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NEW HAVEN - The International Association of Peace Messenger Cities (IAPMC) met last month in Serbia and approved a resolution unanimously demanding "unconditional funding of total restoration by the NATO countries" of the war ravaged nation and the immediate lifting of U.S. sanctions against Serbia, Iraq, Cuba and Libya.
Alfred Marder, vice president of the IAPMC, who represents New Haven in the IAPMC, attended the three day conference held in Krusevac Aug. 26-29 which drew delegates from 24 cities.
He told the World they flew to Budapest and then traveled by bus for 12 grueling hours to Krusevac one of two "Peace Messenger" cities in Yugoslavia. "Bridges are down and many major highways are closed so we had to take country roads the whole way," Marder said.
Krusevac, a town of 130,000, suffered extensive devastation from the 78-day U.S.-led NATO air war. "We visited the city's central heating plant that supplies` heat to all the houses, hospitals and schools in Krusevac. It was completely destroyed. The people are desperately trying to rebuild it but because of the sanctions, the parts they need to rebuild it are not available. School has started and winter will come. There is a similar situation all across the country."
Serbia's minister for women and children addressed the conference and reported on the plight of 3.5 million children. "Many have been traumatized and they fear an increased mortality due to the lack of medicine, similar to Iraq in which children have suffered because of the U.S. sanctions."
They also visited the October Fourteenth Plant, the largest manufacturer of heavy construction equipment in Europe. "They made cranes, earthmovers and other heavy equipment. It was destroyed and as a result, 5,000 workers have lost their jobs. When we visited, workers were picking through the rubble trying to salvage what they could. Because of the sanctions, its impossible to get what they need to rebuild. Everyone we spoke to expressed anger and indignation against the war, against NATO and the U.S."
This was the 12th General Assembly of the IAPMC and Marder has attended all of them, Attendance at this one was reduced by political pressures and the difficulty of getting to Serbia In previous conferences, Marder said, many held deep illusions about the "west" as a beacon of democracy.
"Those illusions were shattered by this war. Many spoke openly of why Yugoslavia was targeted. They didn't use the word 'imperialism.' But I did and they agreed with me."
The mayor of Geneva, Switzerland, he said, accused the U.S. of waging the war to clear the way for a U.S. controlled oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea across that part of Europe.
The resolution on the reconstruction of Serbia charged that the 78-day air war and the continued bombing of Iraq "has threatened these nations ... with a total devastation of their infrastructure ... a humanitarian catastrophe of gigantic proportions ... many children will die as a direct result of their inability to provide primary health care."
The U.N. endorsed group was founded as the Cold War was waning with high hopes for the abolition of weapons of mass destruction, an end to the arms race, and negotiated settlement of differences.
But a resolution approved by this meeting, "Facing the 21st century," cites warfare that has killed millions in Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India and Pakistan, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, and the continued occupation of Cyprus and the war in Yugoslavia.
The resolution points out that Security Council Resolution 1244 and a military agreement signed in Macedonia calls for the "total disarmament" of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). "Therefore, we call upon the U.N. to move against all terrorist activity in the Kosovo area and remove all agencies and forces unwilling or unable to perform its functions ... We enter the 21st century urging increased support for the United Nations as the sole world body capable of establishing peaceful relations between nations ..."