Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 24 May 1994

Vol. 443 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Conflict in Rwanda.

Mrs. Owen

There are approximately 473,000 voters in the constituency of Leinster. The tragedy in Rwanda is similar to wiping out every one of those voters in a period of six or seven weeks. That may be a trivial example, but I am trying to bring home to us the enormity and horror of the tragedy that has occurred in Rwanda and neighbouring countries. Approximately 500,000 people are estimated to have been, killed in a brutal fashion. It is with horror, shame and disgust that the people of this country read of people being told that they can have their lives ended by a gunshot wound or be hacked to death by a machete. The De La Salle brother, Tom O'Donoghue, told the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs that as he got on a plane to be taken to safety out of Rwanda a Tutsi sister knelt on the tarmac and begged those leaving to shoot members of her order in the head so that they would not have to face what was awaiting them. They had witnessed the horrific murders and killings and knew the same would happen them if they were caught.

I will quote from a letter which a constituent in Tralee sent to Deputy Deenihan. She stated:

It is unbelievable that the Security Council should decide to withdraw all but 270 of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda at a time when the country is experiencing a human rights crisis of a kind hardly ever witnessed before. There should be action from the Security Council to stop the human rights violations.

She want on to state:

We can never make the excuse that we did not know that this carnage was taking place. What sort of international community is it that can watch while innocent, men, women and children are cut down in horrendous massacres? Please do what you can.

We cannot pretend that we do not know what has happened and is continuing to happen in Rwanda. Many thousands of bodies have been washed into lakes and rivers of neighbouring countries. Imagine the horror of seeing thousands of massacred and mutilated human bodies floating in front of our eyes in a lake in County Tipperary or elsewhere. This is unbelievable. The horror is so awful that we blind ourselves to it because we cannot comprehend this type of inhumanity by one human to another.

While I acknowledge that the Minister raised the issue at the Council of Development Ministers and the Tánaiste raised it at the Council of Ministers last Monday, we are not making our voice heard at international fora of which we are are members. Will the Minister go to the United Nations tomorrow and make his voice heard to ensure that this massacre and slaughter ends?

A recent report from Oxfam stated:

The scale and brutality of the violence now taking place in Rwanda makes this the most appalling slaughter anywhere in the world today. Thousands of lives are being lost every day.

In Oxfam's experience, this is the worst humanitarian crisis since the killing fields of Cambodia in the 1970s.

We need to be reminded of what is taking place because, unfortunately, many other conflicts throughout the world are taking some of the attention from this tragedy. I am concerned that the media will soon tire of this story and it will disappear from our television screens, radio and newspaper headlines and people will have to ask the name of the country where the 500,000 people were killed in six or seven weeks. We should not allow ourelves to forget what is happening in Rwanda.

I commend to the Minister tonight the motion of the joint committee which was passed and adopted on 11 May 1994. It spells out clearly the concerns of that committee and calls on the Government to take a leading role in regard to humanitarian aid. I acknowledge that a considerable amount of money has been sent through Concern, Oxfam, GOAL and other agencies who have gone out to help in Ngara where there are 300,000 refugees. I spoke to a member of Concern today and asked how the people in the camps are faring. He told me that they are the lucky ones, they are out and alive. Life is not great for them, but they have a life. That reminded me of all those who are locked in football stadia and churches guarded by people waiting for an opportunity to kill them. They are depending on us in the rest of the world to make their voices heard. If the Minister postpones all other matters on his desk to deal with this matter he will be thanked by the people of Rwanda and the neighbouring countries.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Mr. T. Kitt)

I thank the Deputy for raising this very serious issue.

Since the killing of the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on 6 April last, Rwanda and its people have had to endure a human rights tragedy of unprecedented dimensions. Hundreds of thousands of civilians — perhaps half a million people — have been killed, many of them after the most appalling mutilation and torture. Thousands have disappeared. Millions have been forced to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere in Rwanda or in neighbouring countries. Disease and hunger threaten the lives of those who have, so far, avoided death.

The intensity and savagery of the slaughter over the past seven weeks has no parallels in recent history. Rwanda has become a wasteland of death.

We had Nazi Germany 50 years ago, Pol Pot's Cambodia just 15 years ago and we have Rwanda today. In our own time this is a damning litany of man's inhumanity to man. We cannot again, and we must not, abdicate our responsibilities to our fellow man when confronted by such horror. We cannot say we do not know about it. We know only too well. All of us have seen, and none of us will forget, the images of the bloated bodies washed down the rivers to Lake Victoria from Rwanda's killing fields.

Fighting between the forces of the Rwandese Government and the Rwandese Patriotic Front is continuing even though both sides have expressed their willingness to enter into a ceasefire. Government forces control the west and south-western parts of Rwanda while the RPF is in control of the northern and eastern parts of the country. The capital, Kigali, is divided between the two sides but yesterday the airport fell to the RPF forces.

