A delegation of Hibakusha (A bomb survivors) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and other Japanese representative working for the abolition of nuclear weapons, is visiting Coventry on Wednesday 19 May. The group of 10 are visiting several cities in Britain following the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference to spread understanding of the reality and after effects of the atomic bombing in 1945 and to appeal for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

The visit is especially timely because of recent confirmation of the use of depleted uranium by Nato in the Balkans war. As John Pilger wrote in the Guardian on 4 May:

"Pilots are spreading over Serbia and Kosova a poison potentially as cataclysmic as Agent Orange. It is carried in depleted uranium which makes missile and shells more destructive."

Depleted uranium is a radioactive nuclear waste product which has been classified as a Weapon of Mass Destruction by the United Nations Human Rights Tribunal and is responsible for countless birth deformities in Iraq where it was used in the Gulf War.

The delegation are arriving at noon. After lunch they will meet the Provost of the Cathedral at 1.30 and then the Lord Mayor at 2.30. In the early evening they will spend some time at the weekly vigil outside the Belgrade Theatre which calls for a lifting of sanctions against Iraq. From 7.00pm until 8.30pm they will be at Bardsley House, Hilltop, near the Cathedral and welcome discussion with anyone who would like to meet them. Members of Coventry Peace house will be escorting them for the day.