From: johanan@vms.huji.ac.il
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.pakistan,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (24th)
Date: 27 Jul 92 12:33:05 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In article <1992Jul24.125020.1@max.u.washington.edu>, imnet2@max.u.washington.edu writes:
> ************************NEWS UPDATE ****************************************
>
> THE FUTURE OF BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
>
> While the Serbs continue the slaughter of innocents in Bosnia-Hercegovina,
> governments in Europe and America hide behind every possible excuse they can
> find not to stop to it. 'It is a quagmire', runs a familiar line. 'Too
> many troops are required to restore peace in the Balkans,' runs another. Such
> statements have been taken by the Serbs as a greenlight
> to continue their atrocities: in the 120 days since the Serbs embarked
> on theirpresent rampage, at least 60,000 people have been killed in the
> predominantly Muslim republic, ie, 500 persons per day.
> The real rate could be much higher: nearly 70 percent of Bosnia-Hercegovina
> is occupied by Serbian forces busy in 'ethnic-cleansing'. Little news has
> trickled out of regions under Serbian control.
> Given their barbaric practice of blood-drinking, one fears for the worst.
> Millions of people, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee
> and seek shelter elsewhere.
> In European capitals there is more concern about the impact of
> large numbers of refugees on their economies than saving them;
> perhaps they would rather see these people trapped in Bosnia so that the
> Serbian gangs can slaughter them.
> The west's concern does not extend beyond sending food aid. Residents of
> Sarajevo have repeatedly pointed out to western journalists that they are
> not looking for handouts, only guns to defend themselves. Many have
> described the handouts as 'insulting'.
> The UN, which means the US, and the European Community (EC) have all played
> a dubious role in bringing about the current tragic situation in Bosnia-
> Hercegovina. Last year when the Serbian-dominated federal army of
> former Yugoslavia was rampaging through Croatia, the UN imposed an arms
> embargo on all sides.
> Nothing could have suited the Serbs better: the Yugoslav army was one
> of the best equipped in Europe; its massive stockpiles were freely available
> to the Serbs. It was the Croats, and especially the Bosnians, who were left
> defenceless.
> Last January, the UN did another favour to the Serbs. Its
> resolution for a ceasefire in Croatia enabled the heavily-armed Serbs to move
> into Bosnia-Hercegovina, where the leadership was making preparations to hold
> a referendum as demanded by the EC before recognition could be granted.
> The result of the February 28-29 referendum demonstrated that the
> overwhelming majority of the people were in favour of independence.
> Even when Europe and the US recognized Bosnia-Hercegovina last April and
> it was admitted as a full member of the UN, nobody came to its rescue when
> attacked.
> All talk has centred around getting food supplies into Sarajevo, as if
> that were the burning issue. The people of Sarajevo are not anxious to be
> saved from starvation so that they can be butchered by the Serbs;
> they would rather prefer to die while defending their honour.
> Is there a solution to this tragic Balkan problem?
> There is.
> If the Serbs' heavy guns and artillery were destroyed by bombing them from
> the air and the Bosnians were given adequate weapons so that the two sides
> stood on an equal footing, the Serbs' bravery would evaporate. The Bosnians
> have not asked for foreign, especially European or American, troops to fight
> their battle.
> Turkey and Iran have expressed willingness to help; even the Saudis have
> offered to pay for the cost of such operations. But none has shown
> any daring initiative. This has left the Bosnians at the mercy of the west.
> And the west would rather see the bloodyminded Serbian chetniks continue
> with their 'ethnic-cleansing' and other barbaric rituals than have a Muslim
> State in the midst of Christian Europe.
> In this otherwise grim and gloomy situation, there is a single ray of hope:
> the suffering of the Muslims of Bosnia and the hypocrisy of western
> leaders may yet jolt Muslims out of their complacency.
> The western powers will never be friends of the Muslims. The impotence of
> the Muslim rulers too stands exposed, yet again.
> Largely mountainous Bosnia is ideal territory for guerrrilla warfare.
> Regardless of the outcome of the present conflict, the people there will
> probably start preparing for a long guerrilla campaign.
