BOSNIA NEWS

SARAJEVO,Bosnia - Rising above the quiet neighbourhood in Nova Breka district in Sarajevo, Masjid Malaysia is a living symbol of the friendship between Bosnia and Malaysia.

When Elvedin Klisura temporarily set aside his religious books and took up arms instead, his only thoughts were to defend his faith and country.

Twelve years on, Klisura still has vivid memories of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia where Sarajevo underwent what was recorded as the longest siege in modern military history.

“I don’t like war. Nobody likes it,” said the clean-shaven, smart-looking imam who often surfs the Internet like any youth his age to keep abreast of the latest developments around the world.

Indeed, Klisura is not your run-of-the-mill imam; he’s one of the youngest around in Bosnia and looks after the Masjid Malaysia (Malaysia Mosque) in Nova Breka district, which is part of the Sarajevo old town.

Seen as a gentle, soft-spoken religious leader, he is hardly the type you would imagine carrying a machine-gun and battling the enemy on the front line.

Yet that’s exactly what Klisura did during the first two years of his service when he fought alongside his comrades before he was pulled back to help restore the faith of the younger soldiers.

“My commander told me to move back and help inspire the soldiers with greater faith in their religion to fight for the country,” he recalled.

Klisura admitted he never expected to become a soldier as he was still studying in a madrassah (religious school) when the war broke out just before the end of Ramadan in 1992. It came all of a sudden; he felt an overwhelming sense of faith and patriotic duty to defend his religion and country and decided to join the Bosnian Army.

Upon reflection, he said, the war had helped to forge greater unity among the ummah (Muslim community) and renewed their faith in their religion.

“But the war is the past, we want to look to the future,” he said, his eyes glistening with pride as he spoke about the Masjid Malaysia, which was funded by the Malaysian government.

On Friday, the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi opened the mosque and joined Malaysian and Bosnian Muslims in performing prayers on the last day of his official visit to Bosnia.

Being the only Malaysian mosque in Sarajevo – there’s reportedly another one in Turbe, Travnik, about 90km from the Bosnian capital – the building attracted considerable interest from the Malaysian delegation.

Klisura said he felt proud and honoured to have played host to the Malaysian Prime Minister and other Malaysian VIPs during the opening ceremony.

In fact, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also visited the mosque last year.

Rising above the quiet neighbourhood, away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre, the mosque, which was completed in 2002, is a living symbol of the friendship and solidarity between Bosnia and Malaysia.

“Even the intricately-carved teak wood of the mosque’s front door was specially flown in from Malaysia,” Klisura said.

And since becoming the mosque’s imam in 2004, Klisura has been increasingly drawn towards Malaysia; he visited the country last year and was impressed with the Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower.

“Malaysia is very beautiful,” he said, adding that many Bosnians now know more about Malaysia after praying in the mosque.

He said the mosque served the over 5,000 Muslim community in the district, with Friday prayers attracting crowds of up to 500.

The mosque also organises religious classes for children every weekend.

Klisura said he would like to extend his salam (greetings) to the people around the world, especially to Malaysians, and to thank them for what they had done to help the Bosnians.

And the imam is not alone in expressing his gratitude to Malaysia; his countryman Amel Kovacevic is equally thankful for the opportunity given to Bosnians to pursue their higher education in Malaysia.

“That (opportunity) is the biggest and most significant direct foreign investment given to us,” said Kovacevic, who is president of Malaysia’s International Islamic University, alumni chapter of Bosnia.

Unlike one-off investments in construction projects, he said, those placed in human capital and resources development would benefit many generations to come.

To further illustrate his point, he said most of the alumni’s 186 members had returned home and become successful professionals, including bank executives and financial investors. Undoubtedly, the alumni can consider themselves as the bridge between the two nations, not just culturally and academically but also economically.

ZAGREB,Croatia - The Russian President Vladimir Putin called yesterday for greater trust on energy between Russia and the eight Soth-East European states. In a meeting in the Croatian capital of Zaghreb with the leaders of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, Putin called a plan for a gas pipeline beneath the Black Sea very promising. He also called Gazprom "the flagship for cooperation with the Balkan countries."

