going to do, bring a stove to light a fire in Bijelo Polje. What the hell to steal from Velebit? I don’t think Martic feared for his government, they were complex.
Kurir.rs
delivery courier
Author: delivery courier
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