Bijeli Put – White Path 10-26 December 1993 the greatest humanitarian action in European History

White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia:
A Chronology of a Humanitarian Convoy

Humanitarian work has always been an inseparable part of a war, particularly in our times, when technology of information spreads the news on the sufferings of those endangered by war throughout the world. Regardless of the ambiguity of the world’s politics, disorganization of the warring sides and general confusion and complexity surrounding the armed conflict in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH), humanitarian work accompanying the conflict received an immense humanitarian attention and help (1). We will describe here a single humanitarian action, a single convoy, believing that it deserved attention for several reasons: (a) it concerned a completely surrounded community, neglected by international humanitarian organizations and abandoned by those who wanted to help but were unable to do so (Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia); (b) it was the fastest organized and largest nongovernmental humanitarian help organized in Croatia; (c) it involved an interesting combination of the two leading groups, physicians and Franciscan monks; (d) it passed through numerous troubles and perils which revealed the roles and relationships of the warring sides in BH; (e) it was attacked and saved, one man was killed and five wounded; (f) it marked the great turn in the history of Croatian nation because it was the first aid that started from the capital city of Zagreb and reached Central Bosnia; (g) a part of its organizational scheme branched into the office of the Croatian Medical Journal, which both makes us proud and prompts us to report on the event on these pages.

Background

After the outbreak of the armed conflict between Croats and Muslims of BH in April 1993, Croats of Central Bosnia were surounded by 6 to 10-fold more numerous Muslim forces into several enclaves (2,3). The largest enclaves were Usora (population 18,000), ®epèe (population 35,000), Vare¹ (population 7,000, occupied in October 1993), Novi Travnik-Nova Bila-Busovaèa-Vitez (population 70,000) and Kre¹evo-Kiseljak (population 36,000) (Fig. 1, ref. 2). More than busy with Muslim attacks on Mostar and North Herzegovina, exhausted by the year-long war against Serbian aggression in BH, poorly organized and rejected by the international community, Croatian community of BH, self-proclaimed first as Croatian Community Herzeg-Bosnia and later as Croatian Republic Herzeg-Bosnia, was unable to either break through Muslim lines or to negotiate the supply of food and medicines to the enclaves which formally were under its care and jurisdiscion. The Republic of Croatia, itself devastated by the 1991/92 Serbian aggression, accused for certain forms of help to Croats of BH, under constant threat of sanctions, was unable to reach Central Bosnia by any means. International community, from the UN to the last humanitarian organization did not want to hear about the sufferings of Croats in Central Bosnia (2-4). Some day this attitude should be carefully analyzed and the general context of the injustice clarified.

Action White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia

All Croats were aware of the situation of their compatriots in Central Bosnia but, as explained, all different groups were actually unable to act effectively and/or believed it was the duty and responsibility of others. By the end of October 1993, Dr. Slobodan Lang (5-7) initiated a nongovernmental, independent action aimed to help Croats and all other suffering peoples of Central Bosnia.

The idea was based on already existing improvised hospital situated in the Franciscan church Holly Ghost in the small village of Nova Bila, near Novi Travnik. The hospital was formed on Human Rights Day 1992, by local physicians and Franciscans, with Dr. Lang’s involvement. After six months of Croatian-Muslim fighting and Croatian defeats (Fig. 1), the hospital remained the only humanitarian and medical resort for 70,000 encircled Croatians in the area.

Nova Bila

The area is approximately 12 km long and 1.2 to 6 km wide (fig. 2). Out of its 70,000 inhabitants, 12,500 are children, 20% displaced persons from other parts of BH and 40% women. Each point of the enclave can be reached by rifle fire of Muslim fighters on the mountains surrounding the valley of La¹va (from Novi Travnik on the north to Kaonik on the south, Fig. 2). The enclave itself contained two small Muslim-held enclaves, the Old Vitez (a part of the town of Vitez) and the village of Kru¹èica. The food and medicines were short. There were dozens of wounded children, some wounded and 10 killed by sniping rifle fire. Local authorities issued numerous appeals to Croats and to international community but in vain. The turning point was when a human rights activist of Herzeg-Bosnia, Mr. Ante Damjanoviæ, managed to get in and out of the enclave and brought the alarming first-hand news to Zagreb. His teacher, Dr. Lang, helped him meet Croatian officials and other important figures on October 29, 1993, and appear live on Croatian TV.

