Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BELGRADE392
2007-03-22 08:47:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Belgrade
Cable title:
MAKING THE MOST OF USG ASSISTANCE TO MUSLIM
how-toVZCZCXYZ0011 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHBW #0392/01 0810847 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 220847Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0500
UNCLAS BELGRADE 000392
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/FO A/S FRIED AND DAS DICARLO FROM AMBASSADOR
POLT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KISL PGOV PHUM PREL SR
SUBJECT: MAKING THE MOST OF USG ASSISTANCE TO MUSLIM
COMMUNITIES
UNCLAS BELGRADE 000392
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/FO A/S FRIED AND DAS DICARLO FROM AMBASSADOR
POLT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KISL PGOV PHUM PREL SR
SUBJECT: MAKING THE MOST OF USG ASSISTANCE TO MUSLIM
COMMUNITIES
1. Dan: During your recent visit you rightly pointed out
that the USG could do a lot to get value, on a global
level, from our outreach and assistance to the Muslim
communities in this part of the world. I took note of the
enthusiasm with which you greeted news of our planned
project to rebuild the historic mosque in Nis which was
severely damaged in communal violence in 2004. We will be
sure to report this widely. In the meantime, I wanted to
highlight some of our recent successes we have already
achieved with our assistance to the Muslim community here,
part of our larger policy objective of a Serbia that is a
stable, multiethnic, multi-religious state. I hope to be
able to integrate our programs into a broader Muslim
outreach strategy for Europe.
USG ASSISTANCE TO ISLAMIC COMMUNITY
--------------
2. We have just completed a partial $100,000
reconstruction of the Islamic Community Center (ICC),
attached to the Bajrakli mosque (Belgrade's only mosque.)
The Bajrakli mosque, which was damaged in 2004, has served
the Islamic community of Belgrade for hundreds of years -
it claims to be the oldest building in Belgrade, rivaling
Kalemegdan, and the community center has long served as a
gathering place. The renovated center will serve as a place
where community members, especially young people and women,
can come to improve their computer literacy, internet and
foreign language knowledge, and get the skills that will
help them with future job prospects.
3. I also awarded $50,000 from my Fund for Cultural
Preservation last year for the rebuilding of a historic
Muslim building in Novi Pazar in the Muslim-majority
Sandzak region. The building houses a mehteb, or Islamic
elementary school - the oldest one in the Balkans. The
project is ongoing, and expected to be completed this
summer.
4. On the economic side, beginning in 2006, we began work
with Mufti Hamdija Jusufspahic and his son Imam Mustafa
Jusufspahic, who identified the village of Banatski
Brestovac, on the outskirts of Belgrade, to successfully
implement two agricultural projects: construction of
greenhouses, and support for a beef/dairy farm.
USAID procured the greenhouses, an irrigation system and
gave over $12,000 in matching funds for seed, fertilizer
and labor. The project centers on assisting Muslim
vegetable farmers to boost production, farm sales, and
income by forming a modern marketing association, adopting
modern technology, using business planning, and doubling
the length of the growing season with greenhouse donations.
5. We also gave $75,000 (30 cattle and technical
assistance) along with over $13,000 in matching funds to
bolster Halal beef and dairy production in the village.
This project expands production, establishing a medium-
sized (60 head) facility for Simmental cattle designed for
"dual purpose" dairy and beef production. The Muslim
Association of Serbia has subsequently rented a larger
dairy beef production facility in the nearby village of
Policica.
OTHER OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
--------------
6. The Embassy has made it a priority to target our
outreach and PD programs to the Muslim communities in
Serbia both in the Sandzak and in the Albanian Muslim-
majority Presevo Valley. Our American Corner in Vranje and
American Window in Bujanovac provide footholds for our
exchange programs and other PD strategies for engaging
these communities. U.S. Speaker programs and Democracy
Commission grants have both been focused on the Islamic
communities, which have helped both our PD efforts and
raised local political awareness. In general, we make an
effort to include students and children from the Sandzak
and Presevo Valley in our exchange programs wherever
possible. An American Corner is planned for Novi Pazar to
increase our outreach capabilities.
