Karadzic demands info on Malta arms running to Bosnian Muslims
Indicted Bosnian-Serb leader says 4,000 mortar shells were shipped from Malta
Karl Stagno-Navarra The incriminated former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is formally challenging the Maltese government to come clean on its role in allegedly supplying weapons to the Bosnian Muslim army, which his troops confronted in the bloody Bosnian war between 1991 and 1995.
Karadzic, currently in detention in The Hague, is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
He has written to the Maltese government asking to be supplied with “all information concerning shipments or sales of arms, ammunition, or military equipment to the Bosnian Muslims during the period April 1992 and August 1995 by the Malta government or individual UNPROFOR members from Malta.”
A six-page letter signed by Karadzic himself was hand-delivered to the Maltese ambassador in The Hague Ivan Fsadni, and in it he insisted to be supplied with “all reports, memoranda, or correspondence concerning the use of UNPROFOR, UN military observers, UNHCR, or non-governmental organization personnel in Bosnia during April 1992 until August 1995 to provide arms, ammunition, or military equipment to the Bosnian Muslims.”
In a background note to his request, Karadzic quotes from a 1996 report compiled by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, ‘Srebrenica – a safe area’ in which a confidential source is reported saying: “Despite the arms embargo that had been declared by the UN, according to a Dutch government report UNPROFOR was involved in supplying the ABiH (Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina) with weapons, it was alleged that the battalion from Malta ordered 4,000 mortar shells while they only had four mortars.”
Uncooperative Replying to MaltaToday from his holiday in Sicily, deputy Prime Minister and foreign affairs minister Tonio Borg said that a reply was forwarded to Karadzic informing him that the Maltese government has “no such information.”
Karadzic, however, has since complained to the Tribunal that the Maltese government has not been forthcoming with his requests and is now asking the same Tribunal to issue a binding order on the government.
In his formal complaint, Karadzic reminded the Tribunal that since Malta is a signatory of the ICTY, it is obliged to “cooperate and comply without undue delay with any request for assistance or an order issued by a Trial Chamber, including, but not limited to the identification and location of persons; the taking of testimony and the production of evidence; the service of documents; the arrest or detention of persons; the surrender or the transfer of the accused to the International Tribunal.”
The International Tribunal is expected to take a decision for the issue of a binding order against the Maltese government on August 19.
Del Negro link? During the violent conflict in Bosnia, Malta was considered to be a ‘logistical hub’ for arms running to the Balkan region.
Italian secret services had intercepted a series of phone calls made from Malta by Italian national Ciro del Negro, identifying him as having allegedly negotiated with warring factions for the supply of hundreds of mortar shells, ammunition rounds and MIG aircraft.
Del Negro, who was married to a Maltese, was eventually expelled from Malta in March 1995.
Details about his alleged involvement in international arms deals are known to be contained in a ‘classified’ file in the hands of the Maltese police.
In 1997, a formal media request to see the file was turned down by the Office of the Prime Minister (then Alfred Sant) given that the advice forwarded by the Attorney General stated that “it contains classified information obtained by foreign security services.”
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