The Action

In a TV show on October 31, 1993, Dr. Lang advised all those who wanted to help to contact Dr. Ana Maru¹iæ at the CMJ. The next morning the work on CMJ had to stop because both telephones constantly kept ringing, offering all kinds of aid, from all sides of the world, Croatia and BH. One of the calls (Mr. Juraj Bokuniæ) offered an office in Zagreb, Ilica 128, and a dozen of people met there the next day. The Action White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia was founded (8). The expression Silver Bosnia was chosen to honour the contribution of Franciscans, because it is their ancient name for Central Bosnia.

Soon, the founding members of the Action brought in their friends and the news spread like thunder. The aid started pouring in, threatening to flood us. Fortunately, many people with different skills joined the Action and we were able to cope with all challenges. Essentially, the Action worked through a Council and its 16 Committees, of which most did a splendid job. It was decided that the Action’s convoy will start on the Human Rights Day, December 10, 1993. Owing to great organizational talent and heroic efforts of Mr. Herman Vuku¹iæ, the Convoy was ready and started as scheduled.

The Convoy

The journey, all accompanying events and data on the Convoy are not systematized yet, and the details differ from a witness to a witness, depending to his/her position in the Convoy and the fate of that part of the Convoy. Here we will try to give a cross section picture, a summary of all available data.

The aim of the Convoy was to reach Croats of the Nova Bila enclave with food, medical aid and equipment for the Franciscan hospital. A part of the aid was aimed for (a) hospital in Muslim-held town of Zenica, (b) small Jewish community in Zenica, (c) Muslim (sub)enclaves in Old Vitez and Kru¹èica.

At its start, the Convoy was approved by the BH government (Mr. H. Silajd`iæ) and Army (General Rasim Deliæ). Bosnian Embassy in Zagreb not only fully supported the Convoy but was prompted to organize own convoy in Split, aimed to Muslims in Maglaj. In a friendly atmosphere, a part of this convoy was aimed for Croats in the Nova Bila enclave. It is really unfortunate that these beautiful plans soon turned into a series of tragic events, failing to fulfill most of their goals.

Through Croatia and Free Parts of Herzeg-Bosnia

The Convoy started from Zagreb with 38 5-12 tons trucks, a gasoline truck, two accompanying vehicles and a bus with medical personnel, Franciscans and newsreporters (some 50 persons). The Convoy was officially led by Dr. S. Lang and commanded by Mr. H. Vuku¹iæ.

After a small but moving ceremony at Zagreb’s West Train Station at noon on December 10, 1993, the Convoy reached Rijeka in the late evening. There it spent the night, accepted four new trucks and in the morning headed for Split. The weather was bad, storm and occasional Serbian fire followed the Convoy across the Maslenica pontoon bridge. In return, the reception in Split was overwhelming. New 40 trucks and additional volunteers doubled the size of the Convoy. On December 12, 1993, it left Split for Tomislavgrad (BH), which it reached safely on the evening of the same day. From there, troubles followed the Convoy until its return from the mission.

Muslim military authorities requested new negotiations, which included Croatian Defense Council (CDC, army of the Croats in Herzeg-Bosnia) and Dr. Lang. Fortunately, Dr. Lang realized that the Muslim side was saving time for Muslim convoy to get prepared in Split. Thus, our Convoy waited for the Muslim one in the Rama Valley, making the final preparations and checks, honored by immense love, attention, care and prayers of the Croats of Rama. The implicit conditioning of our passage by waiting for Muslim convoy is in contrast both to the international rules and to our previous agreements on the unconditional passage of humanitarian convoys. However, that moment was not suitable for moral disquisitions, and the Convoy (a) waited patiently for the Muslim convoy to reach Rama and (b) negotiated (Dr. Lang) incessantly to get the permission and protection to enter the Muslim-held territory which stretched from Gornji Vakuf to Novi Travnik (Fig. 2).

On the Muslim-held Territory

At 6:15 on Saturday, December 18, 1993, 92 vehicles with nearly 1,000 tons of aid crossed the front line towards Muslim-held land. Along the first kilometer of the Muslim territory, before Muslim Military Police took over the protection of the Convoy, some 30 trucks were looted by persons in Muslim Army uniforms. Men would jump on the truck, point the guns and fastly rob the travellers of all movable goods and money. UNPROFOR escort in the front and at the end of the Convoy saw this and did nothing. Afterwards, all until Pavlovica, Muslim MP gave the Convoy a perfect protection.

