US bishops call for peace in Bosnia

by Mark Bowles
AMERICA'S BISHOPS have urged a more effective solution to the "humanitarian nightmare" which continues unabated in the Balkans.
Following a meeting in Washington last month, the Administrative Board of the US Catholic Church, comprising 50 bishops, issued a statement entitled War in the Balkans: Moral Challenges, Policy Choices.
Noting that "the world cannot stand aside as innocent people are destroyed", the statement called on religious believers and the international community to increase their efforts to bring the war to an end.
While declaring that none of the three combatants in this fratricidal conflict were blameless, the bishops agreed with most UN observers that the Serb military are most responsible.
The Conference approved "strictly limiteduse of force, while claiming there is "no real military solution in former Yugoslavia". The bishops supported the full implementation
of a ceasefire, the creation of safe havens in Bosnia, measures to ensure the safe delivery of aid to the civilian population in besieged cities, enforcement of internationally agreed sanctions, and the establishment of a secure no-fly zone.
The bishops condemned in their statement the "systematic rape, sieges. torture, and the wholesale destruction of churches and mosques".
They also welcomed the creation of "an international war crimes tribunal. and hope that it will be used effectively to uphold international norms".
Reconciliation, the bishops declared, was "the only firm foundation for allowing the people of the former Yugoslavia to Live together in peace".
Meanwhile, the US envoy to the former Yugoslavia, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, accused Western Churches this week of failing to offer adequate help to war victims.
Mr Mazowiecki, a former Polish Premier, said charitable aid donated by Western Churches was being ear-marked for their own Church members.