> Anyone who would prefer to eat grass rather than accept handouts cannot
> be defeated so easily.
> __________
> *******COURTESY OF CRESCENT INTERNATIONAL, The newsmagazine of the global
>          Islamic  movement. Phone # (416) 474-9292, Fax (416) 474-9293****
> **************************************************************************
>
> EVENT SCAN ###############################################################
>
>              Kosovo: the Balkans' next flashpoint?
> By Zafar Bangash
>
> Kosovo, the overwhelmingly Muslim province in what was formerly Yugoslavia,
> may become the Serbian expansionists' next target in the already-troubled
> Balkans. This fear moved a step closer to reality on June 23 when Serbian
> police in combat gear and armoured cars surrounded a theological college
> in Pristina, the provincial capital, to prevent delegates from attending
> the first open session of the Kosovo parliament, which had been elected on
> May 24. The tiny Serbian minority in the province (200,000 out of a
> total population of 2.1 million) had boycotted the elections and threatened
> to disrupt them, but failed.
> The province of Kosovo, populated by Muslims of Albanian descent, has
> repeatedly risen up against Serbian oppression, most recently
> in January - March 1989. Then, the people were
> protesting against Serbian plans to abolish their province's autonomous
> status, achieved in 1974 after much struggle. The protest was centred
> around the Trepca mines, where Albanian miners went on a three-week
> hunger-strike. The province has been troubled ever since.
> Disregarding the Kosovars' feelings, the Serbian parliament in Belgrade
> amended the constitution on March 28, 1989, stripping Kosovo of all powers
> and taking direct control of its police, courts and territorial
> defence-forces. They went further: through another amendment,
> the Serbian assembly arrogated to itself the power to change laws
> affecting Kosovo without even consulting the provincial
> assembly.
> These bizarre amendments were first bulldozed through Kosovo's parliament
> on March 23 by surrounding the building with tanks and forcibly keeping
> opponents away from the assembly. In
> protest against these repressive measures, several hundred people, all
> of them Albanians, died at the hands of the Serbian security forces. Tanks

> and helicopter gunships were used to crush their protests. Thousands of others
> were arrested throughout the province. When jails in Kosovo overflowed, the
> detainees were hauled away to prison camps in Prokupje, near Nis in
> Serbia.
> While Kosovo has been under Serbian military occupation ever since, there
> are growing signs that an even more ruthless crackdown may soon be launched
> on the pretext of the Kosovars' insistence on holding their own assembly
> session in defiance of Belgrade. The real reason is the pressure piling up
> on Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian president, over his disastrous policies
> that have brought biting sanctions against Serbia. An external diversion,
> one moreover in which Serbian chauvinism could be whipped up, may help
> neutralize some of this pressure. The Serbs, however, have needed no
> excuse to pursue their expansionist goals, as the people of Croatia and
> Bosnia-Hercegovina know all too well.
> Kosovars have had a long history of conflict with the Serbs. In 1389, the
> Serbs were defeated by the Ottoman Turks in the battle of Kosovo Polje.
> That defeat not only ended the short-lived Serbian empire of king Stefan
> Dusan, but also paved the way for 500 years of Uthmaniyyah rule in
> the Balkans. The Serbs still carry that historic grudge and miss no
> opportunity to exact revenge for it. Despite the Serbs' claim to Kosovo,
> it was never a part of Serbia. While the Serbs who are Slavs and who
> cannot trace their presence in Kosovo beyond 600 years, the people of
> Kosovo are descendants of the Illyrians, whose roots go back 5,000 years.
> There is also no justifiable reason for Serbian animosity towards
> the Kosovars as Muslims. The Uthmaniyyah Turks treated the Orthodox
> Church, to which the Serbs belong, even more sympathetically than the
> Catholic Church; although Rome, the centre of Catholicism, was
> considered a rival to the Uthmaniyyahs' power-base at Istanbul.
> Turkish rule in the Balkans was characterized
> by religious, social and cultural tolerance. This is borne out by
> the fact that large and thriving communities of other religious groups
> still existed there when the Turks lost the Balkans in 1912.
