BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA – Part 1

WAHHABI BASE IN EUROPE

The BOSNIAKS, CROATS and SERBS in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BIH) are becoming scared: Laden with billions of petro dollars and EUROS, sheiks of the ARABIAN PENINSULA are currently buying half of BIH, build mosques as well as gigantic settlements. Thus dragging along thousands WAHHABIS who settle in BIH.

Background Information: WAHHABISM IN BOSNIA

WAHHABISM AT THE DOORSTEPSOF EUROPE - 6 PART DOSSIER (2012)

BONSIAKS (BOSNIAN MUSLIMS), who are known to be very moderate (Walking in SARAJEVO one would hardly believe to be in a predominant MUSLIM country, for women are dressed western style and thus less veiled women walk the streets of SARAJEVO than one might see in BERLIN or VIENNA), are strongly opposed to this purist SALAFI traditionalist form of SUNNI ISLAM.

INCREASING INFLUX OF SUNNI ARABIN STATES THROUGH REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT

Since last summer however, BIH has experienced an influx of dark clad ARABS and their Burka und Niqab covered wife’s walking the streets of the tourist resort ILIDŽA with its outdoor pools and spa hotel on the outskirts of SARAJEVO. Billboards of shops and restaurants increasingly display ARABIC inscriptions - for most tourists are SAUDIS, QATARIS and KUWAITIS, countries which are known of promoting WAHHABISM. Tuesday and Thursday are the days when ARAB airlines’ arrive in SARAJEVO with a vast amount of tourists. But many come to stay. They delegate property hunters to knock on the doors of the locals, asking them who the owner of the meadow behind the house is and if it is for sale.

KUWAIT ALONE REGISTERED 232 COMPANIES IN BIH

Arab tourist do not require a visa to enter the country. Purchase of land and property however is restricted to registered companies only. No problem, KUWAIT alone registered 232 new companies in BIH. One of them is a KUWAITI investor who wants to construct a futuristic district for 40,000 inhabitants called "NOVA ILIDŽA" at the foothills of mount IGMAN, the projects worth being estimated two billion Euros.

On offer: luxurious apartments, shopping malls, hotels, parks, promenades, and more. The KUWAITI ambassador already has his private residence in ILIDŽA.

Photo: AP / Amel Ahmed EmricIsmail

In TRNOVO, which is located 30 kilometers south east of ILIDŽA and at the verge of the border to the REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, investors from the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES intend to by a group of small BOSNIAN mountain villages in order to build a resort to accommodate another  40,000 people. The project is budgeted for EUR 2.2 billion providing jobs for about 10,000 BOSNIANS. On the other hand 150 SERBS are facing expropriation.

CENTAR SARAJEVO – “SYMBOL OF WAHHABISM” IN BIH

That all of these projects are not just “fantasies and bubbles”, is manifested in the "CENTAR SARAJEVO", with 49,000 square meters of real estate space, housing 80 stores, thus being the largest mall in the city. It was constructed by the SAUDI investor group AL-SHIDDI. ISMAIL AHMED the main investor, attended the opening ceremony briefly arriving whit his private jet. The monolith with its ARABIC script in front of the building complex, is considered by many as the power symbol of WAHHABISM in BIH.

Photo: Kurier / Al-Shiddi Tower

Thus the “investment appetite” of the AL-SHIDDI Group is far from stilled. 180,000 square meters of prime land on the slopes of SARAJEVO have been purchased by ARABS. POLJINE HILLS is a project’s name, a reminder of BEVERLY HILLS, which will include 214 luxury villas in elitist locations. The construction of the first luxury villa has been completed. Ambassadors, ministers and investors from SAUDI ARABIA travelled to SARAJEVO in order to attend the inauguration of the project.

Located only two kilometers from SARAJEVO is the village HADŽIĆI. Before the war, many SERBS lived there. Now KUWAITIS intend to convert the village into a tourist area.

SUNNI ARAB - BUYING SPREAD IN BIH

The buying spread of ARAB billionaires goes far beyond SARAJEVO. The company ARDH AL-JAZEERA from KUWAIT is building 50 luxury villas in the villages of SOKOLOVIC KOLONIJA and DOBROSEVICI. Also in LUŽANI, LOKVE, CREPLJANI and OSENIK, ARAB tourist resorts are in the planning.

The people of BIH view the ARAB investment boom with mixed feelings. On the one hand it is good, when money enters the country through investments’, because the EU hardly has made any serious efforts to invest in BIH, which 20 years after DAYTON PEACE ACCORD still is not functioning well as a sovereign state. Nevertheless the motives of the sudden ARABS investment boom in BIH are far from unclear.

Background Information: EU AND BOSNIA

BALKAN PEOPLE FEEL THAT THE EU NO LONGER EMANATES CONFIDENCE (2013)

INDIFFERENCE OF THE EU ANDTHE WEST ON BOSNIA’S POLITICAL STALEMATE COULD BACKFIRE (2011)

EU’S POLICY IN BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA (2013)

BOSNIA - EUROPEAN UNION’SSTEPCHILD (2011)

ARAB INVESTMENT AND IMMIGRATION BOOM CAUSES UNCERTAINTY AMONG BOSNIAN’S 

The one-sided interest of the ARAB SUNNI infiltration causes uncertainty among BOSNIANS. The ARABS show no interest in investing in BOSNIA’S agriculture and food industry which would provide sustainability to local economy. Neither are those investors interested in BIH’S automotive industry and energy sector which has huge potential, if developed correctly.   Their main focus clearly is tourism, as well as constructing mosques and schools quasi on the assembly line. Thus it is not difficult to imagine the true nature behind the current investment boom.  

Nevertheless the BOSNIANS are perplexed in regards to the investment and immigration wave currently hitting their fragile country. Not forgotten are those WAHHABI and AL-QAEDA-affiliated SAUDIS who delivered weapons during the 1992-1995 war. Their missionary zeal was soon perceived as a threat. It was very difficult to deport them.

SAUDI OBJECTIVE – A FOOTHOLD IN EUROPE FOR THE POST-OIL ERA OR WAHHABI BASE AT THE DOORSTEP OF EUROPE?

Thus it comes of no surprise that the country is now full of rumors. What is the real objective of the ARABS? Do they want to secure a foothold in EUROPE for the post-oil era? Do they want to set up a base for the "ISLAMIC recruitment" of EUROPE? Or do they really just want to spend holidays in BIH? 

Adapted and translated from German to English by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring, from the original article written by Wilhelm Theuretsbacher which appeared in the Austrian daily “Kurier”.