I thank all Deputies who contributed to the debate. The empty benches in the Chamber are a testimony to the difficulty in sustaining interest in an issue once it goes out of the headlines.
I understand the frustration expressed by the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on foreign affairs, Deputy Ray Burke, and by the Progressive Democrats spokesperson, Deputy O'Malley. If they are disinclined to believe the version of events as told to them by the Government, the Department of Foreign Affairs and me, I encourage them to talk to the aid agencies such as Concern and Trócaire or to other members of their parties who have taken a detailed interest in this issue.
It will be acknowledged that the Irish Government has prepared for the possibility of a crisis in the region, especially in Burundi. We wanted the refugees to return home. In preparing for our Presidency, we planned to have the capacity to respond as quickly as possible. We did this by the troika visit I led to the region and by the various special meetings convened, including, for the first time, a special meeting of European development ministers with the head of the UNHCR, Mrs. Ogata, the heads of the DHA, the Red Cross, the World Food Programme and the head of UNICEF, Mrs. Bellamy. The purpose was to produce a co-ordinated response as well as substantial monetary input by Ireland and other European Union countries on a bilateral basis and the European Union on a collective basis. In terms of responding financially to crises, whether they be Bosnia, the Middle East or Africa, European Union countries are by far the largest contributors, individually and collectively, to the humanitarian needs these crises create.
Co-ordination is needed. So far, some of what has happened has given cause for hope. In relative calm 550,000 refugees have, at this stage, returned to Rwanda. We must provide the material sustenance which will see them through their first few months at home and provide funding for housing in dealing with this major political and humanitarian issue. The Rwandan Government has allowed 15 days for people occupying houses to get out and make way for returning refugees. Some of those occupying the houses are survivors of the genocide and some of those returning were involved in it. It can be imagined how dreadfully stressful and complex this aspect of the emergency is.
In terms of examining overall solutions to this problem, I am disappointed by the thinking of Deputy Ray Burke and Deputy O'Malley, especially as I would have regarded Fianna Fáil as a broadly anti-colonial party. The essence of Africa's problems is that they must be dealt with by Africa, whatever the colonial legacy. What happened in the 1870s and at the turn of the century in the follow-up to the Berlin Conference is known but most African countries have been independent for 20 to 30 years. We may criticise the corruption and mismanagement which has affected independent African countries, but we also agree with the analysis of Deputy Lynch that some of this is as a result of colonial problems. The problems of Africa will only be dealt with if Africa takes responsibility and gives a lead. To suggest that the European powers can simply apply a band-aid to a crisis of great proportions and do nothing else, no matter how well-intentioned that is, is to suggest a profoundly neocolonial approach.
We should take the long road which is to work with African countries to evolve solutions they can broker and underwrite and to support those solutions with substantial and generous financial backing. We should also adopt multilateral approaches to other problems such as African debt and effective access to European Union markets. It is only by that broad approach, working with Africa rather than handing down solutions to it, that we will begin to emerge from this nightmare which has engulfed central Africa.
Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire constitute a nightmare. This is one of the most fertile parts of the world. It looks like Killarney and has many small lakes except the mountains are capable of growing three crops per year. It could be one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world, but instead, it is a hell hole. I spoke to an Irish person last night who had worked in Bukavu. He spoke of one Zairean family which had been looted seven times by different sets of soldiers. On the seventh time, they left their house and fled into the bush because they had nothing left. If there is nothing left to give soldiers when they come, they kill the inhabitants. This is the reality facing families.
The variety of Irish and international aid agencies working in the region are doing a tremendous job and are rightly widely respected for their hands-on practical approach which helps people get their lives back together and deals with the practicalities of problems. The sight of the refugees walking back along the road, the sight of a mother with a baby on her back and a bundle on her head — all that she possesses, a water pot, a jerry can and mats on which to lie down — will stay with me for my life. People are walking 50, 70, 100 miles over two and three days.
