Vol. 391 No. 7
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the concern that Koevoet, the infamous South African controlled secret police, have infiltrated the Namibian police force and are seriously inhibiting the peace process; and if he will support calls for an increase in United Nations policing and monitoring.
16.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is satisfied that the peace agreement in Namibia is sufficiently strong to allow elections to take place in November of this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
31.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if it is the Government's intention to contribute to the international monitoring of the moves towards free elections in Namibia; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 16 and 31 together.
The Government are happy at the way the United Nations plan for independence for Namibia is currently proceeding. After initial difficulties at the launch of the independence process the UN plan is now back on schedule and everything at present on course for the elections in early November. On 26 June agreement was reached between the UN Special Representative and the South African Administrator General on the proclamation on the registration of voters. The election campaign opened at the beginning of July and has so far been free of any major incidents. The UN Special Representative, who is charged under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 435 with ensuring free and fair elections in Namibia, will naturally continue to reassess progress right up to the elections.
The United Nations Secretary General is visiting Namibia, including the northern region, this week and will have an opportunity to see for himself how the independence process is proceeding. The United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) has the main responsibility under Resolution 435 for monitoring the implementation of the transition arrangements and its personnel requirements is a subject which is kept under constant consideration by the Secretary General in conjunction with the Special Representative and the Force Commander. Ireland has made available to the force 20 military observers and a total of 50 Garda officers, the Government having responded to a recent request by the Secretary General to increase the original 35 gardaí by a further 15. These are due to leave for Namibia at the end of the month.
On 6 June it was announced that agreement had been reached between the Special Representative and the Administrator General on a general amnesty and on the repeal of a first set of restrictive and discriminatory laws held to be an impediment to the holding of free and fair elections. This paved the way for the repatriation of refugees by the UNHCR which started on 12 June. As of 17 July, the total figure of returnees was 20,584 out of an approximate 41,000 refugees registered with the United Nations. The flow of refugees out of the holding centres, which had initially been slow, reflecting fears of intimidation reported in the north of the country, has now increased substantially to 14,471 in line with an improvement in the general climate.
The continued presence of personnel from the former counter-insurgency unit, Koevoet, within the ranks of the South-West Africa Police (SWAPOL) and the actions of certain elements of that force, especially in northern Namibia, is naturally a cause of major concern to all those interested in guaranteeing the transition of Namibia to independence. It is a matter of ongoing discussion between the Special Representative and the Administrator General and the Government fully support the demands of the United Nations Secretary General that such personnel should be removed from SWAPOL on the grounds that their past behaviour calls into question their suitability for continued employment during the transition period.
While this issue has not so far been resolved, it is not seen at present as constituting an obstacle to the continued implementation of the peace process. The most recent report from the UN in Namibia suggest on the contrary that the situation in the north of the country appears to be normalising and stability and confidence to be returning. This would seem to be confirmed by the increased numbers of returnees leaving the holding centres to settle in the area.
I would like to thank the Minister for the assurance he gave to the House that things are improving in Namibia. We are all grateful for that. I want to ask one question. There have been suggestions recently that observers from this House should be sent over to see the elections in November to make sure they are fair. When the Minister is discussing this matter with his colleagues in Europe and in the United Nations, will he make the point that there should be not just one country sending representatives but a representative group from a number of countries so that if there are observers going we would not be the only group? Unless there is a very big multinational group it would be pointless sending anyone.
I thank the Deputy for that question. I can see the merit in what he is saying. I had not given the matter any consideration up to now, but I am conscious of the newspaper comments about it. What Deputy Barry suggests would probably be the wisest and most sensible way to do it, if we are doing it.
I am calling Deputy Michael D. Higgins but I should ask him to co-operate with me in striving to come to deal with the priority questions which I should be onto now.
I will be very brief. Would the Minister agree, in view of his suggestion that he will reflect on what has been suggested by Deputy Barry, that an international delegation looking at the Namibian elections would be of most value if they went in time to look at the registration process? Would the Minister not further agree that if the registration process is not observed accurately it would be of less value and somewhat meaningless to be looking at the process of voting itself?
I thank Deputy Higgins as well for his comments. This too would have to be looked at very seriously as to the timing and effectiveness. Naturally it would only be effective if the timing were right. There would be little point in going there if the registration had already slipped off the rails.
Deputy De Rossa, I am three minutes behind for priority questions.
I will be brief. I am cutting into my own priority time. Would the Minister assure us that even if we do not get agreement for an international observer group, that the Irish Government will seriously consider sending an Irish parliamentary group to observe the election process from begining to end? It is important because it is the South African authorities who are organising this election.
That is another aspect that would have to be looked at. Again, I cannot give a guarantee of anything other than that. In the context of whether or not we would have observers there Deputy De Rossa's suggestion would have to be looked at too.
