Catholic leaders warn of hunger in
Serbia
By JONATHAN LUXMOORE
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Warsaw,
Poland
The head of Yugoslavias largest Catholic aid organization
has warned of widespread hunger in the country this winter and condemned the
civilian hardships inflicted by NATOs stupid and senseless
mid-1999 bombing campaign.
The outside world is only looking at Kosovo, although there
are desperate people here, too -- including hundreds of thousands of refugees
without homes or jobs, said Fr. Antun Pecar, director of
Yugoslavias Caritas agency.
One is bound to ask the sense of NATOs action, which
killed people in their homes or destroyed their livelihoods. What improvements
did this stupid campaign achieve?
The Croatian-born priest was speaking amid reports of growing
poverty in bomb-damaged areas of Yugoslavia, accompanied by shortages of food,
clothing, medicines and energy.
He said most citizens now lacked money to buy basic necessities,
including milk, sugar and oil, while many had been left jobless by the forced
closure of industrial plants.
By bombing roads, bridges and power stations, NATO merely
closed down the installations from which people made their living, Pecar
told NCR.
Although Yugoslavia was never on a par with Germany, France
or Italy, it had strong industries once. Now this has all gone, leaving future
generations deprived of possibilities to live and develop.
The Catholic church has five dioceses in Serbia and Montenegro,
the states making up what remains of Yugoslavia, although up to 75 percent of
church members fled during the countrys 1990-91 break-up.
Although most large towns suffered severe damage during
NATOs March-June bombing raids, Western leaders have said that
reconstruction aid will be withheld until the regime of President Slobodan
Milosevic is replaced.
The Catholic bishop of Subotica, János Pénzes,
denied as exaggerated early November claims by Germanys
charity Catholic Aid to the Church in Need that parts of Yugoslavia were now
threatened by famine, and said that hospitals were still accepting
patients and performing operations.
However, the general prognosis is grave everywhere,
Pénzes told NCR.
Thanks to Caritas and other agencies, emergency supplies are
still getting through from abroad, along with people to distribute them. But
NATO bombing and sanctions have had dire consequences at a time when the
economy was already weakened.
Asked about the position of local Catholics, most of whom are
ethnic Croats and Hungarians, the bishop said he was not aware of any new
anti-minority pressure or anti-Catholic mood.
Ecumenical ties with the predominant Orthodox church and
other denominations are functioning well, Pénzes said. No
one has problems here because they are Catholics and the religious climate is
good.
Pecar said Caritas had been receiving aid in cooperation with
other humanitarian agencies, but was obliged to distribute it according to
government procedures and propositions.
He said that food supplies would go nowhere near to solving
current problems, adding that energy shipments were needed to restart
idle factories.
Although I cannot give political advice, every suggestion of
help to suffering people here is welcome, the priest continued, speaking
from his parish house in the southeastern city of Nis.
What NATO has perpetrated is a terrible reflection on the
human character. The international community should stop playing politics with
the fate of poor ordinary people who have done nothing and have nothing.
A total of 14 lorries were still awaiting government permits to
enter Yugoslavia from Macedonia at the end of November with 350 tons of heating
oil for opposition-controlled Nis.
The mayor of the 350,000-inhabitant city, Zoran Zivkovic,
denounced the blocking of the consignment, sent under the European Unions
Energy for Democracy program, and warned of riots if
Belgrades incomparable manipulation continued.
In an October statement with Germanys Evangelical church,
the Serbian Orthodox church cautioned that Yugoslavias very
difficult situation was poised to worsen dramatically, adding
that continued aid was essential to prevent disastrous events.
In a Nov. 19 statement, the churchs governing Holy Synod
said Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant representatives planned after a meeting
in Norway to urge the United Nations to lift sanctions.
The Orthodox statement added that interethnic conflicts and NATO
bombing had caused a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe, and
said that European churches would be asked to fund the building of bridges over
the Danube River as a symbol of the necessity for spiritual bridges
connecting Europes peoples.
The Vaticans Belgrade nuncio, Archbishop Santos Abril
Castello, told NCR his office was experiencing power cuts, adding that
various foodstuffs were now in short supply in the capital.
However, he added that he had not been kept directly informed of
humanitarian needs or notified of the countrys worst affected areas.
The Holy See has done a lot at various moments,
Castello said.
However, the question of resuming Western aid is a political
issue that we cannot comment on.
Yugoslavias newly formed Catholic Bishops Conference
called in late November for Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant bishops to draw
up a joint appeal to the countrys Christians at an ecumenical meeting in
May 2000.
National Catholic Reporter, December 10,
1999
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