MUJAHIDEEN ENTERED BiH IN VEHICLES OF BRITISH AND FRENCH UNPROFOR CONTINGENTS

SARAJEVO, APRIL 6 /SRNA/ - Counter-terrorism expert Dževad Galijašević said that there is almost no municipality in the middle Bosnia where a camp for religious and military education had not been established.

Galijašević pointed out for SRNA that army leadership of the so-called Army of BiH and political leadership of SDA tacitly approved the formation of "religious formations," which became an integral part of the so-called Army of BiH.

According to him, they had the word "Muslim" in their name, and were made up of "domestic mujahideen" who had to undergo special religious training with foreign mujahideen.

"The 7th Muslim brigade was established in December 1992 for rapid `action in wider area of Zenica, Travnik and Kakanj`. Since its establishment, it was called `Muslim`, and its members had to be practical believers, the brigade insignia were also written in Arabic, and they entered the battle with the cry `Takbir - Allahu Akbar`.

Apart from religious charge, the additional motive for waging the war among the members of this brigade was the share of loot, which made it the most organized robbing formation," Galijašević explained.

In May 1994, he says, this brigade got the title "The Glorious" and in 1995 - "The Chivalrous," and was responsible for many crimes during the civil war, including the massacre of captured members of Croatian HVO and civilians in the village of Dusina on January 26, 1993, then for destroying Croatian villages and the expulsion of Croats from the Busovača area in January 1993, for the arson and expulsions in the Zenica and Travnik areas in the summer of 1993 and a number of other crimes against the local population, not only Croats and Serbs, but also Muslims.

"The reason was `religious cleansing,` and their methods cannot be described otherwise than as an act of terrorism - they killed prisoners by ritual beheading," Galijašević told SRNA.

The estimates about the number of mujahideen in BiH are quite uneven. According to Alija Izetbegović, theere were at most 300 of them, but Abu al-Maali, the last commander of the "El Mujahid" that was dismantled on February 26, 1996, when it had 1.774 members, said that there were between 5.000 and 6.000 real mujahideen in BiH.

"The real number was never confirmed, but there were thousands of them. Mujahideen did not found just one unit, but a series of formations that were not well coordinated between each other. They established a main shura /council/ that was supposed to contribute the joint action. Alija Izetbegović, who was called Abu Izzat, sometimes participated in its work," Galijašević pointed out.

The sentiment towards mujahideen differed. To one part of Muslim population in BiH, the violent Islamization and marriage with them were unacceptable, because the "holy warriors" had wives in their countries, so it was polygamy that part of domestic Muslims did not accept.

Individuals from the military leadership of the so-called Army of BiH wanted to discipline the mujahideen formations, but they did not dare to oppose the ruling policy that supported the presence and activities of the mujahideen.

On the other hand, the mujahideen wanted to legalize their status, so the main shura asked Sarajevo to recognize "El Mujahid" as an independent detachment within the so-called Army of BiH.

"The Commander of the Supreme Command of the Army of BiH, General Rasim Delić, ordered the formation of the `El Mujahid` detachment in the area of responsibility of the Third Corps on August 13, 1993. Thus, the mujahideen became a formally legal formation of the Army of BiH.

The detachment `El Mujahid` was not only well armed and trained unit, but it also presented the strong military support and the key factor in rising and radicalizing of fighting and Islamic morale of members of the Army of BiH, which is why many of them have also received citizenship of BiH," Galijašević pointed out.

Analysis of the evidence in the Hague Tribunal, as well as in the judiciary of BiH, showed that the term "mujahideen" was not used in the same way. In certain situations, the term "mujahideen" referred to foreign Muslim fighters who came from Arab countries, and in other cases it included local Muslims who joined foreigners of Arab origin and who sought to resemble them more and more, especially in their way of dressing.

Foreign mujahideen began arriving en masse, especially in February and March 1992 in Zenica and Travnik. They quite often arrived as members of "humanitarian organizations" and with the help of the French and British contingents of UNPROFOR, hidden in their armored personnel carriers.

Most of the foreign mujahideen came from the countries of North Africa or from the Middle or the Far East, namely from Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey, with an unknown number of people from European countries among them.

Foreign mujahideen was easy to recognize for their traditional clothing and darker skin. They had long beards, turbans or head coverings. Some of them were dressed in camouflage uniforms, while others wore long white dresses, with bandanas around their heads or necks. Most of them spoke exclusively Arabic. They were armed with automatic rifles and rocket launchers. Some of them had sabers or long knives.

In their own words, they came to BiH to "help their Muslim brothers in the fight against the Serb aggressor". They provided the local population with significant assistance in food and clothing, and at the same time, they organized combat training and religious instructions that contradicted the traditional and previously accepted religious practices of Muslims in BiH.

Over time, foreign mujahideen began to spread a fundamentalist vision of Islam, ordering Muslim women to cover their heads, condemning the consumption of alcohol, and demanding that local Muslims strictly adhere to their rules of Islam. /to be continued/