Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Mar 1997

Vol. 476 No. 5

Written Answers - Irish Troops in Bosnia.

Trevor Sargent

Ceist:

22 Mr. Sargent asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the way in which he can countenance the sending of Irish troops to serve under NATO command in Bosnia and still claim that Ireland has not abandoned its renowned policy of active neutrality. [3923/97]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1088 of 12 December 1996 authorised the establishment of the multinational stability force known as SFOR. SFOR's role is to help, in an even handed way, the parties to implement a peace accord to which they have freely agreed, and to contribute to a secure environment necessary for the consolidation and stabilisation of peace in the region. SFOR co-operates with the other agencies principally involved including the Office of the High Representative, currently Mr. Carl Bildt, the International Police Task Force, which includes a number of members of the Garda Síochána, the various UN agencies active in Bosnia including the UNHCR, the International Red Cross, and the OSCE. This co-operation covers a wide range of activities, notably maintaining local security, facilitating freedom of movement for the local population, and assisting the return of refugees. Security Council Resolution 1088 provided that SFOR would be in operation for a planned period of 18 months from December 1996.

SFOR, like its predecessor IFOR, is an important expression of the new mutually reinforcing and co-operative security architecture that is developing in Europe. Ireland has long been an advocate of co-operative approaches to security, and participation in SFOR would be a concrete example of our commitment to inclusive co-operative security in Europe. Participation in SFOR would also enable Ireland to experience directly the new approach to European peacekeeping which postdates the Cold War. Our involvement would be in keeping with our objective, as a recognised and long standing contributor to peacekeeping efforts, of staying in the mainstream of developments in peacekeeping along with countries, such as the Nordic states, who share our experience of and approach to peacekeeping. Our involvement would be in the with the approach to peacekeeping set out in the White Paper. Participation in SFOR would be in no way inconsistent with Ireland's policy of military neutrality. SFOR is acting under UN authorisation. SFOR currently has 32,000 troops deployed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, made up of contingents from the 16 members of NATO and from 18 non-NATO countries, including Russia and Ukraine, most of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the neutrals Sweden, Finland and Austria, and non-European non-aligned countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Malaysia. SFOR, and its predecessor, IFOR, have played indispensable roles in consolidating peace for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.