> The Serbs reoccupied Kosovo in 1913. The Yugoslav State that emerged
> at the end of the first world war was essentially a cover for a
> 'Greater Serbia'. The ruler, king Alexander, was Serbian, as were
> the army and civil bureaucracy.
> In 1941 when Yugoslavia disintegrated under the German-Italian onslaught,
> the people of Kosovo were relieved at the defeat of their erstwhile
> Serbian tormentors. The demise of Yugoslavia, though temporary, would have
> paved the way for Kosovo's union with neighbouring Albania if it had not
> been for the treacherous role played by the Albanian communists, led by
> Enver Hoxha.
> With the defeat of the Italians in 1943 and the withdrawal of German troops
> from the Balkans in 1944, communist Yugoslav forces led by Josef Tito
> took control of Yugoslavia. But they had difficulty subduing the
> Albanians in Kosovo. Two brigades of Albanian troops, later increased
> to two divisions, were brought into Kosovo. The Albanian forces were
> deployed with the understanding that the people of Kosovo would be given
> the choice of joining either Albania or Yugoslavia. Once the Albanian
> resistance in Kosovo was crushed, however, Tito reneged on this
> promise.
> To Hoxha it made little difference, since the Albanian communist party was
> also subservient to and run by members of the communist party of Yugoslavia.
> When Tito fell out with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, in 1948, Hoxha
> at once attached himself directly to Moscow. This honeymoon lasted
> until 1961, when Hoxha too fell from grace with the Kremlin bosses, now led
> by Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor. But Hoxha again survived, this time
> as an ally of the Chinese who were competing with the Russians for influence
> in the communist bloc.
> The Kosovars, meanwhile, continued to press for their rights
> within Yugoslavia. It became clear to them very early on that Albania would
> not help them achieve their aspirations. Disappointed with Hoxha's
> policies, they started to demand equal treatment within the Yugoslav
> federation.
> This meant that Kosovo should also be recognized as a republic, like
> the six other federal units. The Kosovars had compelling reasons:
> they were the third largest ethnic group in the country, and Kosovo
> was rich in mineral and energy resources. Tito responded by sending in
> troops in 1968. When the military policy failed, he decided to assuage
> the Albanians' grievances by declaring Kosovo a province with
> limited autonomy. These changes were incorporated in the constitutional
> amendment of 1974, which also made Vojvodina, the predominantly
> Hungarian-populated area in the north of Serbia,
> a province.
> Tito, born of a Croat father and Slovene mother, skillfully
> balanced the conflicting demands of the various ethnic groups
> within Yugoslavia. He knew that as long as the overbearing Serbs were
> kept under control, the artificial State of Yugoslavia would hold.
> It was with Tito's death in May 1980 that the genie of Serbian chauvinism
> was let loose.
> Its first target was Kosovo. In 1981, Serbian forces were sent in to Pristina
> to crush what was allegedly an Albanian 'irredentist' plot. For demanding the
> right to be treated as a republic, the Kosovars were accused of treason
> and attempting to break up Yugoslavia, aided by Albania.
> Thus, the Serbs once again turned the truth on its head, imposing
> their will on Kosovo and even casting covetous looks at neighbouring Albania,
> while accusing the Kosovars of trying to break up the State. Hundreds
> of people were killed in the 1981 crackdown; thousands of others
> were imprisoned.
> The Serbs vowed to abolish Kosovo's autonomous status, an objective they
> achieved in March 1989. They are, however, still not content. Driven
> by their obsession of creating a 'Greater Serbia', they have already
> caused havoc in Croatia and are now busy destroying Bosnia-Hercegovina.
> All the evidence suggests that Kosovo will be next.
> On July 2, Alexander Meksi, the prime minister of Albania, said that his
> government would not remain indifferent if the Serbs were to attack Kosovo.
> Albania need not worry; the Serbs themselves would drag it in. The conflict
> could spread further, involving Bulgaria, Greece and even Turkey. In a larger
> Balkan flare-up, Serbia will be the ultimate loser, though not without first
> causing a great deal more bloodshed.
