Vol. 487 No. 5
6 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the position on the violence in Algeria; the initiative, if any, the Government plans to try to end the violence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4287/98]
34 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has raised with the Algerian authorities concern at possible Algerian security forces involvement in some of the recent massacres. [4280/98]
65 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the initiatives, if any, the EU has taken in Algeria in recent weeks; and if he is hopeful for the prospects of an end to the brutal murders that have taken place in recent months. [4296/98].
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 34 and 65 together.
The Government has already set out its views on the situation in Algeria in answers which I gave to parliamentary questions on 4 November and 11 December, in a reply to an Adjournment Debate on 2 December and in a report I made to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on 17 December on my meeting with President Zéroual, Foreign Minister Attaf and parliamentary leaders in Algeria.
The Government has emphasised its solidarity with the Algerian people, whose fundamental freedoms and human rights are being currently violated. We have expressed our deep sense of shock at the horrible massacres of innocent civilians, including women and children. We have raised the issue of allegations of security force involvement in certain of these massacres with the Algerian government and we have actively encouraged it to pursue political dialogue with all the democratic parties in that country in as inclusive a framework as possible. We have also been active at EU level in urging greater efforts by the Union towards the ending of the violence in Algeria.
Most regrettably the killings, particularly of civilians, continue though not at the same level of intensity as during the month of January which coincided with the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. Following discussions among the European Union Council of Ministers in early January it was decided that a Troika visit to Algeria should take place later that month. A Troika at ministerial level visited Algiers on 19-20 January 1998. Vice President Marin of the Commission also took part.
The visiting Ministers met with the Algerian President and Minister for Foreign Affairs, leaders of the opposition in the National Assembly, representatives of the media and local non-governmental organisations. The Troika had a series of open and frank discussions with the Government representatives. The subjects discussed included terrorism, the need for greater transparency — the Troika pressed for early access by UN special human rights rapporteurs — humanitarian assistance, which the Troika offered as a gesture of solidarity with the Algerian people, and EU-Algerian assistance in the field of economic and technical co-operation.
The EU group did not, however, achieve all that it hoped, notably with regard to visits to the scenes of the recent massacres and in the field of humanitarian assistance. While the Algerian government indicated its opposition to visits of UN observers at the time, it agreed to further ministerial contact and to visits of parliamentarians.
A group of members of the European Parliament visited Algeria for three days last week. They continued the dialogue with the Algerian government and with a wide range of opposition and NGO representatives as well as religious leaders.
I understand that a team of three Algerian ministers will attend the session of the UN High Commission on Human Rights in Geneva next month and also that the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Koffi Annan, intends to visit Algeria in the very near future.
I welcome the fact that such visits are taking place and indeed, seem to be increasing. I remain of the view that the best hope of success lies through active diplomacy and I will continue to pursue that policy in dealing with this tragic situation and urge that my partners in the Union should also do so both individually and collectively.
I am sure I speak for everybody here when I say we are appalled at the loss of life and the atrocities taking place in Algeria. It is not clear where primary responsibility lies. Has the Algerian Government given recent indications about permitting UN rapporteurs to visit Algeria or has it explained why it does not want rapporteurs there? If it did so, it would at least improve the case for its argument on terrorism. Has the offer of EU assistance been accepted and has it been put in place? What are the views of the European Parliament delegation following its visit to Algeria?
I can give an indication of the result of the troika mission. Given the intrinsically deep-rooted and political nature of the Algerian problem, the troika accomplished as much as could be expected during its brief visit. The following points are noted from its report. EU Ministers and Commissioner Marin had a lengthy and searching discussion with Foreign Minister Attaf who, while he made no concessions, should be under no illusion about the depth of feeling in the EU up to the highest political level at the position in Algeria. They established, via the president of the Algerian Red Crescent, that Government assistance was "not ideal but acceptable". Mr. Attaf had earlier refused offers of humanitarian assistance.
The Commissioner and Ministers met leaders of democratic opposition parties who, while united in their attitudes to the Government, were sharply divided on the necessity for an international inquiry. They also met newspaper editors. The two main negative aspects of the visit were the refusal by the Government to allow them to visit the scenes of the massacres and reversal by the Government of its earlier position to allow a visit by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.
In regard to the MEP visit, nine members of the European Parliament delegation left Algiers on 12 February following their three day visit. Their departure was marked by three bombs in the capital which, according to media reports, killed at least two people and wounded 28 others. The delegation held meetings with their counterparts from the Algerian Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and a broad section of society and reported that they gave the definite impression that things were starting to move in Algeria and that progress was being made in terms of democracy. I will give an undertaking to the Deputy that, in addition to raising the question of Iraq, I will raise this matter at the General Affairs Council meeting on Monday next.
