JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 1 Apr 2003

Vol. 1 No. 11

Sierra Leone-Ireland Partnership: Presentation.

Chairman

With the agreement of members I will invite our witnesses to make their presentation now and we will take the other agenda items at the end of the meeting.

I would like to welcome a delegation from the Sierra Leone-Ireland Partnership. Representing the partnership are Mr. Joe Manning, the chairman, Sr. Hilary Lyons, president, and Mr. Martin Rowan. I am pleased to say that they are joined by His Excellency Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh, High Commissioner for Sierra Leone in London. We are also joined by Mr. Soirè Fofang, information attaché in London.

The purpose of today's presentation is to bring the joint committee up to date on the current position in Sierra Leone. The UN has made a major contribution to the country and its operation there is currently the largest in the world. A special court on war crimes, sitting in Sierra Leone, is part of the reconciliation process, which we welcome. Ireland is a significant donor to Sierra Leone. We are pleased the conflict has ended and welcome the way the Government has set about returning the country to democracy and the rule of law. However, problems still persist, particularly in neighbouring countries and therefore everything must be done to assist the political and humanitarian reconstruction.

Mr. Joe Manning

On behalf of the Sierra Leone-Ireland partnership, I thank the joint committee for inviting us here. Sierra Leone is a typical sub-Saharan, west African country. It was colonised in the 18th and 19th centuries during the scramble for Africa. It gained independence in 1961 and for a number of years everything went well. However, in the late 1960s, Shaka Stevens was elected to power and began to dismantle the whole democratic system. He created a one-party system and, within years, had a dictatorship in place. He set about enriching himself and his cronies. This is typical of many African countries.

After Shaka Stevens, there was a series of coups. Each regime was worse than the one before it. All this culminated in the outbreak of civil war in 1991 which was notable for its brutality and the extensive use of child soldiers. Remarkably, this war was not fought on ethnic or religious lines. It centred around resources and their misuse and continued for ten years. Peace was declared in 2001. Elections had been held in 1998 and again in 2002, when the current Government was re-elected. A truth and reconciliation commission was established as well as an anti-corruption commission. A special court to try perpetrators of war crimes has just commenced. Some 46,000 combatants have been disarmed. A new police force has been established and a senior officer from a British police force has been seconded to run it for a number of years.

What is unique in Sierra Leone is that with the assistance of the UN and the international community, including Ireland, the country has hauled itself back from the brink. Sierra Leone could have become another Somalia, a country without a Government, but it did not. The elected Government has set about rebuilding the country and it needs our support urgently. We believe Sierra Leone should become a priority country. According to the criteria laid down by the Ireland Aid review, Sierra Leone would be a most suitable country to qualify as a programme country. The Sierra Leone-Ireland Partnership subscribes to the analysis and the aims laid out in the Ireland Aid review. One of the central beliefs in the review is the requirement for good governance. We believe that without good governance, development work is put at risk.

Sr. Hilary Lyons worked as a doctor for 40 years in Sierra Leone where she built up a marvellous hospital, training nurses and health assistants. Following the civil war the hospital is in ruins and those people are now scattered. The work done for 40 years did not go to waste - good work does not go to waste - but the hospital is gone.

Our belief is that unless Governments get involved in helping developing countries, those countries will not advance. Governments govern countries. One of the main aims of the Ireland Aid review is that Governments should get involved with these developing countries. The first of the criteria laid down by Ireland Aid is promotion of good government. Sierra Leone is a terrific example of a Government getting its act together. It needs support, not just financial but moral. It needs assistance in learning how to re-establish Government.

Ireland has huge expertise. We are the same size as Sierra Leone and have a similar population. Some 20 years ago we were one of the poorest countries in Europe, but we are now one of the richest. We must have done something right. There are a number of lessons we can teach Sierra Leone, such as in industrial development. FÁS was the main agency used to train our workforce. Sierra Leone is crying out for a similar agency. It needs to develop programmes for health, education and rural welfare. It needs assistance and moral support. Democratic Governments need to work together. Sierra Leone needs the support of Governments in western Europe, and Ireland is very well-positioned in that regard.

