VZCZCXYZ0011
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBW #0392/01 0810847
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 220847Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0500

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000392 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/FO A/S FRIED AND DAS DICARLO FROM AMBASSADOR 
POLT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO KISL PGOV PHUM PREL SR
SUBJECT: MAKING THE MOST OF USG ASSISTANCE TO MUSLIM 
COMMUNITIES 
 
 
¶1. Dan:  During your recent visit you rightly pointed out 
that the USG could do a lot to get value, on a global 
level, from our outreach and assistance to the Muslim 
communities in this part of the world.  I took note of the 
enthusiasm with which you greeted news of our planned 
project to rebuild the historic mosque in Nis which was 
severely damaged in communal violence in 2004.  We will be 
sure to report this widely.  In the meantime, I wanted to 
highlight some of our recent successes we have already 
achieved with our assistance to the Muslim community here, 
part of our larger policy objective of a Serbia that is a 
stable, multiethnic, multi-religious state.  I hope to be 
able to integrate our programs into a broader Muslim 
outreach strategy for Europe. 
 
USG ASSISTANCE TO ISLAMIC COMMUNITY 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  We have just completed a partial $100,000 
reconstruction of the Islamic Community Center (ICC), 
attached to the Bajrakli mosque (Belgrade's only mosque.) 
The Bajrakli mosque, which was damaged in 2004, has served 
the Islamic community of Belgrade for hundreds of years - 
it claims to be the oldest building in Belgrade, rivaling 
Kalemegdan, and the community center has long served as a 
gathering place. The renovated center will serve as a place 
where community members, especially young people and women, 
can come to improve their computer literacy, internet and 
foreign language knowledge, and get the skills that will 
help them with future job prospects. 
 
¶3.  I also awarded $50,000 from my Fund for Cultural 
Preservation last year for the rebuilding of a historic 
Muslim building in Novi Pazar in the Muslim-majority 
Sandzak region.  The building houses a mehteb, or Islamic 
elementary school - the oldest one in the Balkans.  The 
project is ongoing, and expected to be completed this 
summer. 
 
¶4.  On the economic side, beginning in 2006, we began work 
with Mufti Hamdija Jusufspahic and his son Imam Mustafa 
Jusufspahic, who identified the village of Banatski 
Brestovac, on the outskirts of Belgrade, to successfully 
implement two agricultural projects: construction of 
greenhouses, and support for a beef/dairy farm. 
USAID procured the greenhouses, an irrigation system and 
gave over $12,000 in matching funds for seed, fertilizer 
and labor.  The project centers on assisting Muslim 
vegetable farmers to boost production, farm sales, and 
income by forming a modern marketing association, adopting 
modern technology, using business planning, and doubling 
the length of the growing season with greenhouse donations. 
 
¶5.  We also gave $75,000 (30 cattle and technical 
assistance) along with over $13,000 in matching funds to 
bolster Halal beef and dairy production in the village. 
This project expands production, establishing a medium- 
sized (60 head) facility for Simmental cattle designed for 
"dual purpose" dairy and beef production.  The Muslim 
Association of Serbia has subsequently rented a larger 
dairy beef production facility in the nearby village of 
Policica. 
 
OTHER OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Embassy has made it a priority to target our 
outreach and PD programs to the Muslim communities in 
Serbia both in the Sandzak and in the Albanian Muslim- 
majority Presevo Valley.  Our American Corner in Vranje and 
American Window in Bujanovac provide footholds for our 
exchange programs and other PD strategies for engaging 
these communities.  U.S. Speaker programs and Democracy 
Commission grants have both been focused on the Islamic 
communities, which have helped both our PD efforts and 
raised local political awareness.  In general, we make an 
effort to include students and children from the Sandzak 
and Presevo Valley in our exchange programs wherever 
possible.  An American Corner is planned for Novi Pazar to 
increase our outreach capabilities. 
 
¶7.  Especially noteworthy are also our annual Iftar 
dinners, which include Muslim leaders from the Presevo 
Valley and both of Serbia's Islamic factions (from the 
Sandzak and Belgrade), as well as Ambassadors to Serbia 
from Islamic countries.  We have hosted additional Iftars 
in Novi Pazar itself to include a broader range of Muslim 
spiritual and civic leaders in the Sandzak.  This outreach 
has become extraordinarily popular locally, has resulted in 
 
numerous invitations for us to attend other Embassy 
Iftars,and has drawn most of Serbia's Muslim leaders closer 
to us -- they participated in our 9/11 anniversary 
commemoration, where they offered a prayer for our victims 
that they later made available to the public. 
 
¶8.  Also, USG International Visitor Programs have included 
Serbian Muslim spiritual leaders and we hope to expand this 
to include both the Belgrade (Mufti and Imam Jufuspahic) 
and Novi Pazar Islamic leadership. 
 
 
IMPACT 
------ 
 
¶9.  Through frequent visits by POL, PD, AID and the Front 
Office, the Embassy remains engaged in the local and 
national aspects of politics both in the Sandzak and 
Presevo Valley.  Our efforts in Novi Pazar have resulted in 
an open and productive relationship with both the political 
and spiritual leaders.  This pays dividends when we need to 
react quickly to incidents such as the murder of a poll 
worker in Novi Pazar or the seizure of a Wahabbist arms 
cache near Sijenica recently.  We work with Albanian 
political leaders to encourage them to sustain their 
participation in the Serbian political process at both the 
local and the national level.  Our Get Out the Vote effort 
in advance of the January 2007 national elections 
illustrated the success of our engagement -- not only was 
there record turnout in the Muslim communities, but the 
Presevo Valley Albanians participated for the first time in 
a decade and successfully elected one member of parliament 
to represent them in Belgrade. 
 
¶10.  I am extremely proud of the engagement program our 
team here has conceived and implemented in a relatively 
short time, and I think it is having a real impact on our 
relations with and support for moderate Muslims in this 
corner of Europe.  I wanted to bring these ongoing and 
planned programs to your attention in the hope that EUR 
will find some use of our actions in our broader Muslim 
outreach strategy.  We stand ready to pitch in wherever we 
can to do the most good. 
 
POLT