Pavlovica

The searching check-point was the village of Pavlovica (Fig. 2). Gen. Deliæ ordered and promised that the search would end until 15:00 of the same day. It did not, but lasted until the night; thus the Convoy had to spend the night in open fields, guarded by Muslim MPs who really protected the Convoy from looter, even by shooting at them and arresting them during the day. During the night, however, the looting continued.

In the meantime, the Muslim convoy slowly reached the front line (due to the technical problems). Muslim media accused Croats for slaughtering the drivers (in Tomislavgrad), looting the convoy (in Prozor), etc., although just the opposite was true: CDC soldiers escorted it without any incidents. The waiting at Pavlovica was used by Dr. Lang to return to Rama and escort the Muslim convoy to Muslim-held town of Bugojno. However, that was the moment waited for by the Muslim side!

Contrary to all agreements, Muslims repeated the search of the Convoy on Sunday morning and – interestingly – already in the first truck found three small boxes of the military material.

We denied any responsibility for this and requested the passage: Muslims, however, posed 7 conditions (9) which, after long negotiations, we had to fulfill. Not counting the two which requested the aid to Muslims of Kru¹èica and Old Vitez – which we announced at the start of the journey, most of them were unfair and humiliating but, on the third day at Pavlovica, Dr. Lang had to yield. Thirteen persons, mostly physicians who volunteered to help their colleagues in the Franciscan hospital and several newsreporters, were forbidden to enter Nova Bila and returned to Rama in UNPROFOR vehicles.

Nova Bila Reached

After some 50 hours at Pavlovica, around 15:30 on Monday, December 20, 1993, the first vehicles reached Nova Bila. There was not a single person who did not cry, either in the Convoy or among the thousands that awaited it. Unfortunately, at entering Nova Bila, the Convoy came under Muslim heavy machine-gun fire which damaged several trucks. There were other ominous signs: the electricity to the whole Central Bosnia was cut off, the driver who took the aid to the Muslims in Old Vitez was maltreated, physicians had not been allowed to go to Nova Bila, the help to Jews of Zenica was banned and, more than anything, the Convoy had to leave Nova Bila within 24 hours. British UNPROFOR battalion insisted the Convoy should leave although it was obvious the Convoy would be attacked. Finally, Dr. Lang was forced to order the return on Wednesday morning, December 22, 1993. Large Muslim offensive against the Nova Bila and other Croatian enclaves in Central Bosnia was starting.

Return and Tragedy

Under fire, the Convoy reached Pavlovica, was checked again and headed for Gornji Vakuf. In contrast to the previos passage, now there were no people or looters on the streets. UNPROFOR escorted the Convoy with some 8 armored vehicles, trying to pass to the CDC territory in groups. Already the first group came under fire but managed to escape. The third group came under a heavy attack and in the fourth one driver (Mr. A.V.) was killed and five persons wounded. This broke the Convoy, and its latter half was left at village of Bistrica (Fig. 2), encircled by Muslim forces.

Later, after long and tough negotiations, UNPROFOR transferred the encircled personnel in armored vehicles to Rama, but a number of trucks were left behind.

Discussion

The gains achieved by our Action and Convoy can easily be listed: a) a considerable aid brought to the hospital and people of the Nova Bila enclave, b) the example showing the paths to cooperation and peace with Muslim side, c) unification of Croats throughout the world in helping to the Croats of Central Bosnia. Unfortunately, the failures are not less hard or numerous: a) the action was paid with a human life and sufferings, b) the Action challenged the Muslim side to show some of its bad sides which might have precipitated new hatred, c) the end of the Convoy elicited frictions within the Action threatening its very existence.

