Post by tito on May 5, 2009 10:56:13 GMT -5
04/05/2009
The global economic crisis has slammed southwestern Serbia and Sandzak. The part of the Sandzak region that is still in Serbia, comprised of six municipalities, languishes with an unemployment rate of over 20%. Local politicians, fearful of the potential for Bosniak turmoil, are urgently requesting financial aid from Belgrade.
The region's municipalities boast a population of more then 200,000 Bosniaks -- the highest number of Bosniaks outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sandzak's largest municipality, Novi Pazar, experienced strong economic growth in the 1990s with a booming jeans industry. However, imports of cheap goods from China and Turkey drove those local textile companies out of business.
Not helping at all is the discord between the two leading Bosniak parties, the Sandzak Democratic Party (SDP) and the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), whose activists clashed during the September 2006 local elections. To counter any sense of marginalisation, both major Bosniak parties are part of the Serbian government. The labour and social policy minister position belongs to SDP's Rasim Ljajic, while SDAS's Sulejman Ugljanin is minister without portfolio.
When it comes to the economy, the rival parties speak with one voice. They warn that Sandzak needs Belgrade's financial aid, which is difficult to obtain with the whole country engulfed in the global economic crisis and instituting austerity measures. Within the Sandzak's dominant Islamic religious community, however, strains are apparent. The stronger faction favours the traditional administration of the Bosnian Rijaset, while others calls for "self-governance" by Muslims in Belgrade.
SDP official told the Southeast European Times that a prolonged crisis could radicalise the public in various ways, including religious and national. "Sandzak is already burdened by political conflicts and discord within the Islamic community, and the people are dissatisfied because of unemployment. In such conditions, the dissatisfied can be manipulated." He said the Serbian government should help Sandzak citizens at least maintain their current standard of living and keep informing them of what it is doing to revitalise the economy and restore faith in the central administration or else it will create a new Kosovo.
"People have to trust the Serbian government in order to get out of this situation peacefully," he said.
SDA official Esad Dzudzevic said "certain forms of radicalism" are already evident as a result of the global crisis, which is why spending by Belgrade on Sandzak's economy and infrastructure is necessary in order to avoid new calls for independence.
One ominous marker of the fragility of Sandzak was the arrest of five members of the radical Wahhabi movement in March 2007. They allegedly plotted the assassination of several Sandzak politicians as part of a conspiracy to undermine Serbia's constitutional system.
The global economic crisis has slammed southwestern Serbia and Sandzak. The part of the Sandzak region that is still in Serbia, comprised of six municipalities, languishes with an unemployment rate of over 20%. Local politicians, fearful of the potential for Bosniak turmoil, are urgently requesting financial aid from Belgrade.
The region's municipalities boast a population of more then 200,000 Bosniaks -- the highest number of Bosniaks outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sandzak's largest municipality, Novi Pazar, experienced strong economic growth in the 1990s with a booming jeans industry. However, imports of cheap goods from China and Turkey drove those local textile companies out of business.
Not helping at all is the discord between the two leading Bosniak parties, the Sandzak Democratic Party (SDP) and the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), whose activists clashed during the September 2006 local elections. To counter any sense of marginalisation, both major Bosniak parties are part of the Serbian government. The labour and social policy minister position belongs to SDP's Rasim Ljajic, while SDAS's Sulejman Ugljanin is minister without portfolio.
When it comes to the economy, the rival parties speak with one voice. They warn that Sandzak needs Belgrade's financial aid, which is difficult to obtain with the whole country engulfed in the global economic crisis and instituting austerity measures. Within the Sandzak's dominant Islamic religious community, however, strains are apparent. The stronger faction favours the traditional administration of the Bosnian Rijaset, while others calls for "self-governance" by Muslims in Belgrade.
SDP official told the Southeast European Times that a prolonged crisis could radicalise the public in various ways, including religious and national. "Sandzak is already burdened by political conflicts and discord within the Islamic community, and the people are dissatisfied because of unemployment. In such conditions, the dissatisfied can be manipulated." He said the Serbian government should help Sandzak citizens at least maintain their current standard of living and keep informing them of what it is doing to revitalise the economy and restore faith in the central administration or else it will create a new Kosovo.
"People have to trust the Serbian government in order to get out of this situation peacefully," he said.
SDA official Esad Dzudzevic said "certain forms of radicalism" are already evident as a result of the global crisis, which is why spending by Belgrade on Sandzak's economy and infrastructure is necessary in order to avoid new calls for independence.
One ominous marker of the fragility of Sandzak was the arrest of five members of the radical Wahhabi movement in March 2007. They allegedly plotted the assassination of several Sandzak politicians as part of a conspiracy to undermine Serbia's constitutional system.