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NATO, Bildt Condemn Attack on Silajdzic
‘This was an organized attack by twenty people in the SDA and we already know their identities. This situation went on for four hours, they even attacked women. The police did nothing at all about this situation.’
By Team Berserkistan
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the assault on former Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic at a political rally in Cazin," said Major Simon Haselock, NATO spokesman in Sarajevo. "There is no place in Bosnia for such an anti-democratic act," he told reporters.
Former premier Haris Silajdzic, now an opposition leader, was struck on the head with a metal bar when supporters of the ruling Muslim Party for Democratic Action (SDA) disrupted a rally in northern Bosnia on Saturday.
While BHT Television decried the attack on Haris Silajdic in the north-west city of Cazin, near Bihac, as a spontaneous incident carried out by "Unidentified" elements, OSCE representatives on scene, and Silajdic himself painted a different picture.
"This was an organized attack by twenty people in the SDA and we already know their identities." Silajdjic said in a live telephone interview broadcast here. "This situation went on for four hours, they even attacked women. The police did nothing at all about this situation."
BHT Television showed complete footage of the aftermath of the attack, showing Silajdjic receiving treatment for a three inch gash on his head in the local hospital and the smashed windscreen of his car. The footage was shot by Silajdjic's personal cameraman, but nothing of the disturbance or the attack made air.
"If this type of conduct continues it is very dangerous for democracy in Bosnia." He said. "They are terrorists and extremists."
BHT Television reported that OSCE representatives on scene confirmed the police inaction in Cazin. The political situation on all sides remains tense in Bosnia as the run down to dubious elections continues. Bosnian Serbs continue to support such leaders as indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic and notorious paramilitary leader "Arkan."
Bosnian Croats have appointed a new prime minister and continue to hold sessions in their own separatist parliament that is not even supposed to exist under current agreements. SDA president Alija Itzabegovic continues to mix Islam and politics with continuing curfews seen by many to be based purely on moralist overtones from the Islamic church and even went so far as to call for a ban on Santa Clause in a televised new years eve speech last December.
Freedom of movement continues to be an elusive dream as are promised refugee returns and a majority of people in Federation areas view the elections with little faith.
Carl Bildt, the international community's High Representative in Bosnia, condemned the assault. "It's outrageous... it is clearly a case of very severe political harassment prior to the elections that must not be tolerated," Bildt told reporters in the Croatian port of Split.
Silajdzic heads the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, the main rival to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic's SDA in areas controlled by the Sarajevo government. It calls for equal rights for all ethnic groups in a reunified, sovereign Bosnia. Cazin and the surrounding Bihac area are fiercely loyal to Izetbegovic, after Bosnian government forces ousted the local rebel Muslim warlord Fikret Abdic in 1995.
Silajdzic, identified in a recent poll as the most popular politician in Bosnian government territory, resigned his post early this year, accusing the SDA of excessive nationalism.The Cazin rally was an early event in the campaign for national elections which must be held by September 14 under the Dayton peace accords for Bosnia signed last December.
Local television filmed Silajdzic, pale and shaken, pressing a bloody handkerchief to an open wound over his right temple before he was rushed in a private car to a hospital. A spokesman for the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina accused the police of standing idly by while some 100 young men waving SDA flags rampaged through the town terrorising the assembled citizens.
"The local police chief was dressed in a jump suit and tennis shoes and grinning at everything that was happening," Backovic said. The assailant managed to get away even though the police station was only 20 meters (yards) away. |
SARAJEVO, June 17 (Reuters) - NATO and the top Bosnia mediator on Monday sharply criticised an attack on a popular Bosnian opposition leader, saying such acts were impermissible in a society that aspires to be a multi-ethnic democracy.
Berserkistan, June 14 · Some 60 Political Parties Register for September Vote
Berserkistan, May 9 · Silajdzic: Ethnic Purity will Disintegrate Bosnia
Berserkistan, Apr 14 · Silajdzic Announces New Political Party
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