Regardless of whether it was due to our excellent relations with the government of Herzeg-Bosnia or their genuine courteousness, we were pleased to learn that this government and its military force (the CDC) could respect agreements. This we cannot conclude for the Muslim side, even for the top officials, who actually gave all crucial promises (written documents are in our files) that were broken. Thus, we believe an identical convoy cannot be organized after we learned of the risks awaiting in Central Bosnia. A mixed Croat-Muslim or very international convoy should be planned if encircled Croats of Central Bosnia are to be reached. UNPROFOR is left in our memory as a factor of doubtful impartiality and undoubtful lack of will to do true effort to help all suffering civilians in the BH. It appears that Muslim side is in as desperate situation as Croats of Nova Bila and thus may be ready to accept carefully planned peace actions. The members of the Convoy believe that there is a dissociation between Muslim people and soldiers on one and their leaders and commanders on the other side: people are not as hostile as the developments on the ground show. Dr. Lang ascribes the small number of Convoy’s casualties to an invisible refusal of common Muslim soldiers to kill unarmed members of the Convoy in Gornji Vakuf. There is no other explanation why an open attack of a regular army did not bring more casualties.

At present, some mourn the dead and care for the wounded, some enjoy the recognitions that awaited the Convoy at its return to Zagreb, some are planning new convoys and others, maybe, new attacks; we however, definitely learned that if all sides invested more care and love for their people in their relations with their actual enemies, the peace would have come much faster than thousands of deaths and great amount of pain on all sides.

With this respect, we have chosen the Croatian Cross of Peace for the front page of this CMJ issue. Mr. Branko Èulo designed the Croatian Cross of Peace which comprises most celebrated sanctuaries of the Holy Lady in South Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also Nova Bila, the subject of this Editorial, and the town of Vukovar, the victim of the Serbian aggression in 1991. The Cross symbolizes our yearning for peace; by touching Nova Bila it symbolizes our struggle to reach it with the Convoy, and by pleading to the Holy Lady it reveals our prayers that Peace reaches our people in 1994 (10).

Ana Maru¹iæ

Matko Maru¹iæ

Slobodan Lang

Originally published in Croatian Medical Journal 1994;35:3‑7. [PDF]
Reprinted for the readers of the CROWN by kind permission of the authors.

References:

1 Acheson D. Health, humanitarian relief, and survival in former Yugoslavia. BMJ 1993;307:44-8.

2 Ivanoviæ V, Vlahu¹iæ A, editors. Ethnic cleansing of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1991-1993. Mostar: Office of the President of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, August 1993.

3 Juda¹ M, Rado¹ M, Lonèar M, Kostoviæ I. War crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions committed by Muslim Army and paramilitary forces against Croatian civilian population in Central Bosnia and Northern Herzegovina (September 3, 1993). Croatian Med J 1993;34:334-41.

4 World Life Institute. The games the United Nations play. Washington, D.C: World Life Institute, January 4, 1994 (unpublished).

5 Lang S. A physician and the war. Croatian Med J 1992;33(War Suppl. 2):1-2.

6 Lang S. The Third Balkan War: Red Cross bleeding. Croatian Med J 1993;34:5-20.

7 Lang S, Maru¹iæ M. Peace and human rights: Painful lessons of the Balkan war. International Minds 1993;4:6-13.

8 Anonymous. Action White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia. Croatian Med J 1993;34(4).

9 Maru¹iæ A, Maru¹iæ M. Reports Nos. 1-13, 1993. Daily reports on the developments with the convoy of the Action White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia. Personal archives.

10 Me¹troviæ SG, Letica S, Goreta M. Habits of the Balkan heart. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1993.

FIGURE LEGENDS

Figure 1. Enclaves of Croats (black) created by Muslim offensive during Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina since April 1993. Civilians from conquered and ethnically cleansed areas of Central Bosnia were squeezed into small, surrounded territories which still resist the siege. Grey areas are held by Muslims and white by Serbs (January 1994).

Figure 2. The last part of the convoy’s route to Nova Bila: Rama – Prozor – Gornji Vakuf – Pavlovica (searching check-point) – Novi Travnik – Nova Bila. The humanitarian convoy was prepared and led by the nongovernmental organization White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia. It started from Zagreb on December 10, and returned to Prozor on December 22, 1993. The convoy was attacked in the village of Bistrica on its return from Nova Bila; one member was killed and five more wounded. Dotted areas, territories held by the Croats; blank areas, territories held by the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Maru¹iæ A, Maru¹iæ M, Lang S. White Road for Nova Bila and Silver Bosnia: A chronology of the humanitarian convoy. Croatian Med J 1994;35:3-7.