Senator Norris

Can the Chairman explain to our distinguished visitors that Members of the Seanad will have to leave and we mean no discourtesy by doing so?

Chairman

The Seanad commences its business at 2.30 p.m. and some members have to attend. They will return later, but it will be after His Excellency's presentation. Would the Senators like to ask questions at this stage?

Senator Norris

I would like to express support for Sr. Lyons. She must feel sadness at her hospital's destruction.

Deputy G. Mitchell

Is the commissioner also accredited to Ireland? It is not stated on the briefing note.

Chairman

No.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

It is an honour and privilege for me to address this august body. I bring warm greetings from the Government and people of Sierra Leone. I also bring a big "Thank you" for the role played by Members of the Irish Parliament in the restoration of peace in my country.

The people of Sierra Leone followed with keen interest the numerous debates in the Houses concerning the conflict in our country. We remain grateful for that support. Sierra Leone has just emerged for a period of devastation and suffering. Our elections last year, pronounced free and fair by domestic and international observers, have ushered in a period of renewal. The aspirations of our people now are for a long period of peace and stability that will allow for rapid and sustainable economic and social development. The peace we enjoy in Sierra Leone today was not achieved by chance. It is the outcome of a partnership in which countries in the international community such as the Republic of Ireland occupy a special place. You never abandoned us as we strived to restore peace in our country. We are confident that you will stand by us as we face the next battle to preserve the peace. It should be obvious to our friends and all concerned that unless we move speedily with the task of rebuilding our country there is a real danger of jeopardising our hard-won peace.

It is in light of this that I am here with other friends of Sierra Leone to make a special appeal to this august body for assistance in meeting the challenges to which I have just referred. As the country that ranks at the bottom of the United Nations human development index, Sierra Leone needs all the external assistance it can muster from its friends. In this regard it must be emphasised that external assistance is not merely aid, but also means investment and trade. Sierra Leone with its abundant resources should be a prime candidate for attracting Irish investment.

As a nation, we appreciate that as we call upon our friends to help us in rebuilding our country, it is incumbent upon us to impress on them that we are doing our own part to address some of the problems relating to underdevelopment. Foremost among these is corruption, which the Government of Sierra Leone is committed to fight at all levels of society. In this regard the Government has set up an anti-corruption commission, which in spite of teething problems is conducting its business without interference.

Recognising that economic progress can flourish only where the rule of law and protection of the rights of the individual are respected, my Government has made legal and judicial reforms a priority.

Mr. Chairman, honourable members, because of your personal commitment to Sierra Leone through the years, I appreciate that you are fully briefed on the challenges confronting our country and will now conclude by thanking you for permitting me to give you a little insight into the current situation in Sierra Leone, and expressing the hope that the bond of friendship between our two countries will be strengthened by the outcome of these deliberations. I thank you.

Chairman

Thank you, Excellency.

Deputy G. Mitchell

I join in welcoming the high commissioner and his colleagues. Will the deputation spell out in greater detail - Deputy O'Donnell will be particularly familiar with this area - the implications for Sierra Leone in having the expanded priority countries programme extended to it? Perhaps the deputation could give us specific examples as to why it is such an important objective for Sierra Leone.

Will the high commissioner say something about the diamond industry? It would appear Sierra Leone is rich, certainly with diamonds, yet its standing in the United Nations human development index is very low. What are the longer-term prospects for Sierra Leone?

