TO: INTERNATIONAL P. E . N. - FOR ALL CENTRES
April 17, 1999
Dear Colleagues,
It would be easier for me if my writing to you were a more agreeable one. But the situation is such (and can become even worse with any day that passes) that your response to this Appeal for all of us in Montenegro also means a moral support.
I hope that before long the time will come when you can visit Montenegro as a country of peace and tranquillity, in which all writers and all good people may feel at home.
I look forward to your response to this Appeal.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
Sreten Perovic, President
Montenegrin P.E.N. Centre / President Sreten Perovic Montenegro, Podgorica, Bul. Lenjina 93 Tel/Fax ..38l 81 241-733; E-mail: sreten@cg.yu
Adhering to the principles of the Charter of the International P.E.N. and the humanitarian activities of its bodies relating to the tragic developments that are putting in jeopardy not only Montenegro, but a much wider region as well, the Montenegrin P.E.N. Centre is appealing for help to the P.E.N. London Headquarters, and through its good offices, to all national P.E.N. centres worldwide.
The Republic of Montenegro, a state with some 700,000 inhabitants, has after disintegration of the former Yugoslavia (SFRY) been living in quite unnatural conditions, as an unequal member of the present, dual Yugoslav Federation, established together with Serbia. Montenegro has for years been suffering the impact of external and internal sanctions, pushed towards bigotry and hostilities with its neighbours, and now, indirectly, involved even in a war against the whole world. In the current, extraordinary circumstances of war, the very survival of the centuries-old national and statehood identity of Montenegro is at stake.
Thanks to an important democratic and intellectual movement (to which the Montenegrin P.E.N. Centre has made a significant contribution) Montenegro is still managing to defend its traditional values - multiethnic and multi-religious tolerance, to withstand extremist forms of xenophobia, chauvinism, nationalistic mythomania and genocidal practices. Montenegro has preserved an exemplary coexistence between Montenegrins (majority people), Muslims, Albanians, Croats and people of other ethnic origin. This has been instrumental in ensuring that today's Montenegro and its coalition Government (comprising ministers from the ranks of ethnic minorities) are able to pursue a policy of an open society and of a comprehensive cooperation with democratic countries. Montenegro is developing mechanisms aimed at ensuring that it is able to make sovereign decisions regarding its fate (a process in which it is still facing impediments, both in terms of form and of substance), it does not accept the logic of defiance, isolation, of conflict and aggression, it will not agree to an ethnic war in the name of medieval myths, but it is sagely insisting on a negotiated, peaceful settlement. The Montenegro which has distinguished itself by such a stance is being supported by the democratic world as an important regional factor.
During the war in Bosnia and Croatia, Montenegro had received some 60,000 refugees belonging to all ethnic groups. In this horrifying exodus of the Kosovo Albanians, over 80,000 women, children, old men, sick and suffering have taken refuge in Montenegro. According to official reports, refugees account for over 15% of the total population of Montenegro. Such a proportion is unprecedented in any European country. Despite the already proven humanism of our citizens, who have given the refugees the hospitality of their homes, Montenegro cannot bear this burden by itself. It needs prompt and efficient assistance. Government institutions and humanitarian organizations from abroad are announcing that assistance will be forthcoming, but so far it has been insufficient and slow.
We believe that P.E.N. can, directly and indirectly, help alleviate the suffering of those who have lost their homes and, in many cases, their closest of kin, too. In order to ward off the threat of a new Sarajevo, Vukovar, Dubrovnik, Mostar and Srebrenica, these symbols of suffering in the tragic history of the Balkans, we must demonstrate solidarity in stopping evil. What is today happening in Kosovo and in connection with Kosovo can be likened to cataclysmic, surreal, biblical suffering of the first Christians.
It is with a feeling of responsibility for the plight of deportees and refugees that Montenegro feels that it has the right to expect efficient international aid, the kind of aid that is for the same purpose being provided to Albania and Macedonia.
The Montenegrins P.E.N. Centre hopes that this Appeal to P.E.N. centres around the world, to humanitarian and charitable organizations and institutions, will meet with a significant response and that it will enable Montenegro to save and temporarily provide care for tens of thousands of deportees, displaced and suffering human beings.
For the MONTENEGRIN P.E.N. CENTRE
Sreten Perovic, President Podgorica, MONTENEGRO, April 17, 1999