Dear Socialist Outlook Alan Thornett is wrong to claim (SO November 13) that the call for the UN to open the northern route to Tuzla amounts to a call for western intervention.
Western intervention against Tuzla has taken the form of UN support for the Serbian blockade. In demanding that the UN open the northern route, we are demanding an end to what is effectively a Western blockade of Tuzla.
If this involves UNPROFOR killing some of their Chetnik allies, so much the better (though since it was the UN, and not the Chetniks, who prevented the Workers Aid convoy from reaching Tuzla, the issue of UNPROFOR using force is anyway secondary).
Of course we demand that the UN withdraw immediately from Bosnia, but as long as the UN is there, they should be forced to mitigate the abuses of their occupation. This is similar to calling for the British in Ireland to arrest soldiers guilty of violence against Catholics, while still calling for an immediate withdrawal. Finally, if the UN is forced to open the northern route under pressure from the European working-class, then it is the working class, and not the leadership of the West, which is intervening to lift the blockade of Tuzla.
Yours Attila Hoare Alan Thornett replies: Attila Hoare demands the withdrawal of UN troops from ex-Yugoslavia whilst calling for them to use more force whilst they are still there. There's a fair amount of confusion in that.
Just how many pro-Serb forces does he want the UN troops to kill?
I am in favour of the opening of all routes into Bosnia, including, most importantly, Tuzla airport. But it is not so simple. Tuzla airport remains closed by a political decision of the UN - they could open it tomorrow but keep it closed to try to force (i.e. starve) the Bosnians into a settlement.
This is not the case with the Northern land route through Zupanja and Orasje. This sector is one of the most active and disputed parts of the front line straddling the only neck of Serbian held territory which links Serbia with Serbian occupied central Bosnia and the Krajina. It is not controlled by the UN (as Tuzla airport is) but by Serbia. Consequently unless the Serbs agree to open the route, which is extremely unlikely, the only way to open it up is by force of arms, and given its strategic importance the Serbs would fiercely resist such a move.
For this reason we have to oppose the use of military force by the UN, which would inevitably pull them into the conflict as open parSUBSCRIBE to International Viewpoint and get Socialist Outlook free (you just pay the postage) price! (O SEND me a direct debit form for the f25 joint subscription offer. Address.... Postal Code. VIEWPOINT
THE NEXT issue of Socialist Outlook University of Kent at Canterbury In a shocking goverament teak as we went to press, it has been revealed that ministers 1995. o take Socialist ge tuition fees for college and uni if grants by a third. is tabe: d a wave of stu 1994 Haco EDS I have faller ts can't stop altacks.
éarto all readers 10 per cent in just The i ages calleges sion does ba Unless en almost s able to build a united t nomic de preserve of the children of the rich.
DON'T FORGET to pot Socialist Outlook on your Xmas list! Sand donations tos PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU nist the rece an entire pains are are ack to a