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Bosnian Mujahideen (also referred to as El Mujaheed or El Mujahid) is the term often used for the Muslim volunteers to fight on the Bosnian government side during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. The number of volunteers is estimated to have been about 4,000 with the majority coming from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. However, a certain number of local Bosniaks also joined to fight alongside the foreign Mujahideen. In addition to the Mujahideen volunteers, there were also several hundred Iranian Revolutionary Guards supporting the Bosnian government during the war. Many of the Bosnian Mujahideen were supported financially from Saudi Arabia, including persons and organizations later connected with Al-Qaeda
Role during the Bosnian War 1992-1995
Foreign Mujahideen arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping their Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) coreligionists against the Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat forces. Mostly they came from North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East. Initially, the foreign Mujahideen gave food and other basic necessities to the local Muslim population, deprived many necessities by the Bosnian Serb forces. Once hostilities broke out between the Bosnian government (ABiH) and the Bosnian Croat forces (HVO), the Mujahideen also participated in battles against the HVO alongside ABiH units.
The foreign Mujahideen actively recruited young local men, offering them military training, uniforms and weapons. As a result, local Bosniaks joined the foreign Mujahideen and in the process became local "Bosnian Mujahideen". They imitated the foreigners in both the way they dressed and behaved, to such an extent that it was sometimes, according to the ICTY documentation in subsequent war crimes trials, "difficult to distinguish between the two groups. For that reason, the ICTY has used the term "Mujahideen" to designate foreigners from Arab countries, but also local Muslims (ie Bosniaks) who joined the Mujahideen units.
The first Mujahideen training camp was located in Poljanice next to the village of Mehurici, in the Bila valley, in Travnik municipality. The Mujahideen group established there included Mujahideen from Arab countries as well as Bosniaks. Amongst the local Bosniaks were former members of the Muslim Forces of Travnik and soldiers who were de jure members of 3rd Corps units, namely of the 7th and 306th Brigades. The Mujahideen from Poljanice camp were also established in the towns of Zenica and Travnik and, from the second half of 1993 onwards, in the village of Orasac, also located in the Bila valley. The El Mujahed unit was officially created on 13 August 1993.
According to the ICTYs indictment of Rasim Delic, Commander of Main Staff of the Bosnian army (ABiH), after the formation of the 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade of the ABiH 3rd Corps on 19 November 1992 the El Mujahid were subordinated within its structure. The Bosnian Mujahideen were involved in combat activities of units of the ABiH 3rd Corps, including the 7th Muslim Mountain Brigade, and frequently spearheaded ABiH 3rd Corps combat operations. On 13 August 1993 Rasim Delic then ordered the establishment within the ABiH 3rd Corps area of responsibility of the "EL Mujahed" unit, effective no later than 31 August 1993. The El Mujahed unit remained part of the ABiH 3rd Corps until its disbandment on 12 December 1995.
The military effectiveness of the Bosnian Mujahideen is disputed. However, former US Balkans peace negotiator Richard Holbrook said in an interview that "I think the Muslims wouldn't have survived without this" help. At the time a U.N. arms embargo diminished the Bosnian government's fighting capabilities. Holbrooke called the arrival of the moujahedeen "a pact with the devil" from which Bosnia still is recovering.
Relationship to the Bosnian government army (ABiH)
The extent to which the Bosnian Mujahideen were part of the regular Bosnian government army (ABiH) is contentious. According to a UN communiqué of 1995, the El Mujahid battalion was "directly dependent on BiH staff for supplies" and for "directions" during combat with the Bosnian Serbs. The issue has formed part of two ICTY war crimes trials. In its judgement in the case of ICTY v. Enver Hadzihasanovic (commander of the 3rd Corps of the army of the Sarajevo-based government (ABiH), he was later made part of the joint command of the ABiH and was the Chief of the Supreme Command Staff) and Amir Kubura (commander of the 7th Muslim Brigade of the 3rd Corps of the ABiH) the ICTY found that
"there are significant indicia of a subordinate relationship between the Mujahedin and the Accused prior to 13 August 1993. Testimony heard by the Trial Chamber and, in the main, documents tendered into evidence demonstrate that the ABiH maintained a close relationship with the foreign Mujahedin as soon as these arrived in central Bosnia in 1992. Joint combat operations are one illustration of that. In Karaula and Visoko in 1992, at Mount Zmajevac around mid-April 1993 and in the Bila valley in June 1993, the Mujahedin fought alongside AbiH units against Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat forces."
