Deputy Proinsias De Rossa has been given permission to raise the matter of the current peace initiatives in the Gulf War and the Government's response to these moves, the possible imminence of a massive ground war which would cause appalling casualties; the need for the Government to publicly support the initiative, to encourage those involved to continue the search for peace, and to urge that all further military action be deferred pending the outcome of the talks. Deputy De Rossa has five minutes to make his case. The Chair appreciates Deputy De Rossa's patience and understanding. I understand that the Minister of State at the Department of Health has the reply to the Deputy's questions.
Adjournment Debate. - Gulf Conflict.
I would have been quite happy to have waited until the Minister could arrive. I am sure there must be very good reasons he is not able to get here. It is unfortunate that he is not in the House to respond to the points I wish to make in relation to the current situation. First of all nothing I have said in the past, or indeed that I will say today, can in any way to be taken to mean that I have anything but the utmost contempt for Saddam Hussein and the misery he has managed to inflict upon his people. Indeed, his latest reported statement on Iraqi television indicates a level of unreality about his situation which borders on the incredible.
It is clear, however, that the Iraqi Government have now accepted for the first time publicly that they must withdraw from Kuwait. There can be no further excuse therefore for continuing with the appalling slaughter of Iraqi civilians by allied bombers. Now is the time to stop the slaughter and to begin serious talks about structures for a lasting peace in the region.
The US led war against Iraq was alledgedly undertaken on behalf of the United Nations and, in particular, under Resolution 678. I doubt that there is anyone who believes this lie any longer. No UN military or political personnel are in any way involved in the planning or conduct of this war. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Perez de Cuellar, has said that the war coalition has more than exceeded the terms of Resolution 678.
There is deep concern at the mounting toll of civilian casualities. It seems to me that the US led forces have inflicted death and destruction on the innocent Iraqi people as part of their war strategy. We do not know the full extent of the deaths and injuries among the civilian population, with estimates varying from between 20,000 to 100,000 dead and injured. Of course, we were all appalled at the television pictures of the bodies of women and children being taken from the destroyed air raid shelter in Baghdad last week. Yet every day the sophisticated weaponry of the US-led forces rains down on the towns and cities of Iraq, tens of thousands of bombs which destroy not only military installations but also the water supplies, sewerage works, electricity supplies, footbridges and roads. At this point, life for the civilian population of Iraq is sheer hell.
I want to draw the attention of the House to a report in The International Guardian of Tuesday, 19 February, the day before yesterday, by Alfonso Rojo, a correspondent for the Madrid newspaper El Mundo, in which he states:
Every day without being struck by bombs or buried under rubble, more than 50 children die in Baghdad alone, it is claimed here. They fall victims to a silent assassin — the lack of electricity.
"They die from what is technically known as cold injury", according to Dr. Kohosha Aboona, head of maternity care at the al-Aluia hospital. "Every day, mothers come along with their children and when you touch them they're frozen. It's like putting your hand in a refrigerator. We try to revive them with hot water bottles, but sometimes it isn't enough."
The doctor, an Assyrian Christian, added that the problem was made worse by the lack of power to run incubators.
"You can't keep a hospital going without electricity", she said. "In the big hospitals, they've had to suspend the treatment of patients with cancer, and much of the kidney dialysis and transplanting. We've got a generator here but it only works for three hours a day". The report continues along those lines.
I do not accept that the United Nations agreed that the civilians of Iraq or Kuwait should be the pawns in a power game between the West and the Middle East. As I have said, bombs are being dropped every day. Indeed, the number of bombs was intensified over the past week as soon as the current peace initiative got underway.
As a civilised nation, we cannot accept a war which is being carried out on our behalf which is killing children, preventing hospitals from treating cancer patients and causing the spread of disease through lack of water and death through hypothermia. It is a total travesty that the civilian population is being attacked and killed in this way. This is not consistent with the UN Charter or UN Resolution 678.
The current Soviet-Iranian peace initiative seems to have been rejected with indecent haste. As Archbishop Cathal Daly pointed out on Sunday, 17 February, the dismissal was precipitate and too sweeping. Indeed, there was almost an expression of horror and disgust in London and Washington that anyone should dare to attempt to put a peace package together.
