Vol. 424 No. 9
23 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the measures, if any, Ireland proposes to take to help the people of Eritrea; and if he will ensure that Irish parliamentarians will be able to function as invited observers at the forthcoming referendum in Eritrea.
40 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government has received any request, or intends to offer any assistance in regard to the referendum on the future of Eritrea, which is due to be held in April 1993; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 40 together.
The Conference on Peace and Security, which met in Addis Ababa in July 1991, formally recognised the right of the Eritrean people to determine its future by an internationally supervised referendum, which is scheduled to take place in April 1993. The Referendum Commissioner of Eritrea requested the UN Secretary-General to send a delegation of the United Nations to observe and verify the freeness, fairness and impartiality of the entire referendum process. The Secretary-General sent a technical team to Eritrea to prepare a report for submission to the UN General Assembly on the details of a potential involvement by the United Nations in the referendum. The report of the Technical Mission has now been published and is due to be considered shortly by the UN General Assembly.
The report proposes the establishment of a UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER), whose mandate will be to ensure impartiality of the referendum authorities and the freeness and fairness of the referendum process.
In the light of the decision of the UN General Assembly on the establishment of UNOVER and in co-ordination with our Community partners, I will consider how best we can help the democratic process in Eritrea and, particularly, the referendum in April 1993.
