(L'intervista originale: «E' vero, i mujahidin tagliavano teste»
Intervista all'ex generale Hasan Efendic che ha scritto un libro sui combattenti islamici: «Sono stati creati dagli Usa e ora ci vengono a dire che abbiamo aiutato al Qaeda»
di Giuliana Sgrena, su
“It’s true, the mujahideen did cut off heads”
An interview with former general Hasan Efendic who has written a book on his Islamic fighters: “They were created by the US and now they come to us and say that we helped al Qa’eda”
by G. Sgr., Sarajevo
Concerning the presence of mujahideen in the war in Bosnia different numbers are bandied about. “The secret police of the Bosnian army had 760 names, for the Serbs there were 10,000, for the Croats 4-5,000, a German journaist reckoned as high as 40,000. The UN has not given figures, but has declared that the numbers in use are exaggerated”, answers general Hasan Efendic who retired in 1996, when he was commander of the Bosnian army, and who is about to publish a book about his mujahideen in Bosnia.
But who were these Islamic fighters?
There were three types: the true mujahideen came to fight in the name of Islam and to help the Muslims of Bosnia, ready to die to become shahed (martyrs); then there were the dogs of war – people who came from Afghanistan, Kashmir, the Phillipines – for whom waging war is their way of life, where they have found wives and had children; finally the spies, always originally from Arabic countries, but who live and have been educated in the West, who came to Bosnia to spy, it makes no difference to them whether for the East or the West.
The proportion of each type?
Difficult to establish that, but the majority belonged to the second group.
They were all organised, supported by humanitarian organisations, divided between those who fought the Serbs, those who fought the Croats, or those who fought the old communist system but there were also those who fought against anyone who did not think like them. In 1993 a mujahideen unit was set up to group them all together under a single command, but in fact no-one ever managed to control them.
They have been accused of terrible crimes.
Yes, but they have not been proven, the Serbs talk about genocide to cover up their crimes. It is true that they cut off people’s heads but not of women and children. It is impossible that they committed all those crimes if there were only 760 in their battalion, but other mujahideen were spread out in other Bosnian units. Sure, they said that they had come to save the Bosniacs but when they served there were never any in Srebrenica.
How do you explain that?
Those who were in command worked for the foreign services, the mujahideen obeyed. And then they were not fighting under the Bosnian flag but their own. Their task was to spread Wahhabism, the official religion of Saudi Arabia. There was also a clash with Iran: no-one Iranian fought alongside the mujahideen, the Iranians came as technical instructors. But some Arab countries were sending mujahideen to neutralise Iran and to fuel the theological conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. Amongst the mujahideen there were many graduates, who came to fight for their own reasons: to spread Wahhabism and to defend Islam, they also spoke of fighting capitalism, but in effect they were only fighting those who did not think like them.
So why did you set up a unit of mujahideen within the Bosnian army?
Because if we had rejected the mujahideen there would not have been any more help from the Arab countries and at that time it was so difficult, with no arms, we would have accepted help from anywhere. We needed money and arms but not men, by the end of the war we had 250,000 soldiers.
Now that the war is finished is the Wahhabism a danger?
It is not a danger they are a minority. I am an atheist but I am ready to die for Bosnian Islam, but it is a tolerant Islam. Our politicians made a mistake using nationalism to maintain power.
How can nationalism be overcome?
It is very difficult.
Specifically, soldiers like you and General Divijak (Bosnian Serb) were put on opposite sides...
In 1942 my father, who taught in a madrassa, my mother and my brother were killed by Serbs. Even so I married a Serbian woman and went to a military school. I did this for economic reasons, but I accepted that system and I am proud to have taken part in it: in 1950 I became an officer and I ended up as supreme commander of the army of Bosnia. In what other country would that be possible for a farmer’s son? Sure in that system there were problems, the one party system, but for the general population it was good: schools and free state benefits for all, the workers enjoyed rights, work and holidays, no-one was asking for charity as they are now. Where else in Europe has there been a man such as Tito, who had the courage to say no to Stalin and to build the non-aligned movement? The mujahideen have been created by the US and now they come to us and say that we have helped al Qa’eda, I heard that word for the first time in 1998. We had no need for the mujahideen but for the international community to get us out of the situation we were in.
Now however it is necessary to face the problems of justice as well.
I am a nationalist but those who committed crimes should be taken to the tribunal and we cannot become heroes of the nation while supporting those who committed crimes.