> One of the ways to prevent this from happening would be for the people of
> Serbia to get rid of Milosevic. Despite some stirrings of popular opposition
> in Belgrade, however, the  removal does not appear very likely at
> present. The unfortunate people of the Balkans may have to endure far more
> suffering yet.
> were arrested throughout the province. When jails in Kosovo overflowed, the
> detainees were hauled away to prison camps in Prokupje, near Nis in
> Serbia.
> While Kosovo has been under Serbian military occupation ever since, there
> are growing signs that an even more ruthless crackdown may soon be launched
> on the pretext of the Kosovars' insistence on holding their own assembly
> session in defiance of Belgrade. The real reason is the pressure piling up
> on Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian president, over his disastrous policies
> that have brought biting sanctions against Serbia. An external diversion,
> one moreover in which Serbian chauvinism could be whipped up, may help
> neutralize some of this pressure. The Serbs, however, have needed no
> excuse to pursue their expansionist goals, as the people of Croatia and
> Bosnia-Hercegovina know all too well.
> Kosovars have had a long history of conflict with the Serbs. In 1389, the
> Serbs were defeated by the Ottoman Turks in the battle of Kosovo Polje.
> That defeat not only ended the short-lived Serbian empire of king Stefan
> Dusan, but also paved the way for 500 years of Uthmaniyyah rule in
> the Balkans. The Serbs still carry that historic grudge and miss no
> opportunity to exact revenge for it. Despite the Serbs' claim to Kosovo,
> it was never a part of Serbia. While the Serbs who are Slavs and who
> cannot trace their presence in Kosovo beyond 600 years, the people of
> Kosovo are descendants of the Illyrians, whose roots go back 5,000 years.
> There is also no justifiable reason for Serbian animosity towards
> the Kosovars as Muslims. The Uthmaniyyah Turks treated the Orthodox
> Church, to which the Serbs belong, even more sympathetically than the
> Catholic Church; although Rome, the centre of Catholicism, was
> considered a rival to the Uthmaniyyahs' power-base at Istanbul.
> Turkish rule in the Balkans was characterized
> by religious, social and cultural tolerance. This is borne out by
> the fact that large and thriving communities of other religious groups
> still existed there when the Turks lost the Balkans in 1912.
> The Serbs reoccupied Kosovo in 1913. The Yugoslav State that emerged
> at the end of the first world war was essentially a cover for a
> 'Greater Serbia'. The ruler, king Alexander, was Serbian, as were
> the army and civil bureaucracy.
> In 1941 when Yugoslavia disintegrated under the German-Italian onslaught,
> the people of Kosovo were relieved at the defeat of their erstwhile
> Serbian tormentors. The demise of Yugoslavia, though temporary, would have
> paved the way for Kosovo's union with neighbouring Albania if it had not
> been for the treacherous role played by the Albanian communists, led by
> Enver Hoxha.
> With the defeat of the Italians in 1943 and the withdrawal of German troops
> from the Balkans in 1944, communist Yugoslav forces led by Josef Tito
> took control of Yugoslavia. But they had difficulty subduing the
> Albanians in Kosovo. Two brigades of Albanian troops, later increased
> to two divisions, were brought into Kosovo. The Albanian forces were
> deployed with the understanding that the people of Kosovo would be given
> the choice of joining either Albania or Yugoslavia. Once the Albanian
> resistance in Kosovo was crushed, however, Tito reneged on this
> promise.
> To Hoxha it made little difference, since the Albanian communist party was
> also subservient to and run by members of the communist party of Yugoslavia.
> When Tito fell out with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, in 1948, Hoxha
> at once attached himself directly to Moscow. This honeymoon lasted
> until 1961, when Hoxha too fell from grace with the Kremlin bosses, now led
> by Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor. But Hoxha again survived, this time
> as an ally of the Chinese who were competing with the Russians for influence
> in the communist bloc.
