Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SARAJEVO1894
2008-12-22 16:30:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Embassy Sarajevo
Cable title:  

BOSNIA - RETURN OF ALGERIANS SPARKS BOSNIAK MEDIA

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER BK 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2630
PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV
DE RUEHVJ #1894/01 3571630
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 221630Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9432
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0013
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 SARAJEVO 001894 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (HYLAND/FOOKS),S/WCI
(WILLIAMSON, VIBUL-JOLLES, RICCI)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - RETURN OF ALGERIANS SPARKS BOSNIAK MEDIA
FEUD, BUT SERBS QUIET FOR NOW

Classified By: Michael J. Murphy for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 SARAJEVO 001894

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (HYLAND/FOOKS),S/WCI
(WILLIAMSON, VIBUL-JOLLES, RICCI)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - RETURN OF ALGERIANS SPARKS BOSNIAK MEDIA
FEUD, BUT SERBS QUIET FOR NOW

Classified By: Michael J. Murphy for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (S) SUMMARY: The return of the first three members of the
"Algerian Six" from Guantanamo has been the top news item for
much of the Bosnian media since their arrival on December 16.
The detainees' return has sparked a media battle between the
two Bosniak-led dailies, one portraying the detainees as
victims reminiscent of the suffering wartime Bosniaks, and
the other lambasting the wartime Bosnian government for
allowing these "dangerous individuals" to enter Bosnia in the
first place. Dnevni Avaz, typically the more conservative
Bosniak news outlet and an enemy of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP),slammed SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija -- who
served as Bosnian PM when the government sent the Algerians
to Guantanamo in 2002 -- for his role in "illegally"
expelling the Algerians. Avaz declared that the detainees
would be within their rights to demand compensation from the
Bosnian government for their suffering. Oslobodjenje, on the
other hand, criticized Avaz for supporting Lagumdzija during
the initial deportation but changing its mind when Avaz's
leadership and political allegiances shifted. Predictably,
Republika Srpska media are highlighting the "threat" these
individuals present to Bosnian citizens and the need to expel
them again from the country. While the detainees have fueled
controversy more between the Bosniak news outlets than
between Bosniak and Serb politicians, a battle down the line
over whether to accept the two detainees awaiting release
from Guantanamo could take this issue down an ugly and
contentious path. END SUMMARY

Detainees Speak Out
--------------


2. (C) Following their December 16 release, the three former
Guantanamo detainees gave several interviews to print and
broadcast media outlets in Bosnia asserting ill treatment in
Guantanamo. They claimed, inter alia, that they were

interrogated in Guantanamo not about concrete terrorism
allegations -- including the alleged plot to bomb the U.S.
Embassy in Sarajevo -- but rather about Arabs in Bosnia.
Hadj Boudella claimed that in his first four days of custody
in Guantanamo, his arms, legs, ears, eyes and mouth were tied
up and he was not given any food. Musafa Ait Idir claimed
that his finger was broken and that he was told he could not
receive medical treatment if he did not cooperate with
investigators. The underlying message of the interviews was
that the detainees were subjected to these injustices simply
because they are Muslim. The detainees seemed well prepared
for their interview appearances, coming across as modest,
ordinary people who wanted to move on and be with their
families, but were ready to "forgive," a point Idir stressed
in one of his interviews. The general first impression left
by this coverage is of innocent people who were abandoned by
inefficient and cowardly authorities from their homeland and
then became victims of a system that brutally violated their
human rights. This message has had the effect of raising
public sympathy for the group.

Avaz Puts Lagumdzija on the Chopping Block
--------------


3. (C) The pro-Bosniak Dnevni Avaz, Bosnia's most
widely-circulated newspaper, devoted five pages of its
December 16 edition to the return of the three detainees.
Avaz owner Fahrudin Radoncic, who is embroiled in a
long-standing feud with SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija, ensured
that his paper's coverage of the detainees reflected this
animosity. An Avaz headline the day after the detainees'
release blared, "Shoes Will be Thrown at Lagumdzija." The
story trumpeted Lagumdzija's culpability in the transfer of
the detainees to Guantanamo in 2002 (Note: Lagumdzija was
Prime Minister at the time. End Note). Avaz also provided
prominent coverage to minor political figures, who echoed its
editorial criticisms of Lagumdzija. For example, in an
interview in Avaz, People's Bosniak Party (NBS) chairman
Nedzad Latic slammed Lagumdzija, accusing him and his
associates of being responsible for the transfer of the
Algerian group. (Note: NBS is a small, fringe, Bosniak
nationalist party with no representation in the state or
Federation parliaments. Its membership does, however,
include Nadia Dizdarevic, wife of one of the six Algerians,
Boumediene. End Note). Similarly, Avaz prominently featured

SARAJEVO 00001894 002 OF 003


Bosnian Patriotic Party (BPS) leader Sefer Halilovic, who
called for those responsible for the "illegal extradition" of
the Algerian group -- including Lagumdzija and Beriz Belkic
from Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH),who were
coalition partners at the time of the transfer -- to face
justice. (Note: BPS has one MP in the state parliament. End
Note) By contrast, Avaz hardly noted a relatively mild
statement from SDA chairman Sulejman Tihic.