I was the first Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs to visit Algeria. During my visit I met the Foreign Minister, Mr. Attaf, President Zéroual and the head of the Assembly, who was very scathing of the role played by our former President in her observations on the position in Algeria arising from her present position in the UN. I said I appreciated the role played by the former President and that I commended her on her new role. I also said that if there was any criticism of her it should be addressed to her. I did not get on particularly well with the head of the Assembly.
My urgings and conversations with the Foreign Minister Mr. Attaf lasted for three and a half hours during which we had vigorous and robust exchanges on the conditions in the country and who is responsible for the killings, whether it is the so-called terrorist organisations or whether the Government had a hand in human rights offences.
I met President Zéroual who presented his case well. It appears he wants to return to the democratic process — he told me that he was elected by the democratic process, and as far as we can ascertain that was the case. We should not engage in megaphone diplomacy with Algeria. We should stand side by side, in a humanitarian context, with the people of Algeria in their predicament. We should urge continuing dialogue, as has happened since my visit. It is very important that the imminent visit to Europe by the three Algerian Ministers is part of an ongoing process.
Will the Minister see if it is possible that one of those three Ministers will come to Ireland to meet parliamentarians here? I met the Algerian Ambassador in London who is of the opinion that we do not have enough contact with Algerians to understand the problem in that country. Will the Minister agree there must be access to Algeria by UN High Commission rapporteurs and that an international investigation must be undertaken into the position in Algeria so as to have an independent assessment of the position there? Will he agree that any EU-Algerian agreement — one such agreement was in the pipeline, although it may now be on the back burner — should include the right of the European Union to gain information on the position in Algeria? Will he agree the Government, together with our EU colleagues, should seek the setting up of a war crimes tribunal and bring before it whoever is responsible for the genocide and massacre.
I note that whereas Amnesty International and other organisations say that in the region of 80,000 people have died, the Algerian Government says only 26,000 died. Whether the exact figure is 26,000 or 80,000 and, irrespective of who carried out the murders, we should put down a marker that the international community will not accept this. We should seek to exert pressure on those in Algeria, be they in government or state agencies or outside them, who are responsible for this terrible genocide and put them on notice that the EU and the international community will do all it can to bring them to account.
One is always reluctant to attempt to prescribe from afar about what is obviously a highly complex, historically-based problem but many charges of state terrorism do seem to have been made against the Algerian Government's handling of the situation in its country. I am disturbed that the Algerian Government will not provide access to the country to a UN human rights rapporteur and that it has refused the Troika permission to visit graves. Did the government representatives to whom the Minister spoke offer any explanations for the high level and scale of the killing which occurred during the past number of months? It appears to me that the government is not capable of protecting the innocent citizenry who seem to be caught in the middle of this struggle for power between it and the fundamentalists. The government is clearly trying to retain the system which has prevailed in recent years.
It is the intention of the Government and of the EU to continue to press for access to be allowed to a human rights rapporteur into Algeria. Perhaps we could invite Foreign Minister Attaf to Ireland to address the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the event of him not coming, perhaps the Algerian Ambassador Benyamina, who is based in London, might visit the committee on behalf of the Algerian Government. The ambassador is an articulate individual and I had lengthy discussions with him in the compound in which we were placed on our arrival in Algiers. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to leave the compound under very heavy protection.
I do not doubt there would be sufficient work for a war crimes tribunal but I am not sure that calling for such a tribunal would help the situation at this time. In regard to the number of people killed, the higher figure of 80,000 people, quoted by Deputy Mitchell, is probably the correct one.
Deputy Spring inquired about the writ of the Algerian Government. I personally felt the government was under siege from the terrorists. The government did send a young and undertrained army to the regions to deal with the situation but I understand the soldiers would not stray very far from their camps or barracks because of the ferocity of the terrorism. The obscenities being committed by people who proclaim themselves to be liberating their country from what they perceive to be a terrible government are quite horrific. In order to achieve that goal, hundreds and thousands of people are being killed. It was predicted that the greatest number of people would be killed during the Muslim month of Ramadan and that proved correct. The level of killings has lessened to some degree since then, although that does not offer much consolation.
Deputy Mitchell has correctly pointed out the necessity to continue a two-way dialogue and we should invite an Algerian minister or ministers to visit this country. In advance of that, we could perhaps ask ambassador Benyamina to visit us. I notice a letter from the ambassador entitled "Massacres in Algeria" is published in today's edition of The Irish Times to which Lara Marlowe, a very courageous correspondent with the paper, has replied. The letters are well worth reading as they show both sides of the story.
Does the Minister know what size the Algerian Government's army is or what size of territory it covers? Perhaps the Minister could convey the information to us at a later stage if he does not have it directly to hand.
I do not have the information to hand but I will get it for the Deputy as soon as possible.