After the official formation of the El Mujahid battalion on 13 August 1993 it became part of the Bosnian Army, though with its own commanders. According to testimony and evidence presented at the ICTY trial of Bosnian government General Rasim Delic, which began in July 2007, the Bosnian Mujahideen operated under the control of the Bosnian army (ABiH) though with their own commanders.
Alleged war crimes
According to the judgements of Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kabura and the ICTY indictment of Rasim Delic, the Bosnian Mujahideen were involved in numerous war crimes. Some of these, mainly relating to activities during the summer of 1995, are listed below:
- 21 July 1995: the El Mujahed unit decapitated the captured Bosnian Serb soldiers Momir Mitrovic and Predrag Knezevic.
- 24 July 1995: while held at the Kamenica prison camp, the Bosnian Serb soldier Gojko Vujicic was behaded and the other prisoners were forced to kiss the severed head after which the head was placed on a hook on the wall in the room in which the prisoners were held.
- the Bosnian Serb prisoners held at the Kamenica Camp, run by the El Mujahed, were beaten and tortured, including with electrical shocks.
- 60 Bosnian Serb males captured by the El Mujahed and held at the Kamenica Camp are missing and presumed to have been killed by the El Mujahed.
- an elderly Bosnian Serb man, held in the Kamenica Camp was beaten and forced to drink water mixed with petrol. He later died in the camp as a result of the mistreatment.
- three civilian female prisoners held at the Kamenica camp were beaten, kicked, hit with metal sticks and rifle butts, and subject to sexual assaults, including rape.
After the war
The foreign moujahedeen units were disbanded and required to leave the Balkans under the terms of the 1995 Dayton peace accord. But many stayed - about 400, according to official Bosnian government estimates. Although the US State Department report suggested that the number could be higher, a senior SFOR official said allied military intelligence estimated that no more than 200 foreign-born militants actually live in Bosnia, of which closer to 30 represent a hard-core group with direct links to terrorism.
A sizeable number were granted citizenship by Izetbegovic in exchange for their fighting in the Bosnian civil war. In September, 50 of these individuals had their citizenship status revoked. SInce then 100 more individuals have been prevented from claiming citizenship rights. 250 more were under investigation, while the body which is charged to reconsider the citizenship status of these former Mujahideen states that 1,500 cases will eventually be examined.
ICTY indictment of Bosnian general Rasim Delic
At the trial of Rasim Delic witnesses for the ICTY have described how Bosnian mujahideen fighters, under Bosnian government army control, committed war crimes against captured Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians. According to the indictment, on 21 June 1995, two soldiers from the Bosnian Serb forces (VRS) were captured and subsequently beheaded by members of the Bosnian army and Mujahideen fighers. Other soldiers, taken prisoner on the same day, were said to have been severely beaten over several days and then taken to the Kamenica camp. A third soldier was reported to have been decapitated there on 24 July 1995. The other prisoners were said to have been given the order to kiss the head, which was then put on display in the room where they were being held. The prisoners in the Kamenica camp were reportedly beaten and tortured, on occasion by means of electroshocks. According to the indictment, on 11 September 1995, around 60 soldiers from the VRS were taken prisoner by the Bosnian army, at the same time as several civilians amongst which were three women. This group was transferred to the camp in Kamenica. The 60 soldiers taken prisoner disappeared thereafter and are presumed to be dead. As for the three women the indictment states that they were subjected to acts of violence, in particular to rape. They were released on 15 November 1995. Another group of 10 soldiers from the VRS was also taken to the Kamenica camp on 10 September 1995. They were all subjected to cruel treatment during a period of about 12 days.
According to the indictment, Rasim Delic was aware that the Mujahideen members of the Bosnian army had a distinct tendency to commit crimes especially against captured enemy combatants and civilians and that the Kamenica camp was being used as a place in which these crimes could be perpetrated. Reportedly, however, he took no measures whatsoever to stop these acts taking place.