7. Especially noteworthy are also our annual Iftar
dinners, which include Muslim leaders from the Presevo
Valley and both of Serbia's Islamic factions (from the
Sandzak and Belgrade),as well as Ambassadors to Serbia
from Islamic countries. We have hosted additional Iftars
in Novi Pazar itself to include a broader range of Muslim
spiritual and civic leaders in the Sandzak. This outreach
has become extraordinarily popular locally, has resulted in
numerous invitations for us to attend other Embassy
Iftars,and has drawn most of Serbia's Muslim leaders closer
to us -- they participated in our 9/11 anniversary
commemoration, where they offered a prayer for our victims
that they later made available to the public.
8. Also, USG International Visitor Programs have included
Serbian Muslim spiritual leaders and we hope to expand this
to include both the Belgrade (Mufti and Imam Jufuspahic)
and Novi Pazar Islamic leadership.
IMPACT
--------------
9. Through frequent visits by POL, PD, AID and the Front
Office, the Embassy remains engaged in the local and
national aspects of politics both in the Sandzak and
Presevo Valley. Our efforts in Novi Pazar have resulted in
an open and productive relationship with both the political
and spiritual leaders. This pays dividends when we need to
react quickly to incidents such as the murder of a poll
worker in Novi Pazar or the seizure of a Wahabbist arms
cache near Sijenica recently. We work with Albanian
political leaders to encourage them to sustain their
participation in the Serbian political process at both the
local and the national level. Our Get Out the Vote effort
in advance of the January 2007 national elections
illustrated the success of our engagement -- not only was
there record turnout in the Muslim communities, but the
Presevo Valley Albanians participated for the first time in
a decade and successfully elected one member of parliament
to represent them in Belgrade.
10. I am extremely proud of the engagement program our
team here has conceived and implemented in a relatively
short time, and I think it is having a real impact on our
relations with and support for moderate Muslims in this
corner of Europe. I wanted to bring these ongoing and
planned programs to your attention in the hope that EUR
will find some use of our actions in our broader Muslim
outreach strategy. We stand ready to pitch in wherever we
can to do the most good.
POLT
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/FO A/S FRIED AND DAS DICARLO FROM AMBASSADOR
POLT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KISL PGOV PHUM PREL SR
SUBJECT: MAKING THE MOST OF USG ASSISTANCE TO MUSLIM
COMMUNITIES
1. Dan: During your recent visit you rightly pointed out
that the USG could do a lot to get value, on a global
level, from our outreach and assistance to the Muslim
communities in this part of the world. I took note of the
enthusiasm with which you greeted news of our planned
project to rebuild the historic mosque in Nis which was
severely damaged in communal violence in 2004. We will be
sure to report this widely. In the meantime, I wanted to
highlight some of our recent successes we have already
achieved with our assistance to the Muslim community here,
part of our larger policy objective of a Serbia that is a
stable, multiethnic, multi-religious state. I hope to be
able to integrate our programs into a broader Muslim
outreach strategy for Europe.
USG ASSISTANCE TO ISLAMIC COMMUNITY
--------------
2. We have just completed a partial $100,000
reconstruction of the Islamic Community Center (ICC),
attached to the Bajrakli mosque (Belgrade's only mosque.)
The Bajrakli mosque, which was damaged in 2004, has served
the Islamic community of Belgrade for hundreds of years -
it claims to be the oldest building in Belgrade, rivaling
Kalemegdan, and the community center has long served as a
gathering place. The renovated center will serve as a place
where community members, especially young people and women,
can come to improve their computer literacy, internet and
foreign language knowledge, and get the skills that will
help them with future job prospects.
3. I also awarded $50,000 from my Fund for Cultural
Preservation last year for the rebuilding of a historic
Muslim building in Novi Pazar in the Muslim-majority
Sandzak region. The building houses a mehteb, or Islamic
elementary school - the oldest one in the Balkans. The
project is ongoing, and expected to be completed this
summer.
