Bosnia & Terrorism
Bosnia:AIM Banja Luka, September 27, 2001
In the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedy in the U.S., in addition to Macedonia and Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina also found itself on a list of countries that were and remain favorite destinations for terrorists. This publicly announced fact provoked a variety of responses: Serbs were delighted, and stressed that during the war they kept warning foreigners that terrorists were fighting for the army of the Muslim-Croat Federation, but that they kept turning a deaf ear to these claims and chose to support the terrorists' "holy war" instead. On the other hand, the Federation's government was deeply embarrassed and worried what other facts could emerge now that the story of the participation of mujahedeen in the war against the Serbs and the Croats has begun to unravel.
Confirmation that Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the countries used by terrorists came ten days after the attack on New York and Washington from Federation Interior Minister Muhamed Besic. True, he denied media reports that there are terrorist training camps in Bosnia, but he admitted that a number of Bosnian nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism will be extradited. Besic confirmed that three ethnic Egyptians with Bosnian passports have been detained and will be handed over to Egypt as soon as they are stripped of Bosnian citizenship. He also said that this summer two naturalized Bosnian citizens were extradited to France on suspicion of terrorism. One person was also arrested on suspicion of involvement in planting explosives in Rijeka in 1995 and will soon be handed over to Croatia.
In a bid to demonstrate that the Federation is already dealing with terrorism, Minister Besic admitted that the Bosnian entity was a safe haven for terrorists and that some of them were granted Bosnian passports. Now the government in Sarajevo will soon have to announce who and for what purposes issued Bosnian travel documents to foreigners and divulge the identities of these individuals. For the time being it is known that Osama bin Laden's close associate Mehrez Adouni, was arrested at Istanbul airport on Sept. 9, 1999. Adouni was a member of the Al Mujaheed unit until May 1993. He applied for Bosnian citizenship on Dec. 18, 1997, and obtained a Bosnian passport in five days. There is evidence linking Adouni to a conspiracy to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit to Sarajevo, when explosives were discovered under a bridge in the Sarajevo municipality of Novi Grad. In April 2001, one Said Atmani was arrested in Zenica on a French arrest warrant. Atmani, who also possessed a Bosnian passport is suspected by French police of being involved in a series of terrorist attacks on department stores, banks, and armored cars.
Bosnian Foreign Minister Amer Kapetanovic responded to claims that there are 11,000 mujahedeen in Bosnia by saying that they are naturalized Bosnian citizens. "No one denies that there were fighters from Islamic countries in the Bosnian army, but this does not mean that they are all terrorists," said Kapetanovic. The number of these troops that fought in the Bosnian Army was never made public. The Zagreb Nacional newspaper quoted a figure of 6,000. In addition, nobody knows the number of naturalized Bosnian citizens from Islamic countries or from other foreign countries.
Several media outlets reported that Bosnian passports were issued to men from Islamic countries by the Bosnian embassy in Vienna. This was recently confirmed by Republika Srpska Premier Mladen Ivanic. He informed the public that the RS government had given international organizations a copy of a letter sent by a Vienna embassy official to Alija Izetbegovic, asking for instructions on what to do when people from Islamic countries apply for citizenship, and a response from Izetbegovic saying that they should issue passports to "everybody who has helped our cause."
When it announced a comprehensive program for fighting terrorism, the Council of Ministers also extended the mandate of a commission for revising Bosnian citizenship, and ordered that analysis of all passports issued from 1992 to the signing of the Dayton agreement be carried out. It was not announced when this task will be accomplished. It is not even certain that such records exist. It is even believed that the issuing of passports was a discretionary right of certain high officials and that no unified records were kept.
In addition to condemning terrorism, Bosnian officials hastened to stress that Bosnia-Herzegovina is resolved to fight the problem. The Council of Ministers came forth with an anti-terrorism plan. Numerous initiatives have been announced for establishing regional and international institutions, among which a regional center for asylum seekers and migration, to operate as part of the Stability Pact in Sarajevo, as well as a center for training special police to combat organized crime under the auspices and support of the EU.
Bosnian officials are believed to be involved in international crime and are linked to the illegal transfer of people via the Sarajevo and Tuzla airports and trafficking of drugs, weapons and smuggling. Such channels have existed in Bosnia and certain neighboring countries for years with the blessing of both local and international officials. Much of it will now surface, but to eliminate such a criminal network will not be easy. This is why those who doubt that the current authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be capable of efficiently fighting terrorist infiltration and activities could prove right. Politically unstable, disorganized and poor, Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to be a crime zone and a potential source of danger to the region's stability for some time to come.
Branko Peric (AIM Banja Luka)
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