Mr. Tejan-Jalloh

If I may start with the diamond industry, there is no doubt Sierra Leone is blessed with a lot of natural resources, foremost among them being diamonds. This is supposed to be a blessing for the country but has turned out to be a curse in many respects because our problems actually started with the diamonds. The neighbouring country, Liberia, has no diamonds, but it got to the stage while our war was going on that Liberia was actually exporting more diamonds than Sierra Leone. I am sure you know the rest of the story. The Government of Liberia is headed by Mr. Taylor, who made it his business to exploit the diamonds of Sierra Leone by funding the so-called Revolutionary United Front, which was fighting the vicious war in Sierra Leone. Since the end of the war, which is largely due to the concerted international efforts in which the Irish Government played a very significant part, there have been many steps taken to see that the people of Sierra Leone benefit from the diamond industry. The United Nations Security Council passed a diamond certification programme for Sierra Leone. I know the Irish Government is a very strong believer in the UN system, and the Republic of Ireland played a key part in getting that certification programme.

Under that programme, which is a way of controlling Sierra Leone's diamonds, anybody leaving the country with a diamond must have a certificate of origin. If you come to Dublin, Antwerp or London with diamonds from Sierra Leone, and cannot show a certificate of origin, the diamonds will be classified as "blood" diamonds, diamonds coming from the bad guys. This programme started in Sierra Leone and other countries have just recently adopted it. It is really a way of controlling the diamonds, and since its introduction the certification programme has worked extremely well for Sierra Leone. During the war we were getting nothing from diamonds, all of which were smuggled out of the country. Now there are favourable returns in terms of taxation accruing to the Government from the diamond trade. So the certification programme is working and Sierra Leone is again benefiting from diamonds, which are supposed to be a blessing for our country.

On the question of the special status of Sierra Leone, irrespective of whether it should become a priority state, the peace we are now enjoying in Sierra Leone resulted, as I already said, from all our efforts, including those of the Irish Government and people of Ireland, who all played their part.

Having invested so much in the peace process, I think it is extremely important that we should ensure that we stay on track. One of the ways we will ensure that is to see that the expectations of people are met. We recently held elections in which the Government was overwhelmingly re-elected. Being a democratically-elected Government we did make promises, one of them being that having achieved the peace, our main aim would be to set about reconstructing the country. I believe our friends should make Sierra Leone a priority here, when you consider that we are at the bottom of the UN index for development - even before the devastation of the war we were at the bottom of the ladder, as my friend Mr. Manning said, because of maladministration and abuse by past successive Governments and dictatorships. Now that the war is over the only way we can ensure we do not go back to the bad old days is to try to address the expectations of people. That is why it is important that we should become a priority list country as far as the Republic of Ireland is concerned.

Chairman

I take it from what you are saying, Excellency, that your main concern is to get on the priority list, to be regarded as a priority country, and to have available the expertise and the advice - not so much the money, such aid being required in other countries in a much greater way - to develop and stabilise the economy where you consider there is great potential.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

Absolutely. It is extremely important that we do that.

Deputy O’Donnell

I welcome the High Commissioner and Sr. Hilary Lyons and colleagues from Liberia/Sierra Leone Solidarity. The question of whether a poor country in Africa, or anywhere in the world, becomes a priority for assistance from Ireland Aid requires detailed analysis of the country. It is true that, during the recent review of the Ireland Aid programme, a recommendation was made that we expand our range of interests from the six countries which are currently our priority partners in Africa to include perhaps one other on that continent. There is scope for the introduction of a new partnership with one other African country.

Chairman

We do not have one in west Africa.

Deputy O’Donnell

No. Most of our countries are in the Horn of Africa or in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chairman

Deputy O'Donnell was Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and has been deeply involved in development work.

Deputy O’Donnell

The High Commissioner has focused on the correct element in our criteria, namely, that there be Government stability. For any long-term economic and development programme to be initiated with a poor country, there must be freedom from conflict, something that has the capacity to disturb long-term structural engagement by Ireland with the partner country.

I welcome the peace process. Over the years Ireland committed significant funds to Sierra Leone in the form of humanitarian assistance during the war, and our citizens will be very familiar with the appalling images which were a feature of that - mutilations and child soldiers. The Irish people were always very sympathetic to the plight of the people of Sierra Leone and responded very generously, both with personal donations and through the Government's humanitarian assistance programme. The Government also supported the peace process.

