U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 - Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remained a strong and active partner in the global war on terrorism. The country's ethnic divisions, its complex and multi-level government structure, and its still weak central institutions complicate its efforts against terrorism, but Bosnia made great strides in institutionalizing its counterterrorism capabilities. State-level Ministries of Defense and Security were established in 2004, and the two entity-level (Federation and Republika Srpska) intelligence services were merged into a single state-level service. US Government assistance helped establish the State Investigative and Protection Agency (SIPA), an FBI-like agency responsible for investigating complex crimes including terrorism, illegal trafficking, organized crime, and smuggling of weapons of mass destruction. SIPA will have a financial intelligence unit (FIU), and a sub-unit of its Criminal Investigation Department will be dedicated to counterterrorism and WMD. However, these units of SIPA are not yet fully staffed or fully operational, and state institutions in general are largely under-funded, under-resourced, and lack sufficiently trained personnel.

In June, Bosnia adopted a package of laws that, when fully implemented, will dramatically strengthen state-level law enforcement capabilities. The set of laws includes legislation giving SIPA law enforcement and investigative authority for state-level crimes, including terrorism, and a law on prevention of money laundering. The law, which came into force on December 28, determines the measures and responsibilities for detecting, preventing, and investigating money laundering and terrorist financing, and prescribes measures and responsibilities for international cooperation. Bosnia lacks established procedures for dealing with such issues as denaturalization, extradition, and preventive detention.

The BiH Government took decisive action in apprehending suspects and shutting down NGOs and bank accounts tied to terrorist-linked organizations. In the past year and a half, Bosnian Federation authorities shut down NGOs with terrorist links and froze accounts of terrorist supporters. In 2004, the Government disrupted the operations of al-Furqan (a.k.a. Sirat Istikamet), al-Haramain and al-Masjed al-Aqsa Charity Foundation, and Taibah International, organizations listed by the UN 1267 Committee as having direct links with al-Qa'ida. Of continuing concern are the foreign Islamic extremists who remain in Bosnia as a legacy of the 1992-95 war.