The Irish Government should make it clear, first, to the Irish people and, secondly to the US-led Coalition and the United Nations Secretary General that they fully support this peace initiative and believe the war should now stop regardless of the Iraqi response. The United Nations Organisation should negotiate the withdrawal of Iraq from Kuwait and help establish lasting political structures in the region using whatever diplomatic, political and economic options open to them. In view of this peace initiative and the declaration by the Iraqi Government that they intend to withdraw from Kuwait we should no longer assist this war by providing refuelling facilities at Shannon or overflight facilities for military craft involved in this war.
First, I should like to make it clear that the Government, like everyone else in Ireland, profoundly regret the injuries and death caused to the people of Iraq since this war, which was a response to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on 2 August last, began.
The Government continue to monitor carefully the reports from Moscow, Baghdad and Teheran concerning an initiative to bring the war to an end. Deputies will join with me in wishing this initiative every success. However, it remains true that a solution is possible only on the basis of respect for the principles set out by the Security Council and compliance by Iraq with the Security Council Resolutions. Iraq must give an unequivocal and unconditional commitment to withdraw from Kuwait forthwith.
As the House has already been informed, Ireland will support any initiative which offers a reasonable chance of ending hostilities on the basis of full compliance by Iraq with the Security Council Resolutions, including in particular withdrawal from Kuwait. For any initiative to have a reasonable chance of success, a necessary condition is an indication by the Government of Iraq of their clear decision to comply with the UN Security Council Resolutions. Unfortunately, the President of Iraq has still not given such an indication.
All Irish people experienced a great sense of relief at the first reports from Baghdad last Friday containing the specific statement that Iraq was now prepared to co-operate in the implementation of Resolution 660. However, almost immediately after those first reports came the news that the Iraqi proposal linked withdrawal to a number of conditions. It is not clear exactly how many conditions were attached by Iraq to its declared readiness to withdraw. There were at least eight, including Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and cancellation of all debts owed by Iraq. While the declared commitment to comply with Resolution 660 was important as a first indication of Iraqi reconsideration of its approach the associated conditions made the announcement unacceptable. The Iraqi leadership must make it perfectly clear that it agrees to full and complete withdrawal from Kuwait without conditions.
The current initiative by the Soviet authorities is of potentially great interest. Iraq's Foreign Minister, Mr. Tariq Aziz, visited Moscow on 18 February and had discussions with, among others, President Gorbachev. The Soviet Government have not thought it appropriate to publicise the details of the diplomatic action they have undertaken to end the war. It would not be proper for me to support action, the details of which remain unclear, but I can say that the Government support President Gorbachev's appeal to the Iraqi authorities to comply in full with the Resolutions of the Security Council. This appeal is welcome, and I hope Iraq heeds it.
Mr. Tariq Aziz is due back in Moscow today to convey President Saddam Hussein's reaction to the Soviet authorities. The United Nations Security Council are awaiting developments. The Irish Government clearly support the appeal to the Iraqi Government for full and unconditional implementation of all the relevant Resolutions of the UN Security Council, thus putting an end to the conflict and sparing new sufferings to the peoples of Iraq and Kuwait. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the European Community made a similar appeal on 19 February. Such a commitment on the part of the Iraqi Government would have prevented hostilities as from 15 January: the key to the cessation of hostilities still lies with Baghdad. Regretfully, the speech just made by Saddam Hussein in Baghdad is not very encouraging.
Like all Members of this House, the Government are concerned at reports of civilian casualties and at the risks to which civilians have been exposed. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has pointed out that the physical dangers from the bombing attacks are compounded by the hazards to public health that are daily growing more acute in the absence of electricity and the shortage of clean water. The implications for the innocent and especially vulnerable groups such as women, children and the elderly are particularly disturbing. The longer the war goes on the greater becomes the danger that more civilians will be caught up in the violence. I would like to emphasise that I share with all Members of this House and with all Irish people the profound sense of regret at the effect to this tragedy on the peoples of Kuwait and Iraq. I believe that the best way to help them is to bring the war to a conclusion as soon as possible.
The key to a ceasefire and an end to the hostilities lies in Baghdad. I do most solemnly urge the Iraqi leadership to announce its firm intention to withdraw from Kuwait, to confirm this by action to the end, and to refrain from associating this, its duty under the United Nations Charter, with conditions which are unacceptable. The taking of such action by Baghdad would bring an end to military action.
The Minister——
The Deputy may not ask a question now.
I do not wish to ask a question. I merely wish to say that I regard the Minister's statement as totally inadequate.
That is the Deputy's entitlement.