INTERNATIONAL Workers Aid held its first international meeting in Copenhagen on December 11.
Attended by delegations from Britain, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, the meeting also received messages of support from campaigns and supporters in Holland, France, Italy and the Czech republic.
Delegates heard a report from the successful IWA convoy which reached Tuzla in November and reports on campaigning in the individual countries.
Jenny Mees from Belgium, who was with the convoy through to Tuzla, reported on the meetings she had had with women's organisations. Women make up the majority of refugees and have faced rape as a method of ethnic cleansing. IWA resolved to campaign on the effects of the war on women.
There were detailed discussions on the logistics of further convoys over the next few months.
The campaign will establish an office in Croatia to organise aid convoys and to monitor possible aid routes. Initially this will be in Split because the Southern route from Split will probably offer the best opportunity for non-military convoys towards the end of the winter.
Other routes will be used if there are changes in the political\military situation or if an opening to get through comes earlier.
Special vehicles The meeting discussed detailed costing of getting aid through to central Bosnia. Specialised vehicles which can cope with the terrain and weather conditions are being purchased for the journey across the mountains. This means raising a lot of money.
Resources are being raised in a number of countries for convoys to leave for Split in March. Even after the vehicles are purchased, transporting each tonne of aid from Split to Tuzia will cost The campaign is appealing for £25,000 to meet these logistical requirements.
Other aspects of the campaign for working class solidarity with the Bosnian people were also discussed.
Central to this is the role of the UN - which, as has become increasingly clear, is a part of Western efforts to force the Bosnians into an unjust carve-up of their country. Their continuing refusal to open Tuzla airport to humanitarian aid shipments being the clearest example.
The airport is the fastest and most effective route for aid into central Bosnia in the present conditions and there is a growing awareness that it remains closed by a political decision and from a practical point of view could be opened at any time.
With this in mind the meeting called a second European wide day of action on the opening of Tuzla airport for Saturday January 29 (in Britain this will be on Friday 28).
Also planned is a conference of trade unions, women's and anti-war organisations from ex-Yugoslavia and other parts of Europe in the spring or early summer to be preceded, if possible, by a European speaking tour of trade unionists from exYugosiavia.
Watch Socialist Outlook for further details. to demand its opening. What are your views on this? SB: I am very pleased. Everyone here has been waiting for more than a year for the opening of our airport.
I hope that you can put political pressure on your MPs and We cannot tell you enough how important these three lorries are for us.
For everything you have done I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish you a good journey home and hope it will be easier than getting here. Goodbye until better times.