Peter Barry
Ceist:31 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government have been requested by the Secretary General for the UN to supply an Irish contingent for UN peace-keeping duties in Yugoslavia and South Africa.
Written Answers. - UN Peacekeeping Duties.
The information sought by the Deputy is as follows: As regards former Yugoslavia, Ireland agreed earlier this year to a request from the UN Secretary-General to provide military and Garda observers to serve with UNPROFOR, the United Nations Protection Force in Yugoslavia. The present Irish contingent comprises: six military observers and 20 Garda officers.
The military observers have played a vital role in implementing the UN plan for the demilitarisation of the areas under its protection in Croatia and in the reopening of the airport in Sarajevo. Their mission is to facilitate communications between the parties to the conflict, to attempt to defuse potentially difficult situations and thereby to promote the restoration of peace and security there. They are unarmed.
The members of An Garda Síochána serving with UNPROFOR comprise one Superintendent, four Sergeants and fifteen officers. They are based at two of the United Nations protected areas, namely Sector East (Eastern Slovenia) and Sector South (Krajina), and at United Nations Headquarters in Zagreb, Croatia.
The function of the Garda officers is to act as Civilian Police Monitors in the context of the overall United Nations Protection Force mission. Their task is to ensure that the local police carry out their duties without discrimination against any nationality and with full respect for the human rights of all residents of the UN protected areas. The Garda also are unarmed.
In so far as South Africa is concerned, the Government have not been approached by the UN Secretary General to supply an Irish contingent to serve with the United Nations Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA).
However, two members of the Garda Síochána travelled to South Africa on 2 November to serve with the EC observer team there. The observer team is attached to the South African National Peace Secretariat under the umbrella of United Nations Security Council Resolution 772, the objective of which is to assist in the implementation of the terms of the National Peace Accord.