Bosnia shows the door to Islamic warriors who stayed

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Series Details 17.01.08
Publication Date 17/01/2008
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Bosnia has started deporting foreign nationals who were stripped of their Bosnian citizenship back to their countries of origin, a move which raises concerns about their subsequent fate.

Most of the people whose citizenship was revoked are from Turkey, the Middle East and north Africa, notably Algeria. They came to Bosnia in 1992-95 to fight on the side of the Muslim-dominated central government.

Most of the countries of origin take a robust approach to citizens suspected of radical Islamist leanings. The first to be deported, in mid-December, was an Algerian national with alleged terrorist links. "Information gathered by law-enforcement agencies led us to conclude that Atau Mimun was a danger to our national security," said Dragan Mekti´c, Bosnia’s deputy security minister.

There are no reports of what happened to Mimun upon his return to Algeria.

The 1995 Dayton accords had foreseen that all foreign combatants should leave Bosnian territory within 30 days. But an estimated 1,000 stayed behind and often married local women. In response to mounting international pressure to deal with former Islamic fighters, the government in Sarajevo early last year set up a commission to review naturalisations of foreigners.

An official from the European Commission said that the review was welcome but that the Bosnian authorities would not have acted without a push from the international community.

Some 600 naturalised Bosnians have so far had their citizenship revoked by the commission, whose mandate ends next month, but the Bosnian government has not scheduled any additional deportations for the time being.

The Office of the High Representative (OHR), which oversees peace implementation in Bosnia and has extensive political and legal powers, was instrumental in pushing for the deportations to go ahead, but an OHR spokesperson said the OHR was "not dealing with these issues".

Bosnia has started deporting foreign nationals who were stripped of their Bosnian citizenship back to their countries of origin, a move which raises concerns about their subsequent fate.

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