Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased this motion has been tabled in the House. I thank my colleagues, especially Deputies Woods, Michael D. Higgins and Allen and the other members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, who have contributed to the formulation of this motion. It is an important milestone. This all-party motion sends a clear message to the Sudanese regime that the people of Ireland are at one in their opposition to the war and the humanitarian disaster in Darfur. Regardless of our political differences, we are uniting in opposition to the deaths of 400,000 people; the systematic use of rape as a tool of war; the displacement of 2 million people, 50,000 of them in the past four months; and the failure of the Sudanese regime to meet its clear responsibility to protect its people.

In supporting this motion, I hope it will be followed by motions from all European national parliaments. After the motion is passed, I will ask the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs to contact its counterpart committees in the parliaments of our EU colleagues with a view to seeking the ratification of similar all-party motions across Europe. I accept that our voice is a small one, but we must play our part. A larger voice can grow from our small voice, expressing the anger and opposition of the people of Ireland and across Europe to the appalling crisis in Darfur.

The United Nations and the African Union signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday, detailing the additional assistance the UN will provide to the AU force in Darfur. The UN support includes staff in public information, civil affairs, administration, finance, humanitarian co-ordination and mine action, as well as military staff officers and police advisers. Communications and night vision equipment are also being provided. The hybrid UN-AU operation will have about 17,000 troops and 3,000 police officers, which represents progress. We wish the force well. We hope its work translates to real peacekeeping action locally. Mr. Kofi Annan has called the agreement a "turning point". The world will hope he is right because the under-funded and under-resourced AU mission in place is not up to the job.

I urge everyone who wants a real and credible assessment of the crisis in Darfur to read the monthly reports of the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to the UN Security Council on the crisis. The reports are available on the UN website. The most recent report tells an appalling story, which is that the humanitarian crisis is worse than ever. Humanitarian workers are being targeted for theft and attack, systematic rape is taking place and thousands of civilians are being displaced. According to the Secretary General, the displaced civilians find little protection in camps where members of armed groups are committing rape, robbery and murder.

The World Food Programme says that 355,000 people in northern Darfur were without food aid in July and August. Humanitarian access is severely limited. More than 100,000 people in the Jebel Marra area have been denied access to humanitarian aid as a result of militia attacks. Aid agencies are providing assistance to 2.6 million people despite these outrageous attacks. The International Criminal Court has stated in recent days that it is close to launching prosecutions against war crimes suspects in Darfur, which is welcome. Just as we must hunt down the killers in Srebrenica and Rwanda, we must send out a message that those who commit similar crimes in Darfur will face punishment.

Ireland has taken a tough position with the Sudanese regime. I applaud the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, who has raised this issue time and again and is personally committed to doing all he can to relieve the plight of the people of Darfur. He has visited the region, met his Sudanese counterpart and spoken to countless other governments about it. As Members of the national Parliament, we must play a part by urging our constituents to lobby and be advocates for the voiceless innocents in Darfur. Ordinary Irish citizens can play a role by writing to the Chinese and Russian ambassadors to pressurise Sudan. If people want to write to the Sudanese President or to the various embassies, they can get the addresses from their local Deputies or from Amnesty International. This motion sends a clear message that the Irish people are appalled by what is going on in Darfur. This crisis is bringing shame on the world because we are watching while thousands die. We must make our voices heard. This motion is part of that process.

I do not have time to speak in detail about the commendable report on the Sudan divestment task force, which was produced by the Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa. The Irish nation might look at how it can withdraw pension investments from companies like Total which are involved in Sudan. Such actions will not change the world, but they will send a clear signal to the rest of the world that we stand for certain principles in the area of human rights. This country should take a lead role in the well thought-out and strategic campaign of intelligent economic pressure. I commend the campaign in question, just as I commend this motion to the House as part of that process.

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