Source www.croatianhistory.net

Iz Zagreba 10. prosinca 1993. godine, pod visokim pokroviteljstvom predsjednika Republike Hrvatske dr. Franje Tuðmana i uz pratnju predstavnika Katolièke crkve i Franjevaèke provincije Bosne Srebrene, kreæe veliki konvoj humanitarne pomoæi nazvan Bijeli put za Novu Bilu i Bosnu Srebrenu. Trajao je 14 dana, a u Novoj Bili doèekan je sa suzama radosnicama i s do neba velikim “Hvala”!. Konvoj su pratili dr¾avnici, veleposlanici, fratri, medicinari, humanitarci, novinari, kulturni i javni radnici, a svih njih s vozaèima bilo je 143. Bolnica u Novoj Bili bila je na izdisaju, ranjenici su umirali jer nije bilo osnovnih lijekova i medicinskog pribora. Glad je opasno prijetila Hrvatima cijele La¹vanske doline.

Poèetnoj koloni vozila putem preko Splita pa dalje preko Tomislavgrada prikljuèivali su se novi kamioni i novi suputnici. Konvoj su predvodili gospoda Herman Vuku¹iæ i dr. Slobodan Lang. Na Pavlovici, pred Gornjim Vakufom zaustavili su ih pripadnici Armije BiH i tu su u hladnom prosincu probdjeli dva dana. Zastoj je nastao zbog muslimansko-bo¹njaèke ucjene, premda su bile pribavljene sve suglasnosti muslimansko-bo¹njaèkih vlasti èak i u Sarajevu. Napokon se nekako krenulo dalje i konvoj je stigao u Novu Bilu 20. prosinca. Svi su odahnuli, a Novobiljani su bili odu¹evljeni, jer je stigla toliko ¾eljena pomoæ i jer su osjetili ljudsku solidarnost na djelu. Valja zabilje¾iti da su predstavnici civilnog dijela UNPROFOR-a odigrali sramotnu ulogu. U Novu Bilu do¹li su iz Kiseljaka, prijetili su ljudima iz konvoja.

Konvoj se 22. prosinca 1993. vraæao iz Nove Bile. Kada je izlazio iz Gornjeg Vakufa i prolazio posljednje kuæe, pred kamione su iz obli¾njih kuæa istrèali ljudi u maskirnim uniformama s oznakama Armije BiH i iz automatskog oru¾ja otvorili rafalnu paljbu po kamionskim kabinama. Naoru¾ani su nasrnuli na krhke i goloruke humanitarce, zlo na dobrotvorce, kako zapisa fra Franjo Grbenar, ¾upnik iz Nove Bile. Na licu mjesta poginuo je vozaè Ante Vlajiæ, roðen 1934. godine, iz Splita, a tri sudionika Bijelog puta su ranjena. U spomen na taj tu¾ni dan u ¾upnoj crkvi u Novoj Bili svakog 22. prosinca slavi se sveta misa za pokojnog Antu Vlajiæa. Jedna ulica u Novoj Bili, ona koja vodi s magistralne ceste prema ¾upnoj crkvi, nosi njegovo ime.

Zahvalnica

Kako su samo slaba¹ne rijeèi da izraze veliku zahvalnost tisuæama dragih i dobrih ljudi koji su nam pomogli i kroz pakao do¹li zagrliti nas, pru¾iti ruku pomoænicu u znak podr¹ke da nismo sami. Kako su samo rijeèi suvi¹ne kada se tim ljudima dogodi ono najgore od neljudi. Usta zanijeme, grlo se stegne – oèi orose. Samo muk! Jednostavno se nema ¹to reæi kada se u kratkom vremenu do¾ivi prevelika sreæa, a onda, skoro istovremeno, i prevelika tuga. Znam da ste znali da nam je te¹ko, ali da nam je ovoliko te¹ko na veliku ¾alost saznali su i na svojoj ko¾i iskusili hrabri i dobri uèesnici konvoja “Bijeli put za Novu Bilu i Bosnu Srebrenu”. Strahovali smo i molili da kolona nevinih sretno stigne na svoja polazi¹ta, a prva vijest o neljudskom napadu Muslimana na ove ljude rasplakala nas je i ojadila.
Ne mogu nikom posebno zahvaliti, jer u velikom lancu ljubavi svaka je karika i te kako va¾na, ali u ovom trenutku ipak se moram zahvaliti sudionicima konvoja, a nadasve ranjenima i poni¾enima.
Pokojnome Anti Vlaiæu posebno su zahvalni i duboko mu se klanjaju svih 80 tisuæa Hrvata iz La¹vanske doline. Obitelji i prijateljima pokojnog Ante izra¾avam suæut i èvrsto sam uvjeren da æe njegova smrt roditi s trostrukim ¾ivotima.
Nadamo se da æe njegova ¾rtva dobrote i patnje zaraziti i oploditi sve ljude i da æe doprinijeti raðanju dugog i sretnog mira. Kao mali znak zahvalnosti pokojnom Anti ulica u Novoj Biloj æe se zvati njegovim imenom.
Kao ravnatelj bolnice i ¾upnik u Novoj Biloj izra¾avam posebnu zahvalnost, duboko po¹tovanje i èestitke za predstojeæe blagdane svima koji su na bilo koji naèin pomogli akciju “Bijeli put za Novu Bilu i Bosnu Srebrenu”. Mir i dobro
fra Franjo Grebenar

