Page 2 of 2

To provide direct relief for the Bosnian Muslims, the Government of Saudi Arabia immediately launched a sustained aid effort, supplemented by private donations from the Saudi population. (In May 1992 the Supreme Committee for the Collection of Donations for the Muslims of Bosnia, headed by Prince Salman, the Governor of Riyadh, was set up in the Kingdom as the channel for private donations.) This aid effort demanded a major distribution system which the Kingdom provided by establishing fourteen offices in Bosnian cities and towns and supplying aid, through these offices, by air and sea.

While the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina was at its height and while the attention of the world’s media was focused on the plight of the Bosnian Muslims, many countries provided aid. Saudi Arabia’s aid continued long after the camera crews had left. At King Fahd’s direction, refugee camps were set up to cater for those made homeless by the Serbs; medical services were provided through Saudi-financed clinics; water supplies were restored; schools established; Mosques restored; houses built. The Kingdom financed the care of some 7,000 orphans. The list of aid activities is long. Simply to relieve the suffering of the Bosnian Muslims in the period of “ethnic cleansing” (i.e. excluding aid for reconstruction after the violence ended), Saudi Arabia provided approximately $450 million in aid. King Fahd himself gave more than $100 million.