> The Kosovars, meanwhile, continued to press for their rights
> within Yugoslavia. It became clear to them very early on that Albania would
> not help them achieve their aspirations. Disappointed with Hoxha's
> policies, they started to demand equal treatment within the Yugoslav
> federation.
> This meant that Kosovo should also be recognized as a republic, like
> the six other federal units. The Kosovars had compelling reasons:
> they were the third largest ethnic group in the country, and Kosovo
> was rich in mineral and energy resources. Tito responded by sending in
> troops in 1968. When the military policy failed, he decided to assuage
> the Albanians' grievances by declaring Kosovo a province with
> limited autonomy. These changes were incorporated in the constitutional
> amendment of 1974, which also made Vojvodina, the predominantly
> Hungarian-populated area in the north of Serbia,
> a province.
> Tito, born of a Croat father and Slovene mother, skillfully
> balanced the conflicting demands of the various ethnic groups
> within Yugoslavia. He knew that as long as the overbearing Serbs were
> kept under control, the artificial State of Yugoslavia would hold.
> It was with Tito's death in May 1980 that the genie of Serbian chauvinism
> was let loose.
> Its first target was Kosovo. In 1981, Serbian forces were sent in to Pristina
> to crush what was allegedly an Albanian 'irredentist' plot. For demanding the
> right to be treated as a republic, the Kosovars were accused of treason
> and attempting to break up Yugoslavia, aided by Albania.
> Thus, the Serbs once again turned the truth on its head, imposing
> their will on Kosovo and even casting covetous looks at neighbouring Albania,
> while accusing the Kosovars of trying to break up the State. Hundreds
> of people were killed in the 1981 crackdown; thousands of others
> were imprisoned.
> The Serbs vowed to abolish Kosovo's autonomous status, an objective they
> achieved in March 1989. They are, however, still not content. Driven
> by their obsession of creating a 'Greater Serbia', they have already
> caused havoc in Croatia and are now busy destroying Bosnia-Hercegovina.
> All the evidence suggests that Kosovo will be next.
> On July 2, Alexander Meksi, the prime minister of Albania, said that his
> government would not remain indifferent if the Serbs were to attack Kosovo.
> Albania need not worry; the Serbs themselves would drag it in. The conflict
> could spread further, involving Bulgaria, Greece and even Turkey. In a larger
> Balkan flare-up, Serbia will be the ultimate loser, though not without first
> causing a great deal more bloodshed.
> One of the ways to prevent this from happening would be for the people of
> Serbia to get rid of Milosevic. Despite some stirrings of popular opposition
> in Belgrade, howev3 9L{95&.!nic's removal does not appear very likely at
> present. The unfortunate people of the Balkans may have to endure far more
> suffering yet.
> #######################################################################
> **************************ANNOUNCEMENTS********************************
> *** This section is open for posting announcements for the
> purpose of education and information only, no commercial or
> solicitation ads please. ***********************************
> *************************
> Medical Doctors Relief & Development, a voluntary, non-profit organization
> is seeking the support of members who are willing to provide medical relief and
> set up development operations in the poor countries of the world.
> For more information, please contact Dr. Mohammad Amjad Alvi,
>    1530 Albion Rd. Rexdale, Ont. Canada, M9V 1B4.
>     Tel. (416) 240-0570, Fax (416) 240-1728
> ________________
>
> THE ASSOCIATION OF ISLAMIC COMMUNITY GAZI HUSREV-BEG, has set up a
> special service to support the struggle in Bosnia.
> To find out how to contribute to this effort please contact:
>
> ASSOCIATION OF ISLAMIC COMMUNITY GAZI HUSREV-BEG
> [Bosnia-Hercegovina F.]
> 4146 DUNDAS STREET WEST, ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO M8X 1X3, CANADA
>
> PHONE: (416) 233-5967  FAX: (416) 237-0656
> ##########################################################################
> *------- Note to contributors and readers:
>    ****Islam, as a universal Religion, forbids any sorts of racial
> bigotry; country names are to be used for and understood as a mere designation
> of the geographical locations. Criticisms are for that particular system


> or power structure and NOT the people.
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