WHO ARE THE SEVEN MYSTERIOUS BOSNIAN MUSLIMS?
A scandal is emerging over a U.S. IFOR officer’s decision last week to hand over to Bosnian Serb police a group of seven uniformed and armed Muslims. The men surrendered to the Americans near Zvornik, on the Bosnian border with Serbia, shortly after IFOR heard explosions in the area, Reuters reported on 13 May. The officer said he turned the men over to the Serb police because they appeared to be civilians despite their dress, their weapons were in violation of the Dayton agreement, and they were caught on Bosnian Serb territory. U.S. Maj. Gen. William Nash reportedly disagreed with his subordinate’s action and tried unsuccessfully to retake the men from the Serbs. Bosnian officials suggested that the men escaped the fall of Srebrenica last summer and had been hiding out in caves ever since, but IFOR doubted this saying the seven men looked too well fed and groomed. The Bosnian government says the Muslim men are not its soldiers and has played down the incident, but AFP reported that B