Detention as a Cog in the Wheel of Bosniak Victimhood
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Although Tihic's statement did not feature
prominently, Avaz did highlight SDA Vice President Bakir
Izetbegovic's musings on the detainees as part of Avaz's
wider portrayal of their experience as an element of extant
Bosniak suffering (Note: Izetbegovic is a close friend and
political ally of Radoncic. End note). Izetbegovic compared
the Algerians' imprisonment at Guantanamo with the
imprisonment of his father, Alija Izetbegovic, under Tito for
spreading religious extremism. Separately, Avaz's coverage
of the detainees compared their experience to that of
Bosniaks during the 1992-1995 war. Avaz speculated that
members of the Algerian group could file a lawsuit against
the Bosnian state and demand compensation for their suffering
during their detainment, noting that Bosniaks had similarly
filed charges against Montenegro for the illegal extradition
of Bosnian refugees to wartime authorities of the Republika
Srpska (RS) during the war. According to the article, the
Montenegrin government will award more than USD 100,000 in
compensation to each refugee who survived the extradition.
Coverage in Avaz left a clear impression that Lagumdzija was
to blame for the "gross violation of human rights" against
the Algerians and that he should be held accountable.

Oslobodjenje Takes a More Measured Approach
--------------


5. (C) In contrast to Avaz, Sarajevo-based daily Oslobodjenje
raised the "Bosniak past" in a different context, raising the
question of who was responsible for the Algerians' initial
arrival in Bosnia. In an editorial by the paper's editor in
chief, whom Dnevni Avaz has attacked as "Islamophobic,"
Oslobodjenje pointed the finger at the Izetbegovic family --
particularly Alija -- for facilitating foreign fighters'
entry into Bosnia and then granting them citizenship after
the end of the conflict. The editorial concluded that
Izetbegovic was at fault for allowing "dangerous individuals"
to enter and remain in Bosnia. It further taunted Bakir
Izetbegovic, Alija's son, by reminding him (and readers) that
Bakir was Alija's chief of staff at the time and was well
aware of his father's role in recruiting foreign fighters.
Oslobodjenje went on to point out that Avaz roundly applauded
Lagumdzija's actions in 2002 and supported the deportation of
the Algerians to Guantanamo at that time. The implication,
not so thinly veiled, was that Avaz's partnership with
Izetbegovic -- coupled with a desire to politicaly neuter
Lagumdzija -- had led Avaz to paint theevents in a different
light seven years later. vaz -- which regularly portrays
Oslobodjenje, its owner, and its editor in chief as
"Islamophobes" unwilling to protect Bosniak interests -- will
almost certainly launch a counter-attack, perhaps alleging
that those opposed to Avaz are anti-Muslims intent on
undermining Bosniak interests in the country.

RS Politicians Seek Expulsion of "Terrorists"
--------------


6. (SBU) Media reactions in the Republika Srpska have been
more predictable, accusing the Federation of allowing Islamic
extremists to return to the country. The Banja Luka paper
Glas Srpske quoted a number of RS politicians who make the
case for deporting the Algerians again. Ethnic Serb
parliamentarian Dusanka Majkic from RS PM Milorad Dodik's
Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) argues that the
Algerians should be "sent back to where they came from" and
blames Lagumdzija for the crisis. Rajko Vasic, SNSD
Secretary General, declared that "no free-lance fighters for
religion and salvation of the Bosniaks are welcome in
Bosnia." RS National Assembly member Petar Djokic opined
that the return of the Algerians to Bosnia represents a
confirmation that Bosnian politicians and institutions

SARAJEVO 00001894 003 OF 003


"enabled terrorists to move to Bosnia."

Comment
--------------


7. (S/NF) For the time being, the detainees' return has done
more to fuel an ongoing feud among Bosniaks about who is, and
who is not, a true Muslim -- rather than pitting Bosniaks
against Serbs -- and provided yet another battlefield in the
war for political and business power in the entity between
the owners of Avaz and Oslobodjenje. That said, portrayals
of the detainees in the Bosniak media as victims and in the
RS political sphere as terrorists harbored by the
Bosniak-dominated state government have sown the seeds for
possible exacerbated Bosniak-Serb rifts in connection with
the detainees. Thus far, rhetoric from state-level Serb
officials has been restrained, perhaps because -- as we
understand -- the decision to accept the Algerians was made
by a unanimous secret session of the Council of Ministers,
with ethnic Serb Prime Minister Nikola Spiric taking a
leading role in shepherding this decision through. Looking
ahead, though, this debate could become more divisive if it
focuses on the two "Algerian Six" detainees awaiting release
from Guantanamo who do not hold Bosnian citizenship.
Security Minister Tarik Sadovic (SDA) would like Bosnia to
accept these additional detainees, while law enforcement and
intelligence officials insist that according to Bosnian law,
those who present "threats to national security" and do not
hold citizenship -- as is the case with these two detainees
-- have no right to live in Bosnia and must be expelled if
they arrive on Bosnian soil. If Bosniak politicians line up
behind Sadovic, and Serb politicians take the side of the law
enforcement officials, this controversy could take on a
particularly ugly and divisive cast over the following weeks
and months.
ENGLISH