Attacks on defenceless civilians continue throughout the country, especially in areas under the control of the armed forces of the Rwandese Government. There are reports that discipline in the RPF is breaking down and that reprisals against the members of the Hutu tribe are beginning.

The Government has already condemned the fighting and the slaughter as an affront to everything we stand for and to the international system of order and justice for which we work. We have said that the crisis there calls for the highest level of co-ordinated action by the international community. We have sought to bring about such action within the UN and the European Union. The Tánaiste asked that the crisis in Rwanda be placed on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council on 16-17 May. As a result of this the conflict was considered by the Foreign Ministers of the Union and the main lines of the Union's policy were set out in a declaration issued after the meeting. The agreement reached at the Council reflects the key points of Ireland's policy. Those key points include the following. Ireland supports a review by the UN Security Council of the size and mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR). That has been carried out.

On 17 May the Security Council agreed to increase the size of UNAMIR and expanded its mandate. The UN Secretary General has sent his special envoy and chief military advisers to Rwanda to consult the parties on all aspects of UNAMIR's expanded mandate. Ireland supports the mission to Rwanda and Burundi by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The High Commissioner has visited Rwanda and I am arranging for a copy of his report to be placed in the Dáil Library. Ireland supports an emergency meeting in Geneva of the UN Commission on Human Rights. A two-day meeting began today.

While we are not currently a member of the Commission, an Irish delegation will attend as observers. Ireland's delegation is playing an active part in the European Union's contribution to the meeting. At today's meeting the Union will support a recommendation to appoint a special rapporteur who will examine all aspects of the human rights tragedy in Rwanda. Ireland supports the proposal that future UN efforts aimed at conflict resolution and peace-building in Rwanda should contain a strong human rights component. Such a proposal will need an effective and comprehensive human rights technical assistance programme. Ireland supports a UN Security Council arms embargo on Rwanda. This has now been implemented by a Security Council Resolution. Ireland made a proposal, endorsed by EU Foreign Ministers last week, that troika of EU Development Ministers make an early visit to the countries neighbouring Rwanda to evaluate the humanitarian position. As I stated at the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, I initiated this proposal at the last EU Development Council meeting.

The Declaration commits the European Union to increasing its humanitarian aid to the stricken population within Rwanda and to refugees in neighbouring countries. It expresses appreciation and support for the efforts of the OAU and to President Muinee of Tanzania for their initiatives in convening a regional conference, to which both the authorities of Rwanda and the RPF will be invited.

So far Ireland has contributed £547,000 to the humanitarian relief effort. Most of this money has been channelled through Concern and Trócaire with donations also being made to Oxfam Ireland and World Vision Ireland. Most of the funding is going towards assisting refugees in Tanzania where according to UNHCR there are now 310,000 Rwandans in camps. Ireland has also given £100,000 to the Red Cross for its work in Rwanda. We are ready to commit further funds to these and other agencies as the position demands.

Following a meeting of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs on 11 May, we have investigated the possibility of funding being made available from the Irish aid programme to upgrade the airstrip at Ngara in Tanzania, where there are some 280,000 refugees. After examination by an Irish aid team on the spot, it was concluded that the upgrading of the airstrip at Ngara is not an immediate priority for the agencies as the emphasis is being placed on meeting the needs of the camps by road and rail on a long-term basis.

There are more pressing needs. The camp at Ngara is extremely overcrowded, and it will be necessary to move people to new semi-permanent camps with full water and sanitation facilities. The Government has offered to divert experts from our programme of development cooperation in Tanzania to help with this work, if this would be of direct assistance. We are discussing with the aid agencies what the most pressing priorities are and have informed them that we will respond sympathetically to their proposals. I met some NGOs today to discuss their priorities.

My impression is that the international agencies and NGOs are working very well together and that the immediate needs of refugees in Tanzania will be met. The more difficult stage of the humanitarian effort lies ahead as order is hopefully restored in Rwanda. At present the security position is making it very difficult for the agencies to deliver humanitarian assistance within Rwanda, but no one can doubt that, once aid workers reach those in need, they will have a task of the highest magnitude.

This House last examined the position in Rwanda on 5 May. What we have learnt since and what we see and learn everyday, makes it all the more compelling for this small country to commit itself to use every means available to end the nightmare of death in Rwanda. The Government will continue to use every avenue open to it to bring an end to the conflict and to alleviate the suffering of the Rwandese people.

I subscribe to the view that actions speak louder than words. I have decided to travel to the region too view the position first hand. I intend to make known the deep concern of the Government at the appalling loss of life, my support for the peace efforts of the Tanzanian and neighbouring Governments and the Irish aid effort. I do not promise any miracles but if I can demonstrate by my presence the intense concern and the anguish of the Irish people at the carnage that is happening before our eyes, then I feel such a visit will be worthwhile.