Bosnia is home to Serb so-called ‘Chetnik’ associations, neo-Nazi groups in Prijedor and Mostar, a Bosniak national-socialist organisation and a number of other ethno-nationalist groups, but none of them are recognised as a security threat in any strategic document under which Bosnia’s security agencies operate.

The country’s previous counter-terrorism strategy, which expired at the end of 2020, covered a period dominated by the threat from radical Islamists and particularly the phenomenon of Muslims from the Balkans, including Bosnia, travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State.

But the threat posed by right-wing groups, such as the Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement, has been largely neglected.

“Any associations cherishing extremism, the Chetnik or neo-fascist ideology, should be labelled as dangerous and explicitly deviant in both Bosnian entities,” said Aljosa Campara, interior minister in the mainly Bosniak and Croat Federation, one of two entities that make up Bosnia.

“For me, it is inconceivable that anyone holds a different view,” he told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Bosnia and Herzegovina, BIRN BiH.

State Security Minister Selmo Cikotic said the new strategy should define a broader spectrum of measures to deal with and, if necessary, ban organisations such as the Ravna Gora Chetnik Movement.

“It is dangerous in itself, but it is also dangerous in the sense that it produces extremists and extremism on other sides,” Cikotic told BIRN BiH.

But experts involved in the drafting of a new strategy say the process has become bogged down in disagreement over how to define and label right-wing and extremist organisations, with particular resistance coming from working group members representing the predominantly Serb-populated Republika Srpska, the other entity in Bosnia.

The previous strategy was drafted within a month in 2015; this time, eight months have passed since the working group was formed and there is still no final draft. Participants whom BIRN spoke to expressed confidence that a document would be adopted in the first half of this year.

The process so far, however, has revealed a failure to act on previous criticism concerning the lack of a comprehensive and independent assessment of the last strategy and the reliance on donor-funded activities.

Difficulties over definitions

Chetnik gathering in Visegrad in March 2019. Photo: Courtesy of N1.

An incomplete working draft of the new strategy, seen by BIRN, proposes “preventing and countering all forms of radicalisation and violent extremism leading to terrorism, as well as all forms of terrorist activity.” This represents a departure from the previous strategy.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s mission to Bosnia told BIRN BiH that the goal reflected the changed security environment and threat assessment since the previous strategy was drafted.

“The Bosnian authorities have expressed determination to deal with all manifestations of violent extremism in the new strategy and actions plans,” the OCSE mission said.

According to the State Department’s annual report on terrorism, violent extremist ideology and regional nationalistic groups represent potential sources of terrorism in Bosnia.

“Under the current circumstances extremist organizations should really be in the focus of judicial, police and intelligence structures of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because their activity does represent a serious security issue,” said Campara.

But classifying those organisations and defining the terms ‘terrorism’, ‘violent’ and ‘right-wing extremism’ is proving a stumbling block.

Source BIRN spoke to on condition of anonymity said some of those involved argue that Bosnia’s two entities and the Brcko autonomous district should be left to define them themselves within the action plans they will have to adopt once the strategy is passed.

Others point out that Bosnia already submits annual threat reports to Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union, which notes in its own annual report the dangers posed by right-wing extremists in a number of European countries.

Call for ‘clear roadmap’

Nermin Sijamhodzic, chief of the Counter-Terrorism Section of the Federation Police Administration. Photo: BIRN.

Some participants in the working group told BIRN BiH that a new strategy would likely be ready in the first half of this year.

“We are now finalising things in that document,” said Goran Cerkez, who is representing the Federation health ministry and predicted its adoption in the first three months of 2022.

Nermin Sijamhodzic, chief of the Counter Terrorism Section of the Federation Police Administration, and Sead Sadic of the Coordination Body of the Brcko District Government of BiH, both set their sights on the first half of the year.

The Bosnian Security Ministry, which is coordinating the effort, told BIRN BiH: “The new strategy will address all forms of violent extremism with a focus on the field of prevention.”

Besides delays to the drafting of a new strategy, an overarching report on the implementation of the previous strategy was also late in coming.

Bosnia neglected the advice of international partners to commission an independence and comprehensive assessment of the success of the entire strategy, relying instead on assistance from international organisations in assessing only the prevention part of the document.

In line with recommendations to better involve actors from outside the security agencies, such as civil society, the Security Ministry told BIRN BiH that a separate working group had been formed involving representatives of the health, welfare and education sectors. It said that civil society representatives, religious communities, the media, academics and rights organisations would have a role also in the implementation of the strategy.

The OSCE urged a “clear roadmap” for concrete action so that authorities at all levels in Bosnia “would know what measures and activities must be implemented and who will implement them.”

It also stressed the need to earmark sufficient funds. Authorities have been criticised for relying in part on donor financing to implement the strategy, rather than budgetary funds.

While it still expects significant assistance from international partners in financing the work of preventing violent extremism and terrorism, sources involved in the process say Bosnia failed to involve fully those partners in the official planning process.

Another area of concern is the failure to regulate the field of cyberspace in the context of terrorism. In the previous strategy, the Communications Regulatory Agency, CRA, was tasked with compiling ‘black lists’ of internet pages that encourage terrorism or violent extremism. But the CRA baulked, citing a lack of legal competencies to undertake such work and calling for any bans to be issued by the courts. No solution was found.

According to a copy seen by BIRN BiH, the new working draft says that support will be offered, in collaboration with the CRA, “to providers of internet services and internet hosting for capacity building”, without elaborating.

More to be done on prevention

Wives of Islamic state fighters (IS) load their belongings into a truck upon their deportation from the al-Hol camp for refugees in al-Hasakah governorate in northeastern Syria. Photo: EPA-EFE/AHMED MARDNLI

In a statement to BIRN BiH, the EU Delegation to Bosnia cited the European Commission’s most recent report on Bosnia’s progress towards membership of the bloc, saying it called for “reinforced” efforts to prevent violent extremism and counter terrorism.

“It also noted that BiH should improve capacities by enhancing the exchange of criminal intelligence and establishing programmes to prevent radicalisation and facilitate disengagement from violent extremism,” the delegation said.

It welcomed the results under the previous strategy in the investigation and prosecution of returnees from foreign battlefields but said that more could be done in terms of prevention.

“The efforts on rehabilitation and reintegration of citizens returning from foreign battlefronts has progressed since the repatriation of the first group from Syria in 2019,” it said. “However, more needs to be done in the field of protection, as well as prevention.”

Only the Federation addressed the issue of returnees in its Action Plan under the previous strategy, but the plan was adopted several years late.

“We shall consider whether it should be revised and improved,” said Cerkez of the Federation health ministry. “We expect it to continue to be implemented.”