It is timely for us to have an opportunity for an exchange in the Seanad on the difficult situation facing the population in the Great Lakes region, Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi. I wish to outline to the House what Senator Cotter has acknowledged is happening, primarily through my efforts and those of the Minister of State.
Ireland, as President of the European Union, working in conjunction with our partners, is continuing its efforts to avert further human tragedy in eastern Zaire and to avert a potentially catastrophic humanitarian disaster in the Great Lakes region of Africa. This has been outlined by the Senator who has personal experience of the region. In our ongoing efforts we are working in close co-operation with the EU Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region, Mr. Aldo Ajello, the special representative of the Secretary General of United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity, regional leaders and other members of the international community. We are also actively dealing with Irish NGOs and United Nations agencies in relation to this difficult situation. A comprehensive account of the action already taken by the EU has been provided in my reply to Dáil questions on 31 October and in the Adjournment statement made by the Minister of State, Deputy Burton, on 23 October.
Information from the region remains very limited and that is one of the great difficulties we have. Although a limited ceasefire is in effect, all international humanitarian staff have now been forced to evacuate from eastern Zaire having been subjected to death threats, acts of violence and seizure of their equipment. The conflict and instability make the delivery of humanitarian assistance extremely problematic if not impossible. Both the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs are continuing to seek guarantees of security and access to vulnerable populations from the Zairian authorities. The fighting in South Kivu forced over 350,000 people, Hutu refugees and local Zairians, to flee to the south and west. In North Kivu it is estimated that up to 500,000 people are currently in the Muganga refugee camp referred to by the Senator. The World Food Programme last distributed rations in the camp on 30 October. It is forecast that current supplies of food and water in the camp will last no longer than one week. The UN High Commission for Refugees believes that the camp may be home to around 700,000 people within days. The mountainous terrain and the recent rains make an outbreak of cholera very likely.
Foreign Ministers of the EU discussed the situation in eastern Zaire at our General Affairs Council held in Luxembourg last week. We called on all parties to exercise restraint and to have regard to the safety of civilians. As a first step towards preventing any further escalation in violence and unrest, we called for the implementation of an immediate ceasefire and reiterated the Union's firm conviction that the complex problems at issue can only be resolved through dialogue. We called on all parties concerned, and in particular the authorities in both Zaire and Rwanda, to begin such a process as soon as possible. We also requested the European Commission to report urgently on the situation and to make proposals for action by the Union to assist actively in the process of getting supplies to those in need.
The European Union mandated its own special envoy to return to the Great Lakes region where he has, over the past week, been engaged in intensive consultations with the Governments of Rwanda and Burundi, the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity and other concerned parties. Mr. Ajello also attended, on behalf of the European Union, the Summit of Regional Leaders on the Crisis in Eastern Zaire which was held in Nairobi yesterday. I also spoke to Mr. Ajello on Monday of this week in relation to his efforts.
The outcome of yesterday's summit should be viewed as a further positive step towards the realisation of a framework within which the crisis in eastern Zaire can be resolved in a peaceful and humanitarian manner. The regional summit has given strong support to the calls made by the EU and other members of the international community for the implementation of a full and immediate ceasefire to facilitate the intensification of diplomatic efforts to achieve lasting peace. The summit also strongly supported the establishment, in conjunction with the respective Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unit, of safe corridors and areas of sanctuary inside Zaire with an appropriate protection force to facilitate humanitarian assistance and the repatriation of refugees.
The crisis in eastern Zaire is under active consideration by the United Nations Security Council and the council will be addressing the calls made by African leaders at the Nairobi Summit for urgent concerted international action. The outcome of the consideration by the Security Council should provide the broad framework for co-ordinated international action including the efforts of the European Union.
In its approach to the crisis in eastern Zaire, the European Union will stringently seek to create the earliest possible opportunity for peaceful dialogue between the parties concerned while, at the same time, addressing the volatile and distressing humanitarian situation. This reflects the Union's recognition that the humanitarian and political aspects of the crisis need to addressed together in a comprehensive way. We will thus seek to ensure that the necessary conditions exist for essential humanitarian tasks to be carried out as quickly as possible and for the process of dialogue to proceed. As part of this approach, Minister of State, Deputy Burton, will chair a special meeting of EU Development Ministers to be held in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the humanitarian situation of refugees and displaced people in eastern Zaire and to assess prospects for humanitarian action to bring about an easing of the crisis. The meeting will also be attended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, Under-Secretary Acacia of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs and representatives of UNICEF, the World Food Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The humanitarian agencies and EU member states will provide an overview of the situation and address the most effective means by which a humanitarian disaster can be averted. In addition, the meeting will deal with the importance of effective co-ordination of responses to the humanitarian situation from the EU member states and international aid agencies.
Since 1994, Ireland has contributed over £9.5 million in aid to the Great Lakes region, including more than £2.5 million to date in 1996. This contribution has been allocated to Rwandan refugees for use within Rwanda itself and to Burundi and Burundan refugees. Our agencies have followed a clear policy of providing humanitarian aid to refugees in the region while also promoting their return through supporting the rebuilding of civil society in Rwanda. As the Senator will be aware, the Government has recently approved the allocation of £1 million from the national lottery to provide assistance to the Great Lakes region. This allocation will supplement funding available to the Emergency Humanitarian Assistance Fund which will be allocated to specific projects as soon as possible. The international community has contributed $2.589 million to the Great Lakes region since October 1993. The two largest donors have been the European Union and the United States.
Humanitarian agencies are preparing to return to the region once the security situation improves. These agencies are currently reallocating resources to Rwanda where they hope the refugees will return or that they will be able to establish humanitarian corridors. The Government will remain in close consultation with Irish NGOs as the situation develops. The Government is committed to the voluntary and safe return of refugees to Rwanda as a key means of achieving a long-term solution to the problems of the region.
In the context of a need for a comprehensive approach to the complex and interconnected problems at issue in the Great Lakes region, the Government and our European partners remain committed to the holding of a regional conference on peace, security and stability in the region under the auspices of the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity. We believe such a conference has a central role to play in the establishment of a lasting regional settlement.
In conclusion. I thank the Senator for raising this matter. It is right that it is discussed in the Seanad and I can assure him that we will continue to grapple — I use the term reservedly but cautiously, but that is what we are doing — with the problem. We are trying to co-ordinate the efforts of the various organisations within the European Union, in co-ordination with the United Nations and the Americans. I expect to spend hours for the remainder of this day in consultation with my European Union colleagues, the United States and the United Nations to see if we can get hard information on what is happening on the ground and see if we can get the NGOs and the volunteers back working on the ground. However, we cannot do that unless we can guarantee their security. That will be a problem, but the most pressing problem for us at the moment is probably humanitarian aid, that is, to get food to the people on the ground. As the Senator has described from his experience, the situation in the camp is most volatile. We will continue our efforts in co-ordination with the world organisations to see if we can avert a human catastrophe for which there is a potential.
The Seanad adjourned at 8.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 7 November, 1996.