Fra Franjo Grebenar : “Memento Bijelom putu”, Sunce La¹ve, Nova Bila, 1996., str. 13.-15.

Izvor www.zupa-novabila.com

Konvoj se i danas, … pamti kao jedinstven herojski èin nekolicine hrabrih ljudi koji su preko prvih linija boji¹nice, uz vlastite ¾rtve, konvojem kamiona krenuli dostaviti nu¾nu medicinsku pomoæ u Novu Bilu u kojoj je zbog ratne blokade bilo onemoguæeno bilo kakvo lijeèenje ranjenih i bolesnih.

Bolnica u Novoj Biloj do 1994. godine hospitalizirala je vi¹e od 11.000 ljudi sredi¹nje Bosne, od èega su polovica bili ranjenici i to mahom hrvatske nacionalnosti. U to vrijeme bolnica je zapo¹ljavala tek nekolicinu lijeènika, a u trenutku kad je grad do¹ao pod blokadu, bio je onemoguæen svaki oblik pru¾anja medicinske pomoæi.

Izvor dalje.com

Donio nadu

Bio je jedan od prvih predsjednika Odbora za gradnju Hrvatske bolnice “Dr. fra Mato Nikoliæ”, ali i èovjek koji je doèekao sudionike Bijelog puta koji je donio svjetlost i nadu u La¹vansku dolinu. Jutros se u vite¹kim, ali i cafeima diljem La¹vanske doline tiho ¹aputalo “Umro fra Franjo Grebenar”. Jedni nisu mogli vjerovati toj vijesti, drugi su, poznavajuæi njegovu bolest, s velikim uzdahom ¾alili za njim, dok su oni koji su ga dobro poznavali preprièavali njegove zgode iz ¾ivota. Bio je èovjek vrlo vesela duha. Nitko nije s ravnodu¹no¹æu prihvatio da fra Franje vi¹e nema. Meðutim, ka¾u da nakon smrti èovjeka ostaju samo njegova djela. Franjina su velika i humana. Njegova poznata izjava da “fratri uvijek ¾ele dobro svom narodu, a Bog uèini bolje”, potvrdila se u Novoj Biloj, maloj ¾upi koja je osnovana tek 1975., da bi veæ 1992. i 1993. godine postala poznata diljem svijeta. U toj maloj ¾upi ¾upnik fra Franjo Grebenar ustupio je crkvene prostorije za ratnu franjevaèku bolnicu. Bila je to jedinstvena crkva bolnica u svijetu kroz koju je pro¹lo oko 11.500 ranjenika i pacijenata za vrijeme ratnih sukoba u La¹vanskoj dolini. Kada vi¹e nije bilo dovoljno kreveta za ranjenike, ustupljene su im crkvene klupe. Prisjeæajuæi se tog vremena u knjizi “Memento”, fra Franjo, izmeðu ostalog, pi¹e: “Kao i svaki drugi dan dr¾ao sam vjeronauk u dvorani kada su do¹li na¹i vojnici i dovezli èetiri ranjenika tra¾eæi bolnicu u Novoj Biloj. Morao sam ih poslati u ambulantu u Vitez jer u Travnik i Zenicu nisu htjeli ili nisu smjeli. Naveèer su ponovno do¹li, ali su bili prisutni i neki lijeènici u privatnom posjetu i razgovarali smo o br¾em otvaranju bolnice. Nemajuæi izlaza, svi smo ustali i poèeli iznositi klupe iz vjeronauène dvorane i unositi krevete, stalke za infuziju i ostalo.” Tako pi¹e èovjek koji je u vrijeme naj¾e¹æih borbi HVO-a i Armije BiH u La¹vanskoj dolini svakodnevno ugo¹æavao UN-ove mirotvorce, inozemne donatore koji su èesto donosili lijekove kojima je istekao rok valjanosti samo da bi ih se rije¹ili. Organizirao je i skupljanje slame za ranjenike koji su trebali kamionima Unprofora i autobusom biti prevezeni za Split.