4. On the economic side, beginning in 2006, we began work
with Mufti Hamdija Jusufspahic and his son Imam Mustafa
Jusufspahic, who identified the village of Banatski
Brestovac, on the outskirts of Belgrade, to successfully
implement two agricultural projects: construction of
greenhouses, and support for a beef/dairy farm.
USAID procured the greenhouses, an irrigation system and
gave over $12,000 in matching funds for seed, fertilizer
and labor. The project centers on assisting Muslim
vegetable farmers to boost production, farm sales, and
income by forming a modern marketing association, adopting
modern technology, using business planning, and doubling
the length of the growing season with greenhouse donations.
5. We also gave $75,000 (30 cattle and technical
assistance) along with over $13,000 in matching funds to
bolster Halal beef and dairy production in the village.
This project expands production, establishing a medium-
sized (60 head) facility for Simmental cattle designed for
"dual purpose" dairy and beef production. The Muslim
Association of Serbia has subsequently rented a larger
dairy beef production facility in the nearby village of
Policica.
OTHER OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
--------------
6. The Embassy has made it a priority to target our
outreach and PD programs to the Muslim communities in
Serbia both in the Sandzak and in the Albanian Muslim-
majority Presevo Valley. Our American Corner in Vranje and
American Window in Bujanovac provide footholds for our
exchange programs and other PD strategies for engaging
these communities. U.S. Speaker programs and Democracy
Commission grants have both been focused on the Islamic
communities, which have helped both our PD efforts and
raised local political awareness. In general, we make an
effort to include students and children from the Sandzak
and Presevo Valley in our exchange programs wherever
possible. An American Corner is planned for Novi Pazar to
increase our outreach capabilities.
7. Especially noteworthy are also our annual Iftar
dinners, which include Muslim leaders from the Presevo
Valley and both of Serbia's Islamic factions (from the
Sandzak and Belgrade),as well as Ambassadors to Serbia
from Islamic countries. We have hosted additional Iftars
in Novi Pazar itself to include a broader range of Muslim
spiritual and civic leaders in the Sandzak. This outreach
has become extraordinarily popular locally, has resulted in
numerous invitations for us to attend other Embassy
Iftars,and has drawn most of Serbia's Muslim leaders closer
to us -- they participated in our 9/11 anniversary
commemoration, where they offered a prayer for our victims
that they later made available to the public.
8. Also, USG International Visitor Programs have included
Serbian Muslim spiritual leaders and we hope to expand this
to include both the Belgrade (Mufti and Imam Jufuspahic)
and Novi Pazar Islamic leadership.
IMPACT
--------------
9. Through frequent visits by POL, PD, AID and the Front
Office, the Embassy remains engaged in the local and
national aspects of politics both in the Sandzak and
Presevo Valley. Our efforts in Novi Pazar have resulted in
an open and productive relationship with both the political
and spiritual leaders. This pays dividends when we need to
react quickly to incidents such as the murder of a poll
worker in Novi Pazar or the seizure of a Wahabbist arms
cache near Sijenica recently. We work with Albanian
political leaders to encourage them to sustain their
participation in the Serbian political process at both the
local and the national level. Our Get Out the Vote effort
in advance of the January 2007 national elections
illustrated the success of our engagement -- not only was
there record turnout in the Muslim communities, but the
Presevo Valley Albanians participated for the first time in
a decade and successfully elected one member of parliament
to represent them in Belgrade.
10. I am extremely proud of the engagement program our
team here has conceived and implemented in a relatively
short time, and I think it is having a real impact on our
relations with and support for moderate Muslims in this
corner of Europe. I wanted to bring these ongoing and
planned programs to your attention in the hope that EUR
will find some use of our actions in our broader Muslim
outreach strategy. We stand ready to pitch in wherever we
can to do the most good.
POLT