At intervals of about 15 miles along the road Concern have put up tents like marquees, and large water tanks, so that people can stop for water. Concern, with the government of Rwanda, had the foresight to start doing this about six weeks ago before the crisis really hit the headlines. However, only about 200 lorries are available to the government, so most people walk, as they do in most of Africa. They are capable of walking but I would be extremely worried about the physical condition of refugees, particularly those in eastern Zaire who have been out of camps for more than five weeks. About 8,000 have crossed from Bukavu to Cyangugu in southern Rwanda in the past two weeks, and they are crossing at the rate of 700 a day at the moment; this route was opened within the past two weeks. Those people are in a bad condition because they have been out on the road or in the forest for more than five weeks. They badly need assistance, so when the international force gets there I hope that, whatever the generals do, they will get stuck in and help people who need water, blankets, receptacles for water, tools for planting and seeds. The work is not glamorous but very practical. I am delighted that Irish soldiers are going because wherever they have worked — the same goes for the Garda Síochána — people have complimented me on the sheer practicality they bring to their work. They are prepared to go out and help local people and listen to them.
In the Uvira area, which is further south, there are 220,000 refugees. There has been much fighting here by rebel forces under Major Kabila. The Zairean army seems to be looting all around it. Various factions in Burundi are also fighting a war. There are 220,000 refugees in that area. There has been much focus on the issue of numbers. A few weeks ago the UN claimed there were 750,000 refugees but most people felt that number was exaggerated. Everyone now agrees that the correct number is about 350,000, give or take 10 per cent. However, that is a huge number of people. About 220,000 of them are between Uvira and Bukavu. Currently the UNHCR is sending out teams to try to find these people, some of whom are not in good condition. I hope the military force will be of practical assistance.
I have spoken before of what is needed. On the question of the arms trade, I agree that an enforceable code of conduct by the EU in relation to both arms sales and arms transfers is essential. At the same time we should remember that, while one million people were killed in Rwanda in the genocide, most of that was with machetes, not with modern armaments. Neighbours killed neighbours with agricultural implements and machetes. We have to not just look at the arms trade but also at how we can sponsor and foster reconciliation in Rwanda. One of the critical elements in that is the justice system. At the moment there are more than 90,000 prisoners in Rwandan jails, and the numbers are increasing.
At the beginning of the year when I was in Rwanda there were 50,000. By the time I came back a few weeks ago the number had increased to just under 90,000. The Irish Government and the Irish Aid programme have given substantial support to the government of Rwanda to rehabilitate the justice system. We are supporting the Red Cross and Concern who are feeding the prisoners, and providing them with water and medical attention, but the jails are unbelievably crowded. I had the doubtful pleasure of visiting three of them and, while conditions have improved, they are impossibly overcrowded. We have encouraged the government of Rwanda to start the judicial system in relation to the prisoners in jail who are accused of genocide. We are told that process will begin in mid-December, and that is good. They have also introduced an element of the South Affrican system whereby people come forward to confess so that the trial process does not have to take an undue amount of time.
I have been bitterly and deeply disappointed at the failure of the international tribunal in Arusha to bring to justice those who are guilty of planning the genocide. Deputy Pat Gallagher spoke earlier about how the genocide did not accidentally happen. Rather like the work of Goebbels in Nazi Germany, it was planned; it was based on hate propaganda produced on local radio. It is extremely frustrating, and one of the greatest failures of the international justice system, that those who planned the killing of one million people, Tutsis and moderate Hutus are still at large, and some of them may even be in member states of the European Union.
I saw today that Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, as Secretary General of the UN, has suspended his campaign for re-election for the moment. Whoever becomes secretary general after Mr. Boutros-Ghali would really need a sense of urgency and commitment to having a proper international justice system and a permanent international criminal court. Those soldiers that I spoke about last night, who are looting the area, have nothing to fear. What tribunal will ever bring them to justice? Unless there is a proper international justice system the people who are killing can continue to do so with impunity. We need a political solution, but we also need a system that will bring to justice those who are guilty of atrocities in the Great Lakes area. Ireland, in supporting the justice system, is playing an important role in seeking to bring reconciliation between the different groups in Rwanda.
