COMMENTARY CRITICIZES BOSNIAN AUTHORITIES FOR "DOING NOTHING" TO COMBAT TERROR
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 27, 2005

Text of commentary by Mirza Cubro entitled "Tourist or terrorist image" published by the Bosnian Serb newspaper Nezavisne novine on 23 August

Last week Germany decided to deport two B-H citizens suspected of propagating radical Islamic ideas and having links to terrorists. The British press reported over the weekend that Balkan Muslims were allegedly linked to the London terrorist attacks.

These examples corroborate the fact that over the past few years B-H has been too frequently mentioned in connection with radical Islamic terrorism. There are several reasons why B-H is referred to as a place where terrorists receive training or as the country they come from.

During the past war, a great number of radical Islamic fighters who were supposed to fight side by side with the RB-H [Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina] Army came to B-H. However, they never took part in the most serious battles such as those fought in Bihac, Srebrenica, Gorazde and Sarajevo. Most of the time their base was Zenica - the safest area during the war. The then authorities welcomed those fighters, granted them citizenship and enabled a large number of them to stay in the country even after the war.

Today, almost every person arrested for terrorist attacks across the globe was in some way connected to Bosnia.

The B-H authorities have never run a check to establish the exact number of radical Islamists who entered the country, what activities they undertook and whether they were linked to certain terrorist groups. Moreover, the authorities have never conducted a thorough investigation of organizations and individuals who could be involved in financing terrorism.

And what is most important, the current authorities have no clue whether individuals or organizations that may be linked to terrorism are still present in B-H.

There are reasonable grounds to be suspicious. We will cite only one example. Yasin al-Kadi is a Saudi businessman who owns shares of several B-H companies and banks and who is highly positioned on a US list of Al-Qa'idah aides.

This should be alarming enough for the authorities to seriously address the problem and conduct an investigation in order to identify terrorist aides (if any) and once and for all remove from B-H the stigma of a country linked to terrorism.

However, the current authorities, who appointed to the most responsible positions in the B-H security agencies people who know nothing about the job they are supposed to do, will never conduct this investigation. The local authorities look at everything through the prism of their petty personal interests, including the constant mentioning of B-H as a country in which the world's scumbags used to find or are still finding refuge. It is precisely those interests that block the functioning of the rule of law in B-H.

However, the interests of citizens in this and many other cases are unimportant. What the citizens want is more investment and many more tourists visiting B-H. At the same time, the authorities are discouraging both investors and tourists by doing nothing, especially regarding the fight against terrorism. We must not forget that in Europe and other countries B-H is known either for the horrendous war or its connection with terrorism. Add to this the reasonable suspicion of corruption in the government and the existence of a powerful criminal milieu and it is clear why it is difficult to move forward.

Source: Nezavisne novine, Banja Luka, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 23 Aug 05 p 7

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