KL threatens to sell arms to Bosnian govt

KL threatens to sell arms to Bosnian govt

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia is willing to sell arms to Bosnian government forces to back the Organization of the Islamic Conference's (OIC) stand that the embargo was "invalid," Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said.

"We will sell (weapons)... At the same time, we will also supply more weapons to our peacekeepers because our troops are not well-equipped unlike the NATO soldiers," Mahathir was reported as saying by the local Sunday Times.

Mahathir slammed the arms embargo as violating the Bosnians' right to defend themselves and accused NATO and the UN of double standards.

"While NATO and the UN forbid the supply of arms to all parties, the Serbs are being supplied with weapons and oil to attack the Bosnians," he charged.

"They are allowing the slaughtering of Bosnians by the Serbs. I have never seen such injustice in this world," Mahathir said.

A just-concluded OIC meeting in Geneva declared as invalid the arms embargo -- seen by its critics as having prolonged the three-year-old Balkans conflict -- with the OIC announcing it was now free to send weapons to the Bosnian government.

The meeting was attended by top representatives from Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Egypt.

"The decisions will enable OIC countries to take firm actions to help Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has been a victim of the Serbs' atrocities," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who represented Malaysia at the OIC talks, in a statement released here.

The OIC meeting coincided with a London meeting among leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States which ended with a call for a "substantial and decisive response," including air strikes, to any Serb attack on the safe area of Gorazde.

But both Abdullah and Mahathir expressed scepticism of NATO's plans for air strikes, with Mahathir saying, "I will believe it when I see it. I consider them (NATO) liars."

Gorazde is expected to be next area to come under heavy Serb attack after the fall of two other designated "safe areas," Srebrenica and Zepa, to Serbian forces in the past week.

The United Nations has warned that if the arms embargo was lifted, UN peacekeepers would have to withdraw from Bosnia.

But Malaysia urged troops from OIC countries to remain in Bosnia even if European nations withdrew.

Malaysian Defense Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the 1,533 Malaysian troops serving as UN peacekeepers in Bosnia could serve under the OIC banner instead.

Other OIC countries with troops in Bosnia are Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan.

"The OIC's action to take over the role of the UN in Bosnia- Herzegovina is necessary to bring back peace to the war-torn country," Hamid said.