Links to Al Qaeda and the CIA
Following the end of the Bosnian War and, especially, after the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center, the links between the Bosnian Mujahideen, Al Qaeda and, as alleged by some, the CIA have beceom more apparent. In an interview with US journalist Jim Leherer former US peace envoy to Bosnia Richard Holbroke states:
There were over 1,000 people in the country who belonged to what we then called Mujahideen freedom fighters. We now know that that was al-Qaida. I'd never heard the word before, but we knew who they were. And if you look at the 9/11 hijackers, several of those hijackers were trained or fought in Bosnia. We cleaned them out, and they had to move much further east into Afghanistan. So if it hadn't been for Dayton, we would have been fighting the terrorists deep in the ravines and caves of Central Bosnia in the heart of Europe.
In 1996, in a book titled "Offensive In the Balkans", Mr. Yossef Bodansky, Director of the Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the US House of Representatives, wrote as follows on the "Bosnian Jehad":
"...The build-up of new Islamist units was completed in Bosnia- Herzegovina in the Spring of 1995. These forces are closely associated with the Armed Islamist Movement (AIM) and Islamist international terrorismsuicide terrorists), both veteran Arabs and newly trained Bosnians.
London's The Spectator has noted, "If Western intervention in Afghanistan created the mujahedin, Western intervention in Bosnia appears to have globalised it." Several current and former top al-Qaeda militants and financers reportedly participated in the Bosnian civil war with the full support of the United States. It was for the Bosnian jihad that the 9/11 'paymaster', Omar Sheikh, was reportedly recruited to fight by the CIA and MI6. Al-Qada, in addition to his reported financing of the Bosnian jihad, has been identified as one of Osama bin Laden's "chief money launderers".
See also
External links
- The Economist, Balkan extremists, 12 July 2007
- Gulf Daily News, Bahraini key witness in Hague atrocity trial, 7 September 2007
- Reuters, Muslim fighter begins testimony in Bosnia trial, 7 September 2007
- The American Conservative, The Bosnian Connection, The civil war that inspired both liberal hawks and Islamist jihadis, by Brendan O’Neill
- Youtube video of Bosnian General Rasim Delic delivering his farewell speech to the El Mujaheed
- SENSE Agency, Survivor from Kamenica Camp testifies at Rasim Delic trial, 3 October 2007
- Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), CTY: BiH Army Knew About Mujahedin Crimes, 8 September 2007
- Trial, profile of Rasim Delic, former Chief of Staff of the Army of Bosnian Muslims responsible for the Bosnian Mujahideen
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- Extended Bosnia Mission Endangers U.S. Troops, Republican Policy Committee, by Chairman Larry E. Craig, 16 January 1997
- Al-Qaeda in Bosnia: Bosnian Muslim War Crimes Trial, by Carl Savich for Serbianna (Serbian organization based in the United States), 4 December 2007
References
- ,LA Times, Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001
- United States Institute of Peace, Dayton Implementation: The Train and Equip Program, September 1997 | Special Report No. 25
- NY Times, What's Iran Doing In Bosnia, Anyway?, by Elaine Sciolino, 10 December 1995
- SENATE RESOLUTION 225--RELATIVE TO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (Senate - February 07, 1996)
- .Free Republic, Al Qaeda Recruited U.S. Servicemen: Testimony Links Plot To Saudi Gov't, 2004
- ICTY, Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006
- ICTY, Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006
- ICTY, Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006
- ICTY, Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006
- Spero News, Bosnia: Muslims upset by Wahhabi leaders, Adrian Morgan, 13 November 2006
- ,LA Times, Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001
- The American Conservative, The Bosnian Connection, by Brendan O’Neill, 16 July 2007
- ICTY, Summary of the Judgmenet for Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, 15 March 2006
- Reuters, Muslim fighter begins testimony in Bosnia trial, 7 September 2007
- Reuters, Tape suggests Bosnian general lied about mujahideen, 14 September 2007
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- ICTY indictment against Rasim Delic
- LA Times, Bosnia Seen as Hospitable Base and Sanctuary for Terrorists, 8 October 2001
- BBC, Mujahideen fight Bosnia evictions, 18 July 2000
- Spero News, Bosnia: Muslims upset by Wahhabi leaders, Adrian Morgan, 13 November 2006
- Trial Watch: Rasim Delic
- Trial Watch: Rasim Delic
- Trial Watch: Rasim Delic
- PBS Newshour with Jim Jim Leherer, A New Constitution for Bosnia, 22 November 2005
- South Asia Analysis Group, Bosnia & Hyderabad, by B.Raman, 3 September 2001
- The American Monitor, Scratching the Surface, by Devlin Buckley, 16 November 2006
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