Pope speaks of 'just war'

BY CECILIA BROMLEYMARTIN
As BRITISH SOLDIERS were sent into Sarajevo to protect the UN and defend aid routes this week, Pope John Paul H said that as a "last resort" to defend innocent civilians, international military action could be justified.
Although for three years he has pleaded for an immediate end to the fighting, the Pope told journalists last week that: "There has always existed the principle of a just war, which is defensive. Even this type of war is ugly, but it (war) is that way.
"Hone attacks and wants to trample the right to life and the right to exist, then there is the right to defence."
The Holy Father stressed that the Vatican was not advising the international community on how to proceed in Bosnia, but outlining the moral principles that should guide specific political and military decisions.
But while over 1000 British combat troops advanced from the British base at Vitez to the city of Sarajevo, in a bid to secure a land route into the Bosnian capital, the numbers of Bosnian refugees continued to climb.
At a special meeting for Catholic aid agencies working in the former Yugoslavia, held in Split last week, aid workers emphasised the need for a long-term strategy to cope with the on-going needs of the thousands of men, women and children who will probably never be able to return to their homes.
The decision was made at
the meeting to produce a coordinated response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation with a £1.5 million relief programme.
CAFOD has been working in the former Yugoslavia for the last four years, and since the conflict began, has spent over one million pounds in aid to this region, ahnost all of this raised from donations. Most of the funds raised have been distributed in the form of food and essential medical supplies.
"We are already sending immediate supplies," said Richard Miller, CAFOD's Deputy Director, "but if we are to continue to help, we need a lot more money."
The agency has also set up an innovative reconstruction in the Bosnian town of Mostar, and funded computer training for key personnel in Sarajevo of the Catholic, Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish local aid agencies.
Another Church aid group helping the Bosnians, Portsmouth Diocesan Refugee Aid, has raised L500,000 in aid since the onset of the civil war in 1992. The group, whose patron is Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth, has arranged 12 convoys to date, some using juggernauts.
According to Ron Waller, co-ordinator of Portsmouth Diocesan Refugee Aid, the group has partly funded an agricultural project for Muslims in northern Croatia, homes for orphans and war-traumatised children, and rape centres for women who have been victims of the systematic rape of refugees.