I accept the point that it is almost a natural progression in our engagement with the country that we consider, now that peace has been established - and, I hope, will bed down - that Sierra Leone could be a candidate for Irish aid. However, that requires a quite lengthy consultation process. It is a long-term diplomatic, economic and structural engagement with the country involved too. We have been working with our existing partner countries over many years and have a rolling three-year planning programme to deliver basic health care and education. Those two sectors are the biggest, but Sierra Leone may have unique features requiring particular focus - probably a great deal of post-war rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Has Sierra Leone made a formal approach through our diplomatic channels at the United Nations? We have had diplomatic relations with Sierra Leone since 2000 through our permanent missions to the United Nations in New York. However, the Sierra Leone authorities could well make a formal application to the Government. Then would come a chain of negotiations, considerations and analysis. It is not something done lightly, for it is a multi-million euro engagement for Ireland over a long period, working in partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone both locally and centrally and with other donors active in Sierra Leone. Perhaps a start could be made to that analysis. The delegation certainly made a very good case, and I am sure the committee will be willing to examine it.

When we were doing the Ireland Aid review we saw that, because many of the countries in Africa with which we work - the least developed countries - have been so terribly hit by the AIDS pandemic, their needs are becoming more acute. Many of the advances we have made with our partner Governments in Africa have been reversed because of the AIDS pandemic, which is hitting all the productive economic sectors - as well as health, of course. Is it of concern to the authorities, and what sort of responses have the authorities been making to it?

Deputy Carey

I welcome the High Commissioner and the other members of the delegation. In its written submission it makes the interesting statement, which I suspect would relate to some of the comments by Deputy O'Donnell and Deputy Mitchell, that the partnership considers the geographical range of Ireland Aid participation in the developing world incomplete without formal involvement in the specific issues and experiences of west Africa. Perhaps the delegation might expand on how the interventions are incomplete without such involvement.

Mr. Martin Rowan

We have no programme country in west Africa. The current programme countries include East Timor, as well as Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Zambia - the other side of Africa. Despite the long history of Irish involvement in west Africa, mostly through missionaries, we do not have a programme country there. That was referred to in the Ireland Aid review. One of the terms of reference was to see how well development aid was spread and examine the geographical range of Ireland Aid participation. Obviously, we advocate that Ireland Aid adopt a country in west Africa and that it be Sierra Leone.

Chairman

Deputy O'Donnell asked about AIDS.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

I would first make the point that west Africa is part of Africa south of the Sahara, a region which does not merely consist of eastern and southern Africa.

The AIDS epidemic is a concern for the Government of Sierra Leone. There is no question about that. Matters are not as bad as in southern and eastern Africa. For some reason, the AIDS problem in west Africa is different, according to all indications. However, that is not to say that it is not of concern to the Government. The National Aids Commission is chaired by no less a person than the head of state, the President himself. That is the extent of the importance which we attach to the issue. We work with multilateral and bilateral agencies to ensure the problem is addressed. When one is emerging from a war involving a great deal of abuse of women and children, there is a tendency for the problem to be present, and we are addressing it.

Another point raised by Deputy O'Donnell was whether we had made formal application to be a partner state. We have not, for we are in the process of trying to regularise our representation. Formally, the agreement to establish diplomatic relations was made at the UN. There is consensus in Freetown that it is better to have representation from London, for the sake of proximity, than from New York. As soon as that is regularised, formal application will be made. However, I agree with Deputy O'Donnell's road map showing how we get there. It is a gradual process. We have been through the humanitarian channel, and Ireland has been extremely helpful regarding such assistance, including emergency assistance when the war was raging. Now that we have peace, we must look beyond that and think about long-term infrastructural development. Through a gradual process, we are getting there.

Deputy M. Higgins

I welcome this presentation and would welcome the initiation and development of a formal application by Sierra Leone to be considered as a priority country. It would be of assistance to the committee to have more detail perhaps on the administrative and restructuring projects of the kind that was being contracted before by organisations like the Institute of Public Administration and others. This is something that can happen and I would welcome it.

