Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 24 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - US Military Aid for El Salvador.

Mr. Dukes

I am grateful to you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this matter tonight and, indeed, I am grateful to the Minister of State for being here. After many years of strife, killing, hardship and suffering a ceasefire was finally arranged between the Government of EI Salvador and the FMLN. That ceasefire came into effect on 1 February last and is being monitored by UN forces. Under the terms of the New York peace accord which led to the ceasefire the nature and structure of the Salvadoran military and security forces are to be altered significantly and reduced substantially during the course of the next two years.

The chairmen of the United States Senate sub-committee on foreign operations and on western hemisphere affairs, Senators Leahy and Dodd, are, it seems, of the view that Congress is prepared, in the light of the new situation, to delete any new funds for the El Salvador military aid account from the US fiscal provision. El Salvador urgently needs funds for humanitarian purposes and for the much delayed process of restructuring and reconstructing a shattered economy in which many thousands of families have been displaced. As I understand it, there is a disposition in Congress in Washington to channel all of the funds originally earmarked for military aid in 1992 into the new fund for transition to peace to be used in support of the implementation of the peace agreement, including the demobilisation of combatants on the Government side and on the part of the FMLN. Against that background I find it impossible to understand the Bush administration's proposal to grant further military aid to the Government of El Salvador amounting to $35 million for 1992 and $40 million for 1993, with the possibility that $28 million in unallocated aid from previous exercises might also be provided for military aid.

Since 1980 successive administrations in the United States have channelled $1.1 billion of military aid into El Salvador. Those funds have supported widespread oppression and have resulted in slaughter and suffering in that country throughout that period. It is surely time for the United States' administration to accept the fact that its Central American policy has been wholly misguided, that it has been inimical to human rights and obstructive of the emergence of viable democratic systems in the area. Bearing that in mind, I would invite the Minister and the Government to support my case to oppose any further US military aid to the Government of El Salvador, to put those views forthrightly to the US administration at the earliest possible moment and to seek support for them among our partners in the United Nations.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Daly)

As the Deputy has mentioned, on 31 December 1991 the Salvadoran Government and the Farabundi Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) reached an historic accord with the aim of putting a definitive end to the armed conflict in El Salvador. The final peace agreements were signed in Mexico City on 16 January 1992. These call for major reforms in El Salvador's judicial and electoral system, the establishment of new human rights safeguards, reform and reduction of the armed forces, the disarming, over a nine month period, of the FMLN and their integration into the political life of the country. These agreements represent a major and positive advance in a situation of armed conflict which has lasted for 12 years and which has resulted in the deaths of at least 80,000 people. Ireland, together with partners in the European Community and the other members of the international community welcome this important development as an historic opportunity to put an end to the conflict in El Salvador and to bring peace and reconciliation to its people. Together with the international community, therefore, we will be concerned to ensure that nothing is done that could hinder or destroy progress in this direction.

Among the proposals in the peace accords is the call for a reduction and scaling down of the army in El Salvador although, of course, not its total abolition. This is in keeping with the Central American regional disarmament framework within which it is the intention, through regional negotiations, to reduce armaments to a level commensurate with the needs of legitimate defence. At the San Jose Ministerial Conference on 24 and 25 February 1992, which I attended, Ministers of the European Community and the countries of the Central American region agreed that reaching a regional balance of arms and military forces at as low a level as possible would substantially contribute to the consolidation of the peace process as well as to the economic development of Central America.

According to the information available to me, the United States has asked Congress for approval for a package of $286 million in aid to El Salvador. I understand that $246 million is to be in the form of economic aid and $40 million is to be in the form of military aid, the bulk of which is, I am informed, intended for subsistence purposes such as food, clothing, tents and medicine for the army in El Salvador. It is my understanding that, in accordance with the peace accords, the Government of El Salvador plan to reduce the army to half its present strength over the next 24 months.

As Deputy Dukes is aware, the detailed implementation of the peace agreements in El Salvador is being monitored and verified by the United Nations, who are already on the ground in El Salvador in substantial numbers. On 15 January the Security Council approved the sending of 1,000 officers to the new UN force in El Salvador. This force will consist of two components, one civil and the other military. It will also incorporate the division for human rights which has been operating in El Salvador since last July. The United Nations force on the ground will be monitoring and verifying the separation of the forces, the scaling down of the army and its reorganisation and retraining. In this context, it will also be following closely the use to which any aid, including military aid, is put. Together with partners in the Twelve and other members of the international community, I will be keeping myself fully informed of UN reports in these matters.

The situation on the implementation and verification of the peace agreements will also be monitored by the group of friends, that is, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, who were actively involved with the Secretary General in assisting the negotiation of these peace accords and who therefore have a particular interest in following their implementation and ensuring that they are fulfilled.

Indeed, the major concern of the international community as a whole is to see these agreements implemented and to aid the restructuring of the country. We have reached an important and historic stage in the peace progress, not just in El Salvador but in the entire Central American region. We have in these peace agreements the necessary ingredients to ensure reconciliation and development in El Salvador. We in Ireland, along with our partners in the European Community and the other members of the international community, will be paying close and careful attention to the monitoring and verification role of the United Nations in El Salvador and to ensuring that all that can be done will be done to realise the result intended in the peace agreements.

The Dáil adjourned at 12.45 a.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 25 March 1992.