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.