Stradanja Hrvata

Sve je fra Franjo radio kako bi pomogao da se patnje ranjenih i bolesnih koliko-toliko ubla¾e. Primao je i humanitarke poput Sally Bayker, predstavnika UN-a Cedrica Thonberrya, ali i poznatu hrvatsku glazbenu divu Terezu Kesoviju koja je iz crkve bolnice helikopterom odvezla ranjenu djevojèicu Mirnu iz Busovaèe u Split. Nakon izljeèenja, Tereza je maloj Mirni postala kuma. Njegova ¾upna kuæa vi¹e je slièila nekom press-centru nego Bo¾joj kuæi za Bo¾je sluge. Zahvaljujuæi prije svega svojim prijateljima koje je poznavao i prije rata, fra Franjo Grebenar uspio je preko Ante Damjanoviæa poslati videokasetu na HTV u jeku najveæih stradanja Hrvata i granatiranja ove crkve bolnice. Nakon tih stra¹nih slika koje je prikazao HTV, mnogi su konaèno shvatili ¹to se Hrvatima dogaða u La¹vanskoj dolini. Franjo je zahvaljujuæi svojoj mudrosti vrlo vje¹to odr¾avao i prijateljski i slu¾beni odnos s osobljem ratne bolnice. Humor je èesto bio jedini lijek za zdravstvene djelatnike, ali i obiène ljude koji su dolazili u bolnicu u posjet svojim ranjenim ili bolesnim. -Sjeæam se kako sam prestra¹io jednu gospoðu, a samo sam se htio na¹aliti. Granata je pogodila njezinu kuæu i najte¾e je pro¹la njezina kæi. Dovezena je u bolnicu, a majka je zvala da pita za zdravlje kæeri. Ja sam joj ‘zabrinuto’ rekao da je ona trudna (u drugom stanju). Kako se samo upla¹ila i zabrinula, a ja sam joj nakon toga rekao da ima geler u stomaku i to je sve”, pi¹e fra Franjo u svome “Mementu”. Kroz jedan novinski tekst te¹ko se mo¾e predstaviti humanist koji je uvijek vi¹e i dalje gledao od drugih. Uvijek i samo uvijek ¾ivio i radio za èovjeka.

Susret s Tuðmanom

Nakon medijske deblokade fra Franjo je doèekao i sve sudionike Bijeloga puta na èelu s dr. Slobodanom Langom i Hermanom Vuku¹iæem. Doèekao je i predsjednika Hrvatske Franju Tuðmana u Novoj Biloj 14. lipnja 1994. godine, a u svom pozdravnom govoru nakon ¹to mu je ponuðeno pokroviteljstvo nad izgradnjom nove bolnice, dr. Franjo Tuðman je rekao: “Rado prihvaæam pokroviteljstvo nad novom bolnicom i mislim da ovaj puk zaslu¾uje da se izgradi jedna nova, suvremena bolnica na svijetlim tradicijama bolnice u Novoj Biloj.” Danas, zahvaljujuæi fra Franji i njegovim suradnicima, predsjedniku Tuðmanu i narodu Republike Hrvatske, Nova Bila ima suvremenu bolnicu u kojoj se lijeèe svi ljudi, bez obzira na vjeru ili nacionalnost. Pokojni fra Franjo Grebenar sigurno je bio èvrst oslonac mozaika koji je ljudima omoguæio da bolje i humanije ¾ive. Svjetlost vjeèna neka mu svijetli!

( VL )

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