[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1689-E1690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ETHNIC TENSIONS CONTINUE IN THE BALKANS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SUSAN MOLINARI

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 24, 1996

  Ms. MOLINARI. Mr. Speaker, as the international community awaits 
analysis of last Saturday's Bosnian elections, it is now time to focus 
the spotlight on the other ethnic conflicts that continue to fester in 
the Balkans. A lasting peace in the region can never be obtained 
without a satisfactory resolution of the ethnic tensions there.
  With that in mind, I commend the Congressional Human Rights Caucus 
for holding a briefing last week to report on the situation in Sanjak, 
a small region of the former Yugoslavia that is bordered on one side by 
Bosnia and on the other by Kosova. Testifying at the briefing was Mr. 
Bajram Omeragic, president of the external board of the Muslim National 
Council of Sanjak. His statement provides an illuminating discussion of 
the plight of the Bosniac people of Sanjak, and why they believe the 
international community must come to their assistance.

                    Testimony of Mr. Bajram Omeragic


                                   i.

       Mr. Chairman an Distinguished Members of the Caucus. It is 
     an honor for me to testify before you this morning to discuss 
     the problems facing the Bosniac people of Sanjak, a region of 
     former Yugoslavia that has largely been ignored by the 
     international community. We are grateful for the growing 
     interest in Sanjak among Members of the U.S. House of 
     Representatives and Senate.
       We have suffered in relative obscurity until now, and you 
     are helping us generate the attention our people deserve and 
     recognition that the intolerable situation we face cannot be 
     prolonged.


                                  ii.

       On the eve of the elections in Bosnia Saturday, the eyes of 
     America and the world are focused on the Balkans. Regardless 
     of the outcome of the Bosnian elections, the struggle to 
     achieve lasting peace and freedom in the Balkans has just 
     begun. As U.S. mediator Richard Holbrooke said recently, the 
     Bosnia elections do not constitute the end of the game, but 
     rather the beginning of establishing democracy in former 
     Yugoslavia.
       Mr. Holbrooke's recognition that the Dayton agreement was 
     incomplete and inadequate implies that there is indeed 
     unfinished business that must be resolved. We agree with Mr. 
     Holbrooke that a new Dayton-type international conference on 
     former Yugoslavia should occur soon after the Bosnian 
     elections to address the wide range of issues that were 
     intentionally left out of last year's agreements.
       The ``Dayton II'' agenda should include resolution of the 
     status of the Sanjak region and other troubling, and 
     potentially dangerous conflicts that must be resolved before 
     lasting peace can be achieved in the Balkans.
       As Western powers meet with Balkan leaders at the December 
     London conference, the issue of Sanjak must be on the agenda 
     of unfinished business.


                                  iii.

       While the world focuses on the Bosnia elections Saturday, 
     there is another election coming up that demands the 
     attention of the international community and world news 
     media.
       On November 3, the citizens of the Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia, that is Serbia and Montenegro, will go to the 
     polls to elect federal leaders. In Sanjak, we have decided to 
     participate in the elections.
       A boycott by our people would mean that we would have 
     absolutely no opposition voice in federal government 
     decisions. We prefer to fight for change from within.
       While we are committed to democratic and fair elections, 
     the Belgrade regime is not. We have evidence that Milosevic 
     is trying to rig the elections in Sanjak in favor of the 
     Serbs. By arbitrarily changing the number of voters 
     comprising an election unit, based on numbers of Serbs in 
     each voting district, Milosevic is trying to steal the 
     election in Sanjak. There are election districts in which 200 
     Serbs will elect candidates, while similar districts will 
     require 2,000 Bosniacs to elect a candidate. Such 
     undemocratic, unfair and illegal tactics must be exposed. 
     This cynical manipulation of the election process should 
     alarm the U.S. and other democratic nations.
       The president of our Council, Dr. Sulkeman Ugljanin, is 
     meeting in Sarajevo this week with Carl Bildt, the 
     international community's representative in former 
     Yugoslavia, to express our outrage at such tactics. We are 
     urgently requesting international election monitors to 
     observe and report on such election irregularities and 
     abuses.
       We call on the U.S. Congress to send observers to Sanjak to 
     see for themselves.


                                  iv.

       Sanjak is a small region of Yugoslavia, some 8,687 square 
     kilometers, bordered on one side by Bosnia and Kosovo on the 
     other. Two-thirds, or 350,000, of our people are Bosniacs who 
     have historically maintained strong ties to Bosnia.
       Throughout its history, Sanjak has been subjected to a 
     deliberate, premeditated campaign of brutality and repression 
     at the hands of the Serbs and Montenegrins. Conditions became 
     much worse since the Milosevic regime unleashed its campaign 
     of terror against non-Serbs and Bosnia exploded into war.
       In April 1992, the Bosniac people were expunged from the 
     constitution of Yugoslavia. Bosniacs living near the border 
     were subjected to ``ethnic cleansing'' even though they lived 
     within Serbia.
       Over 60,000 Bosniacs have fled our homeland, dispersed 
     throughout Europe and America;
       250 Bosniacs have been killed, kidnapped and/or 
     disappeared;
       In the townships of Priboj and Pljevlja, 51 villages have 
     been ethnically cleansed with homes looted and demolished;
       317 homes have been destroyed;
       Over 17,000 Bosniacs have been subjected to some form of 
     state military-police brutality and terrorism;
       During 1993 and 1994, our political leaders, including Mr. 
     Hadzic, were arrested and organized political processes were 
     halted;
       An arrest warrant was issued for the President of the 
     Muslim National Council of Sanjak and SDA, when he was going 
     to a peace conference in Geneva; he has been living in exile 
     for three years.
       Please allow us to remind you that Sanjak is the only 
     territory in the Federal Republic

