I move:
That Seanad Éireann, noting that peace seems imminent in Sierra Leone, after an eight year civil war in which tens of thousands have been killed and 1.2 million have been displaced, urges the Government and its EU partners to play an active role in peace consolidation and reconstruction and calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline his plans and intentions in this matter.
I welcome the Minister of State. I have already spoken to the Minister for Foreign Affairs about this matter. He regrets he cannot be here this evening but he is deeply interested in the subject and has agreed to meet a group from the Sierra Leone support group within the next few weeks. I welcome the Sierra Leone support group which is in the Public Gallery this evening. Many of its members are Irish people who have worked for long periods in Sierra Leone. They have a deep commitment to that country and they welcome this opportunity to focus attention on Sierra Leone and to ask the Irish Government to take certain actions which I will outline.
Sierra Leone is about the size of Ireland. It has a population of approximately five million people. It is rich in natural resources and has one of the richest diamond deposits in the world. It also has extensive iron ore and zinc deposits. The soil in the country is good and, when it secured independence, Sierra Leone was a net food exporter. The time of independence was one of great optimism and this lasted for a number of years.
However, by the mid 1960s, corruption on an extensive scale had set in. As the extent of the mineral deposits became clear, the ruling government party, the Sierra Leone People's Party, started to line its pockets in a way that has become all too familiar. The change of government in 1968 was a change for the worse. Under Siaka Stevens, corruption took off. By the early 1980s the country's infrastructure was crumbling. Roads were reverting to dirt tracks, rural water schemes which had been installed with the help of the World Bank had ceased to function, agricultural developments were abandoned and teachers, who were rarely if ever paid, abandoned their schools. There was a series of coups in the late 1980s but none of them resulted in an improvement in the condition of the people. Those involved in the coups were largely concerned with sharing the spoils. The rest of the country slipped into anarchy and no attempt at economic development was possible.
I will now deal with the current situation. Sierra Leone is coming to the end of a devastating, brutal, horrific and, at times, barbaric civil war. At present, 70 per cent of the country is controlled by the Revolutionary United Front, a political movement described by The Irish Times, with an element of understatement, as an abominable collection of mercenaries, murderers and rapists. There is an elected government which controls Freetown and some of the major provincial towns. The government has strong support from Nigeria and other countries but, at present, it is under pressure to form a power sharing arrangement with the RUF.
The government is obviously not keen on this. It regards itself as the elected government and has every reason to be suspicious, if not distrustful, of the RUF. Nonetheless, in a situation where there are few good guys, it appears that a government will be formed. Talks started a few weeks ago and it appears likely that a deal will be made, bringing an end to the civil war. That is the context in which I speak to the House this evening.
Sierra Leone, which was in a bad state before the civil war began, is now devastated. Out of a population of five million, there are 1.5 million refugees. Tens of thousands have been killed and thousands of people have been badly mutilated. The health and education infrastructure is gone. The RUF, like the Khmer Rouge in another context, targeted anybody who was connected in any way with the previous governments, even if they were just teachers or nurses.
The country is faced with a major reconstruction programme. However, it has the potential to be prosperous and the reconstruction programme might not be as daunting as it first appears. The infrastructure required is basic. Schools and hospitals are simple structures which are not costly to build in this context. The first requirement is lasting peace. Whatever government is cobbled together, it is important that it is able to bring about peace. Hopes are high, apparently, that this can be done.
What we are seeking from the Government is clear, straightforward and within its capacity. It is also in line with the thinking and philosophy of this and previous Governments as far as developments in Africa are concerned. We ask that Sierra Leone be given priority status within the Department of Foreign Affairs. Over the years that Department has designated several countries as having priority status. This is a sensible arrangement whereby the Department directs most of its aid effort to the three or four designated countries. It is a good system which maximises our resources and ensures that aid is prop erly focused and funnelled. Given Ireland's increasing prosperity, we are in a position to help. I ask the Government to designate Sierra Leone for priority status. Sierra Leone is a small country. Our efforts and resources could make a real difference.
My second request is for this country to contribute personnel to the newly formed and recently deployed UN peace monitoring unit in Sierra Leone. Again, this is an area in which Ireland has wide expertise. Our soldiers have worked with the UN in this type of operation in many other countries. This case would be a new experience but our security forces would be more than willing to undertake it. I urge the Government to consider this course of action.
My third request is that this country, through the Department of Foreign Affairs or otherwise, make its considerable experience in conflict resolution and peace consolidation available. As a result of our unhappy history over the last 30 years, this country has a great deal of expertise in conflict resolution and peace consolidation. This expertise should be made available in Sierra Leone.
Ireland should also take a leading role in the training and retraining of teachers and nurses. Our teacher training colleges could, without difficulty, adopt a number of teachers or teacher colleges in Sierra Leone. That is also true of our nurse training facilities. We could make a significant contribution where the need is great and where Ireland has particular expertise.
I ask for that to be done and for our training hospitals, health boards and teacher training colleges to adopt Sierra Leone and agree to channel support there. Likewise the agricultural faculties in our universities and our agricultural training colleges should be able to offer practical assistance to the people of Sierra Leone who have to redevelop their entire economy.
The Minister has already very generously agreed to my fifth request for him to meet the Sierra Leone support group in the next couple of weeks. I thank him for agreeing to do this.
Apart from the practical steps I have advocated this evening, there is a need for a thorough reappraisal of what is happening in Africa. The average African is now worse off than in the 1960s when they first received independence, despite billions of pounds given in aid over the past 40 years. The debt problem is a scandal, as has been stated many times in this House. This subject has been well aired in the past year. In many countries – and Sierra Leone is a good example – the problem is more fundamental. It is one of survival as an entity with some semblance of civilised existence for the majority of its inhabitants. Somalia has lost the struggle and is now ruled by factional war lords. Zaire, Liberia and Sudan are little better. Kenya and Zimbabwe could well be next on the list because the one thing all these countries have in common is prolonged rule by deeply corrupt regimes. More than anything else, a lack of good government has destroyed the hopes of black Africa in the past three decades of this millennium.
We cannot decide who governs Africa but we can decide our attitudes to its rulers. During the 1970s, while the Government of Siaka Stevens systematically corrupted and destroyed Sierra Leone, European Governments and the EEC – as it then was – signed trade treaties, supported and dished out aid to it as if it was a model government. We must stop supporting African regimes which are openly corrupt. We in Ireland should seek, together with our European partners, to adopt agreed criteria to deal with African countries. We in the EU are their biggest aid donors and trading partners. Human rights and open government must be the first criteria. Without these, aid development is impossible. With them, Africa is well capable of developing itself.
The Cold War is over. Africa is of no strategic importance. Perhaps this lack of strategic importance will allow us in the West to at last do the right thing for Africa. I commend this motion to the House and ask the Government to look sympathetically and positively at my proposals. I am sure the response will be positive. I ask Senator Tom Fitzgerald to second the motion.