The Russian president attended a summit in Zagreb dedicated to finding ways to improve energy cooperation in South-East Europe. He tried to convince leaders from eight South-East European countries that Russia is a fuel supplier that can be relied on.

The summit was called by Croatia's president, with speculation that his region could become an important oil and gas transit hub. The European Union is also represented at the meeting, with interest in seeing how supplies can be diversified. No specific pipelines or deals were discussed, but everyone is getting their message across.

"The question of fuel supplies has today become very important in terms of world politics and economics. The strategic aim of our work is to make sure there's easy access and a guarantee that countries in the region can have these resources," Putin said.

Romania’s president Traian Basescu said yesterday in Zagreb that Romania will never accept the use of energy as a means of political pressure.

"We all have to accept that energy is a commodity, and strategic as it may be, we will never accept the idea of using energy as a means for political pressure," Basescu said. Basescu added the main point in his message is that Romania believes the solution for South-East Europe is to create a regional integrated market for investors to act according to principles of free competition, allowing beneficiaries to choose the best services.

“Romania backs infrastructure projects opening new transport routes and contributing to varying energy supply sources,” Basescu said.

He added the energetic security of the region and of Europe as a whole depends on how states in the area cooperate with large energy suppliers in a free competition framework.

"Bosnia has large unused development potentials in the energy sector. The estimations were that the existing installed power of 4052 MW in hydro-electric and thermo-power stations could be more than three times increased by building new hydro-electric power stations and modernizing the existing ones, as well as building new thermo-electric power plants. In activating the energy potentials Bosnia recognized a great development chance in order to ensure long term energy stability for the country and the region," the Bosnian Presidency chairman Nebojsa Radmanovic said at the summit.

"The encouraging fact is that there is a large interest from foreign and domestic investors in investing into the electro energy sector. It is also the challenge for the countries of our region to jointly invest into the construction of the new energy capacities. Bosnia is open for such endeavors," Radmanovic added.

The energy summit was attended by the presidents of Croatia, Russia, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, the Economy Minister of Greece and a representative of OPEC.

SREBRENICA,Bosnia - The Head of the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM) Brigadier General Vincenzo Coppola visited Srebrenica in order to assess the security plans designed by the local community for the 11th of July commemoration ceremony. The Head of Mission’s visit aimed to reassure the local community that the EUPM are closely monitoring the security area.

After laying a wreath at the Potocari Memorial, where more than 2,000 identified genocide victims from Srebrenica are buried, Coppola met with Abdurahman Malkic, the Mayor of Srebrenica, to discuss security arrangements for the upcoming commemoration.

“According to our findings on the ground and despite some recent issues within the area, the general situation, from a policing aspect, remains calm,” Coppola said.

“The commemoration day should not be considered as a high risk event, but rather as a religious ceremony to pay tribute to victims,” the Mayor of Srebrenica Abdurahman Malkic said.

“The organizational board is taking the necessary security measures, as would be the case for any other event,”,he added.

TESLIC,Bosnia – The OSCE Mission to Bosnia, in cooperation with Entity Gender Centres, organized a one day workshop on gender equality for members of gender equality commissions, representatives of municipal authorities and non-governmental organizations in Teslic.

The Workshop was aimed at establishing a network among the participants to improve implementation of the Law on Gender Equality in Bosnia and compliance with international standards regarding women’s rights.

“Public authorities at all government levels in Bosnia have to ensure gender equality in all public spheres and work on eliminating discrimination based on gender in their employment practices, policies and services”, said Renate Frech, OSCE Human Rights Adviser.

“The OSCE would like to see strengthened and concerted efforts on the part of the Bosnian authorities in ensuring full and effective implementation of the Law on Gender Equality”, Frech added.

In its final remarks to the Bosnian Government, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women supported the view that implementation of the aforementioned Law must be improved. Integrating the objective of gender equality into all government policies is of great importance for Bosnia, and the Government of Bosnia continues to meet important benchmarks within the National Gender Action Plan.