I am interested in the reintegration of child soldiers and the steps that are being taken to achieve that. Does Mr. Tejan-Jalloh see the international court sitting for a number of years or will it wind up fairly quickly while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where I think an Irish adviser, Professor William Schabas among others, deals with the consequences of abuses during the war? In relation to Sierra Leone's external financial relations what is the balance between the combined health and education spend and the debt service requirement of Sierra Leone in relation to GDP at present?

Deputy T. Dempsey

Deputy Higgins has touched on what I was going to say so I will be very brief. Like others here I have to leave at 3 p.m. to attend another meeting, which does not signify any disinterest in this matter. Mr. Manning referred to the non-financial assistance, which is usually much easier to acquire in these times, the partnership might get in helping to establish good government. Could he write to the Chairman with specific proposals on this? It would make it easier for me as a new politician to adjudicate on.

Mr. Manning referred also to an area in which I have been involved for a long time, namely FÁS and education generally. Our growth from a poor to a wealthy country was based mainly on education. Recently, information technology education has dominated but in former times vocational education was essential, particularly in the areas of farm building and woodwork, the kind of work done in vocational schools. In another phase of my life I managed a hurling team and I found an extraordinary willingness among young Irish graduates to give a couple of years of their professional life to working as engineers or teachers in poorer countries. Does the Sierra Leone-Ireland Partnership propose to avail of that generosity?

Deputy Noonan

I welcome members of the delegation, particularly the high commissioner. Deputy O'Donnell's advice was very appropriate and if that is followed progress could be made. From what I know, and from what I have heard today, this committee should make a recommendation in favour of the addition of Sierra Leone to the priority countries programme so that when the formal application is placed we too can make a strong recommendation for Sierra Leone to be included.

Deputy D. Wallace

I concur with my colleagues in extending a welcome to the delegation. It is very important for us as a committee to meet people and get the facts on the ground and we support the partnership's efforts to become involved with us in a more positive and constructive way.

Mr. Manning referred to the good news stories in Africa not being as focused as they should be and said that the partnership is trying to promote that here. Does he mean in Ireland, in Sierra Leone or in a wider sense? How is the partnership targeting that? The presentation, to which Deputy O'Donnell referred, is very important. Our support is one thing but to ensure that what the partnership puts down on paper stands up so that we can support it is very important.

Chairman

I notice the population of Sierra Leone, at approximately 5.5 million, is not much greater than that of the whole island of Ireland. Many of the things that have been done here could be applied fairly readily to Sierra Leone. As far as the members here are concerned there seems to be unanimous agreement that we would recommend the course the partnership is proposing. I suggest that it follow the advice it has received here in the first instance. We would give it every possible support, recognising that this support refers particularly to expertise and advice drawing on the Irish experience of development, which could be very valuable, as Deputy Dempsey said, in relation to the Department of Education and Science and other services. Is there any final point the delegation would like to make before we finish?

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

On the question of the child soldiers and the special courts and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, one of the tragedies of the Sierra Leonean experience is the question of child soldiers, and how young men were conscripted to fight as child combatants. That has been addressed sufficiently by the creation of a new army where there is no room for child soldiers so that group has been disbanded. The position of the former child soldiers is no different from that of the rest of society. One of the challenges is how to reintegrate them into normal society. These are children who need education. Some of them were removed forcibly from school to be conscripted. We need to get those who are still of school age back into school to get their education and training. We are in the process of doing that to bring them back into society because there is a real danger that if we do not provide an alternative for them someone will entice them back to the bad old way of doing things. That is one of the challenges I referred to in my presentation.

On the question of the special court and how long it will last, as a lawyer I know that we like court hearings to go on for a long time. I hope in the case of Sierra Leone the court will not last very long.

