Vatican City, Friday
THE Pope issued a New Year's Day appeal for peace in the ''martyred
lands'' of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Balkans and an end to the violence
in the Middle East.
''How can one not hope that peace might finally return to the martyred
lands of Bosnia-Herzegovina and of the entire Balkan region?'' he said.
Speaking to an estimated 30,000 people from a window overlooking St
Peter's Square, the Pope spoke of ''numerous hotbeds of war spread
across the five continents and the fratricidal violence which is
bloodying many regions of the world''.
He called for a firm condemnation of violence in the Middle East,
''from whatever part it comes'', and respect for human rights.
The Pope also called for peace during a New Year's day mass in St
Peter's basilica, reminding the faithful that Europe's bishops had
declared today, designated world peace day by the church, also a day of
prayer for peace on the continent.
Referring again to the Balkans, he said: ''Can Europe keep its
distance from such a situation and not feel itself summoned?''
The besieged Bosnian capital Sarajevo itself had little to celebrate
on New Year's Day. By noon the death toll for 1993 already totalled
eight, seven of them war-related. One of the seven, all Muslims, was
21-year-old Rasid Rizvanovic. He got married on New Year's Eve and was
killed by sniper fire on New Year's Day.
In neighbouring Croatia ten revellers were killed and six were wounded
when a soldier opened fire on a New Year's party in a village east of
Zagreb, Croatian radio reported.
The radio said the soldier, Vinko Palic, shot himself after the
shooting in the village of Zrinski Topolovac and died on the way to
hopital. Four of the injured were in serious condition. The motive for
the attack was not immediately known.
Outside the Vatican, Italy counted the toll of dead and injured from
fireworks accidents around the country, common every year during New
Year's celebrations.
At least four people were reported killed and more than 1100 wounded
from fireworks or gunshots. The dead included a 12-year-old boy whose
father accidentally shot him with a rifle shortly after midnight in
Bisceglie, near the southern city of Bari.
Celebration fireworks and gunshots also claimed 10 lives and 1100
injured in the Philippines during festivities. Stray shots also
apparently killed a woman near the Lebanese port city of Jounieh.
Cuba's official news agency Prensa Latina reported President Fidel
Castro as warning the Caribbean's most populous country that 1993 could
even be more difficult than 1992, its worst year since the 1959 Cuban
Revolution.
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