MANRICO MORO provides an update on the peace project promoted by Beati i Costruttori di Pace (Blessed Are the Peace Makers), a pacifist non-government organisation based in Italy.
It's now just over a year since I travelled to Sarajevo with 500 peace activists from Italy. Now I can look at TV reports from Bosnia without experiencing stomach cramps. I can hear a car backfire without jumping. I can even think that Sarajevo is, after all, just one place in the world where the hell of genocide is being revisited, and maybe it's not even the worst place in the world.
But I can't forget.
I can't forget Sarajevo, the people I met, the burned buildings and the sound of the guns, the mortars and the grenades.
So I rang the office of the Italian peace group I had travelled with, to get an update and share some information about the war in Bosnia with people here.
Beati i Costruttori di Pace is an Italian liberation theology organisation. Apart from leading 500 peace activists across Bosnia into Sarajevo in December 1992, it has been involved in many protests against war and oppression, including activity centred on South Africa in 1987 and action against the Gulf War in 1991.
The aim of the march into Sarajevo in 1992 had been to intervene non-violently to stop the war. The demonstration did provide some support and comfort to the besieged population of Sarajevo, but it most certainly did not stop the conflict. The war is now entering its second winter, and there is fighting throughout Bosnia-Hercegovina and in some parts of Croatia.
The escalating conflict is having a destabilising effect in Europe. It is also forcing peace groups and progressive organisations to take a stand and organise against the war, and in some cases participate directly by organising relief convoys, work in the refugee camps and solidarity work with the populations of the besieged cities.
BCP is not the only European group involved practically against the war in Bosnia. Others have included French medical teams and a British project that delivered a truck convoy from "Workers aid for Bosnia".
All these initiatives are independent from the efforts of UN forces, which bring relief supplies and use their armoured vehicles to keep some roads more or less open.
The BCP achievement of reaching Sarajevo in '92 spurred the organisation on to try to do more. In January '93 a new goal was set to try to establish a permanent peace camp in Sarajevo: to refocus world attention on the suffering inhabitants, to try to introduce an element of people's diplomacy into the conflict, and to give some immediate practical help to the population.
This project was initiated in August. More than 2300 peace activists travelled from Ancona in Italy across the Adriatic Sea to Split in Croatia. Most were Italian, but large contingents came from Spain, the USA and other countries. This brave effort encountered much greater difficulties than in the previous peace march to Sarajevo.
The alliance between Bosnia and Croatia had collapsed, and many little towns that had been safe areas on our way to Sarajevo were now destroyed, ethnically cleansed or in battle zones. In the new, harsher war situation, the large peace group was forced to make decisions on what to do while cannons roared around them, and while armed groups came into their camp to take their cars and supplies at gunpoint. Many of the vehicles also proved to be unable to travel or were not there as planned.
In this situation the demonstration, after much argument, split up. Many turned back, some found their way to Mostar into even heavier fighting, and a little group of 58 actually managed to get to Sarajevo.
That was the beginning of the BCP permanent peace camp in Sarajevo. Against all the odds the peace camp is still in place, and when I rang Italy, they were planning to hold Christmas peace vigils, with the support of solidarity demonstrations in Italy.
There are between five and ten peace activists who stay at the camp at any one time. They act as observers of the conflict and the human rights situation, give practical assistance and attempt to remind organisations in other countries to make their voices heard about Sarajevo. Most of the peace camp participants are Italian, but some from other countries participate regularly.
One of the peace camp participants, Gabriele Moreno Locatelli, was killed by snipers in October.
Participants in the BCP camp go into and out of Sarajevo by following the UN convoys or catching a ride on the UN relief supply flights. These crossings are negotiated at each time and depend on the war situation.
Other BCP activists are at work in two refugee camps in Croatia.
It's now very cold in Sarajevo. The latest message from the camp was that "... The residents of Sarajevo have lost an average of 20 to 30 kg each, and are very afraid of facing the winter in this condition. Please shout about this."
People who wish to contact or support the Sarajevo BCP peace camp may contact the Italian office directly: Beati i Costruttori di Pace - Via Marsilio da Padova 2; 35139 Padova, Italy. Telephone: 0011 39 49 8755897 or 0011 39 49 663882. Fax: 0015 39 49 663882. Bank account: 14746 U, Agenzia 1, Banca Antoniana, Padova, Italy.
Mir sada. (Peace now).