President Milanović Receives Organizers and Participants of “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” Convoy that Saved Croats of Lašva Valley
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today the organizers and participants of the humanitarian convoy “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of this major humanitarian event.
The “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” was a humanitarian convoy that brought indispensable assistance in December 1993 to about 70 thousand Croats from the Lašva Valley in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who had lived in a total encirclement and blockade. Famine threatened the population of the Lašva Valley, and the major problem was a lack of medicines, equipment and medical staff in the Nova Bila hospital, which was the only remaining hospital for Croats in the municipalities of Travnik, Novi Travnik, Vitez and Busovača.
The convoy left Zagreb on 10 December and included 99 semi-trucks, which transported medicines, medical equipment, food and multiple other necessities to the hospital in Nova Bila. Medical staff also travelled in the convoy, and came to the assistance of physicians in Nova Bila to care for the wounded and sick. The convoy was accompanied by Franciscan priests, public figures, journalists. With the arrival of the “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” convoy, the blockade was broken through, and the public received information on the suffering and difficult position of the Croats in the Lašva Valley.
The convoy was led by Dr. Slobodan Lang and Dr. Herman Vukušić, and was organized under the auspices of the Croatian President of the time Dr. Franjo Tuđman. One hundred and forty-three persons participated in the convoy, and the trip to Nova Bila lasted 14 days. Besides breaking through the eight-month total blockade of Croats in the Lašva Valley and bringing assistance in the form of food and medicines, the humanitarian convoy “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” gave encouragement and faith to the Croats of Central Bosnia that they were not alone.
Talking about the organization and the significance of the “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” humanitarian convoy at the meeting in the Office of the President of the Republic were its participants: the first president of the “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” humanitarian convoy Miro Jakovljević, the convoy’s commander Dr. Herman Vukušić, the deputy commander Ante Čičin Karlov, as well as convoy participants Milka Granić Husić and Davorin Višnjić, also photojournalist of Večernji list. Also in attendance at the meeting were the publisher of the book “Bijeli put za Novu Bilu I Bosnu Srebrenu” Josip Jurčević, and the president of the “Saint Anthony’s Bread” charitable society, and the abbot of the St. Elijah Franciscan monastery in Zagreb Franciscan Friar Marinko Baotić.
In the words of the participants, the Croatian public is not sufficiently informed of the importance of the “White Road to Nova Bila and Bosna Srebrena” humanitarian convoy, which actually launched organized humanitarian aid and support to the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Alongside President Milanović was the Special Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek