Vol. 474 No. 5
8 Mr. Molloy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, he has taken in the past year to advance the cause of the indigenous Saharawis to self-determination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3268/97]
Ireland has fully supported the United Nations Secretary General's efforts to achieve an agreement between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front to bring about a free and fair referendum at the earliest possible date in the Western Sahara in accordance with the terms of UN Security Council Resolutions 690 of April 1991 and 907 of March 1994.
The holding of the referendum, through which the Saharawi people would determine the future of the Western Sahara, has been blocked by the failure of Morocco and POLISARIO to agree on voter eligibility criteria. During the past year, and particularly during its Presidency of the European Union, Ireland has been actively involved in efforts to resolve this impasse.
Ireland has also contributed military observers to the United Nations Mission on the Referendum in the Western Sahara, MINURSO, which is responsible for supervising the preparation of the referendum and for monitoring the ceasefire between the two sides. There are eight Irish military observers serving at present with MINURSO.
In the context of Ireland's Presidency of the European Union, two meetings were held with representatives of the Saharawi people. The Minister of State, Deputy Joan Burton, had a meeting with the European representative of POLISARIO on 26 July 1996. She underlined Ireland's commitment to a resolution of the question of the Western Sahara through the holding of a free and fair referendum by the people of the region. The POLISARIO representative expressed gratitude for Ireland's contribution to the resolution of the Western Sahara question, notably as a troop contributor to MINURSO. He underlined the view of POLISARIO that the referendum proposed by the UN Secretary General was the only route to a lasting solution of the Western Sahara question.
In addition, officials of my Department met representatives of the national union of Saharawi women on 9 December 1996. This meeting provided the delegation with an opportunity to outline their concerns on the humanitarian situation in the Western Sahara to my Department, and to seek assistance for humanitarian projects in the refugee camps. Officials from my Department undertook to consider any request for aid and have supplied guidelines on how such a request might be submitted.
I thank the Minister for his reply but, like me, many people believe that the real villain of the piece is Morocco and pressure must be brought to bear on it to accept a referendum. The negotiations have been going on for 14 or 15 years and while agreements were reached on the terms of a referendum Morocco changed the rules at the last minute. The difficulty is that Morocco is a major trader and is seen as a source of trade for EU countries, while the 500,000 Saharawi people have no economic influence in the world and are losing out in the international debate on this issue. Until the EU adopts a stronger line with Morocco and it is told it is wrong and that its presence in the Western Sahara and most of that territory is a colonial one there will be no progress on this issue.
As I stated, Ireland fully supports the plan drawn up by the Secretary General of the United Nations, while the Minister of State, Deputy Burton, had discussions on this matter with the Under-Secretary to the Secretary General last September. The EU will continue to provide every assistance possible to ensure we overcome the difficulties in regard to voter registration. Approximately 40,000 voters were identified before the voter registration process was suspended in May 1996. The Security Council voted to suspend voter registration because of continuing disagreement between Morocco and POLISARIO over who is eligible to vote. The slow and painstaking nature of the voter registration process was the main cause of the frequent revisions of the referendum date. It also prevented setting in motion other features of the UN settlement plan. It is important that we complete that process and bring about the referendum which is the key to resolving this old dispute.
