C. Wiebes - Intelligence en de oorlog in Bosnië 1992-1995. De rol van de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten - Engels

157Because of the logistical usefulness of the family Cengic, it was logical that a family member, HasanCengic, was involved in the arms supplies.Hasan Cengic’s family was devoutly Islamic. His father Halid was appointed in 1990 as an SDAmember of the Foca town council, and after the outbreak of the hostilities he organized the defence ofFoca. When the town fell in 1992, the Cengic family moved to Visoko and later to Zenica. HalidCengic was the most important person responsible for ABiH logistics from Visoko. 770 All donationsand the acquisition of arms and military technology ran via him. This made him one of the wealthiestMuslims. Halid Cengic also controlled the Bosnian intelligence service.Of his two sons, the best known in intelligence circles was Hasan. The other son, MuhammedCengic, had an important position within the SDA. As deputy prime minister he concluded a militarycollaboration agreement with Turkey in March 1992 under the pretence of assuring Bosnia of Turkishpurchases from Bosnian arms manufacturers who were no longer able to supply to the Yugoslav army,771the JNA. It is reasonable to assume that the Turkish-Bosnian arms traffic in reality went in theopposite direction.Hasan Cengic studied at the faculty of theology at Sarajevo university, and his studies meantthat he spent some time in Teheran. Izetbegovic was his great example and mentor. After completinghis studies, the friendship persisted. From 1977 the Yugoslav state security service kept an eye on him.In 1982, the Iranian consulate in Vienna organized an ‘educational trip’ to Teheran, in which Cengicparticipated. After his return from Iran he was convicted together with thirteen other Muslimintellectuals of ‘activities directed against the state’; Izetbegovic was one of the other accused. From1983 to 1986 he served his sentence in Zenica.Cengic moved to Zagreb in 1989, where he worked as an Islamic cleric. He was also activeoutside the religious community and organized countless symposia and lectures. At the same time, heintensified the contacts with Izetbegovic. On the foundation of the SDA, Cengic fulfilled a main role inthe area of organization, party rules and statutes. He also organized the party’s financial affairs. In 1990,he became secretary of the SDA. After the outbreak of the hostilities that marked the start of the war,Cengic was instructed to organize Muslim combat units. He succeeded in collecting Muslim officersfrom the Yugoslav army, he organized a General Staff and was involved in founding the ‘PatrioticLeague’, which was later integrated into the territorial defence from which the ABiH was formed.Cengic carried out his activities partly from Zagreb, where he collaborated with staff of theCroatian Ministry of Defence. From 1992, he worked for the Bosnian army, especially in the area ofarms procurement. He was responsible for contacts with Iran and Islamic fundamentalist organizations,which contributed to the Bosnian war effort with arms, money and people. Because he worked fromZagreb, transactions could therefore only take place with the assent of the Croatian authorities.Cengic was also closely involved in executing the agreement that Izetbegovic had concluded inOctober 1992 on a visit to Teheran, according to which Iran was to supply military goods via theCroatian pipeline. 772 In exchange for this, between twenty per cent and fifty per cent of the arms andequipment accrued to the Croats.Slovenia was also involved in the arms trade; for instance, in the event of transport problems,goods could be stored temporarily at Maribor airport. This led on 21 March 1993 to the ‘airport affair’,when large quantities of arms and ammunition were discovered. After the outbreak of the hostilitiesbetween Bosnian Muslims and Croats, Cengic left Zagreb and sought refuge in Turkey, where he held773the position of military attaché at the Bosnian embassy. He remained in Ankara until early 1996,when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence and acquired a large amount of influence over theABiH and the military intelligence services. Cengic’s appointment in January 1996 was intended to770 Charlotte Eagar, ‘Invisible US Army defeats Serbs’, The Observer, 05/11/95 and James Risen, ‘Report of Bosnian SpyNetwork stirs concerns in U.S.’, Los Angeles Times, 06/02/97.771 Moore, ‘Relations’, p. 9.772 John Pomfret, ‘US Allies Fed Pipeline Of Covert Arms in Bosnia’, The Washington Post, 12/05/096.773 ‘Murder of Bosnian general ordered by Izetbegovic’s son’, Agence France-Presse, 01/05/94.