[[Page E1690]]

     of Yugoslavia where citizens do not have freedom of movement. 
     People from Priboj and Pljevlja are forbidden from returning 
     to their villages from which they were expelled.
       Many Bosniac citizens have been sacked from their jobs with 
     state companies, leading to a serious humanitarian situation 
     in the country.


                                   V.

       I can tell you today that President Ugljanin will return to 
     Sanjak before the end of this month. When he does, we are 
     afraid he could be arrested by Yugoslav authorities. This 
     must not be allowed to happen.
       We appeal to Members of the U.S. Congress and 
     parliamentarians around the world who are committed to 
     political freedom and liberty to join us in an unprecedented 
     demonstration of support for democracy. We invite Members of 
     the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to come to Sanjak, to 
     accompany President Ugljanin as he returns, and to lend their 
     opposition to the antidemocratic Yugoslav regime at this 
     critical time.
       We encourage U.S. and international journalists to shine 
     the revealing spotlight of media coverage on the Yugoslav 
     autocratic, repressive and undemocratic regime.
       We need your help, and we need it now.


                                  vi.

       There are other peoples in the Balkans who have suffered 
     tremendous hardships and atrocities, confirmed by dozens of 
     investigations and reports by officials such as Tadeusz 
     Mazowiecki, former U.N. Special Rapporteur for human rights 
     in former Yugoslavia, and his successor, Mrs. Elisabeth Rhen. 
     Reports from the U.N. Human Rights Commission, U.S. State 
     Department, Amnesty International, Helskini Watch, and many 
     others have documented the Serbian-Montenegrin reign of 
     terror and human rights violations.
       In 1991, the Muslim National Council of Sanjak encouraged 
     all young men from Sanjak and other parts of Yugoslavia not 
     to participate in the war in Slovenia and Croatia. We have 
     chosen a path of peaceful resistance to achieve a special 
     status or autonomy within Yugoslavia. So far, the 
     international community has not addressed our problem, in 
     spite of the fact that we have chosen peaceful means to 
     achieve that goal. That is a bad message for the future.
       While we accept, if not fully understand, why the Dayton 
     Agreements focused solely on the situation in Bosnia, now is 
     the time to look beyond Bosnia to the range of ethnic 
     problems that will cause continued unrest in the Balkans 
     until they are satisfactorily addressed.
       In Dayton, the United States assumed a leadership role 
     toward seeking peace in the Balkans. We applaud that 
     leadership, and ask that you now take the next steps to begin 
     soon after Saturday's elections. On the agenda should be a 
     special status for Sanjak which recognizes the rights and 
     freedoms of our people.
       We seek:
       Natinal equality within former Yugoslavia;
       A special status (autonomy) as a mechanism to achieve 
     national equality;
       The maintenance of the ``outer wall'' of sanctions in 
     Serbia-Montenegro until the status of Sanjak is resolved;
       Return of the OSCE permanent mission to Sanjak to help 
     establish the necessary conditions for observing elections.
       An end to political persecution such as that in Novi Pazar, 
     our capital, where our elected political representatives have 
     no freedom of movement. Their passports have been confiscated 
     by Serbian police, making it impossible for them to travel. 
     They are forced to come to so-called ``informative talks'' 
     with the Serb authorities during which they are abused and 
     terrorized.
       U.S. pressure on the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague to 
     charge those who destroyed 51 villages and kidnapped and 
     killed Bosniac people in Sanjak.


                                  vii.

       Since 1991, the world has witnessed in the Balkans the 
     worst crimes against humanity since World War II. At the War 
     Crimes Tribunal meeting in The Hague is demonstrating, the 
     overwhelming preponderance of atrocities have been committed 
     by the Serbs, in quest of a ``Great Serbia.'' With the Bosian 
     elections Saturday a key benchmark in implementation of the 
     Dayton agreement, the future is far from settled.
       Indeed, the elections with the expected fraud, 
     manipulation, intimidation and incompleteness will most 
     likely perpetuate the confusion and fall short of moving 
     toward a unified Bosnia.
       The Bosnia people of Sanjak have endured a lot, and while 
     we are prepared to negotiate our fate in good faith, we call 
     on the United States of America, the one champion of human 
     rights and political freedom in the world, to come to our 
     aid.
       Thank you, again, for providing us this opportunity to 
     appear before you today. We are prepared to respond to your 
     questions.

                          ____________________