Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Nov 1998

Vol. 495 No. 7

Written Answers. - Third World Debt.

John Perry

Ceist:

176 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the situation in Sudan and on proposals by a group (details supplied) campaigning for the cancellation of all third world debt by the year 2000. [21570/98]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

Ireland has been consistent in its support to the people of Sudan over the past number of years and continues to commit substantial funds to the international humanitarian relief effort through the UN and Irish and international NGOs. Overall emergency assistance provided by the Government so far this year totals almost £1.4 million. One of the conclusions of my own visit there in August was that emergency assistance will need to continue to be provided on a very large scale over the next 12 months if famine is to be avoided. While we welcome the recent three-month extension of the humanitarian ceasefire in the Bar El Ghazahl region we will continue to exert pressure on the relevant parties to ensure that adequate humanitarian access will be maintained beyond the agreed period. A technical mission from the Department of Foreign Affairs is currently in the region to monitor the impact of resources given so far this year and to plan for 1999.

At the same time, the Government fully recognises that the continued humanitarian commitment of Ireland and other members of the international community cannot be allowed to become a substitute for meaningful engagement by the conflicting parties in a negotiated settlement. I emphasised this point to the Government and SPLA sides during my August visit as well as to the Kenyan Chair of the regional IGAD peace initiative. We are also working closely with EU and other partners who are members of the international IGAD Partners' Forum which is supporting regional peace efforts — we are actively pressing for an early resumption of the political talks process.

The crippling burden of debt on many developing countries remains a major challenge which must be vigorously addressed by the entire international community.

In a new initiative last September, the Government agreed to a comprehensive debt relief package committing funds of over £31 million to ease the debt burden on the heavily indebted poor countries, while also adopting a number of principles to guide our future policy on the debt situation of developing countries.

I fully respect the views of Jubilee 2000 on the issue of debt cancellation. However, few Governments, from either developed or developing countries, have called for absolute debt cancellation, as opposed to measures to substantially alleviate the debt situation facing many developing countries. In respect of general bilateral and multilateral debt, the position taken to date by developing countries is to generally favour reducing the debt burden of the most heavily indebted poor countries to a sustainable level, which would allow them to foster a process of economic growth and development.

As regards Ireland's position, the principles adopted by the Government in September include a commitment to strongly encourage the international community to take a generous and flexible approach to debt alleviation. Ireland will continue to use every opportunity to press for deeper debt relief so as to ease the debt burden on developing countries.