Deputy Mitchell

Then we will set up a tribunal.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

Lawyers do not like legal work to wind up too quickly but I appreciate that what we did in Sierra Leone was not to go after all the people who were responsible for the war. We decided at an early stage to go for only some of the ringleaders because the question to be addressed is that of impunity so people will know in future that they will not get away with this. Therefore, it is trying only the ringleaders and those who gave the orders. So far I believe the consensus is that less than two dozen of them will be tried. Maybe only 18 will be tried. We hope that will not take too long. The real task will be up to the truth and reconciliation commission. The special court will try those indicted, of which we believe there will be about 5,000. We hope that will not take long. Then the task of reconciliation generally will fall to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Chairman

There is still the issue of debt and debt servicing. I think the IMF gave Sierra Leone a clean bill of health, but how does the debt stand at the moment?

Deputy M. Higgins

I have a slightly different focus on this than the IMF. I am interested in a number of countries in the continent of Africa which are paying more to service their debt than they are on their combined health and education budgets. My interest is in the ratio of the health and education budget to the amount taken from GDP to service the debt.

I have no respect for the IMF's role in Africa. I lost that long ago in respect of any of its versions of itself.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

One of the issues both African and other developing countries are raising are amounts of money spent on servicing debts. The amount spent goes far beyond anything spent on education and health. There should be a condition that what is given as debt relief is spent on education and health. What is spent on education and health far exceeds what is used to service the debt. If relief is given and the precondition is made that we spend that on education and health, then that will be of tremendous help.

Deputy O’Donnell

The number of amputees was a unique feature arising out of this conflict. What plans does the Sierra Leone government have and what assistance is it receiving from the international community for prosthesis? What is the government providing? The Irish Government could help on the humanitarian side, quite apart from the long-term——

Deputy M. Higgins

Mine clearance.

Deputy O’Donnell

Yes, and with mine clearance too.

Mr. Alhaji Sulaiman Tejan-Jalloh

When people think of Sierra Leone during the civil war, the first thing that comes to mind is the amputees. We had, what I will refer to as a colony, camps solely for amputees. The first thing the government did was to get rid of those camps. The idea is not to have a similar situation to a colony of lepers. The intention was to return them as soon as possible to their communities. It is difficult for an amputee to lead a normal life. We take cognisance of that.

A number of international organisations are in Sierra Leone doing their own part in providing artificial limbs. There is, however, a need for an increase in support, if we want to restore amputees to their communities so as not to feel as lepers.

Chairman

Before we finish, I would like Sister Hilary Lyons to say a few words, since she has done so much work in the area over so many years.

Sr. Hilary Lyons

I am heartened by the positive attitude of the joint committee to granting priority status to Sierra Leone. Of all the things that have been mentioned, foremost in my mind is the rural situation. Those areas have been devastated. When the people return to their communities, they find their houses destroyed, their coffee trees and oil palms not pruned, their farms overgrown with bush. To get them rehabilitated, I would see, as a top priority, the provision of aid to the rural communities. It is not the amount of money we provide, but aid workers getting out there to deal with the situation.

When the country was not safe, many of the aid agencies stayed in the large towns. We need NGOs to get to the rural villages, help the people to build shelters and provide them with simple tools to rehabilitate themselves. At present, it is not as good as I would like it to be. What is happening is negative - people returning from Liberia from one camp to another. They will become camp people depending on hand-outs which was not their fashion in the 1950s and 1960s. They are well able to take care of themselves, if they get the push now. I appreciate Deputy O'Donnell's point on how long a process it is to get priority status under way, but as they say in the pidgin, "It does need to woka now".

Deputy O’Donnell

Just to reassure Sr. Lyons, it is a separate budget. The Government has a separate budget for this sort of immediate humanitarian rehabilitation in a post-conflict response. The other long-term development programme comes out of a separate budget. We can do both.

Chairman

I thank the High Commissioner, his colleagues from Sierra Leone and those working there for the presentations. There is great interest in the work being done and this committee will follow up these matters promptly.

Sitting suspended at 2.56 p.m. and resumed at 3.02 p.m.