Michael Woods (Dublin North East, Fianna Fail)

As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, I welcome this all-party motion requesting urgent action at international level to end the crisis in Darfur. I welcome the efforts of the African Union through its 7,000 to 8,000-strong AMIS, or African Mission in Sudan force. The decision of the UN Security Council to send a 23,000-strong peacekeeping force to Darfur is also welcome. In this case, people cannot complain about the UN, which is anxious to send in this force in numbers. The UN is doing everything it can to get people in on the ground. I deplore the continuing refusal of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan to allow the deployment of a UN force in Darfur, which the president reportedly reiterated today at a press conference in Khartoum. I note that Sudan is to give its considered response at tomorrow's meeting of the African Union's peace and security council in Abuja.

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs had a full and intensive discussion on Darfur in October. A delegation from the committee, comprising Deputy Michael D. Higgins, Senator Mooney and me, highlighted the need for more immediate UN efforts at conflict prevention at a recent UN meeting we attended in New York. I condemn the brutal and inhuman treatment of the people of Darfur, as well as the fact that those in desperate need of food aid have risen from 1 million two years ago to more than 4 million this year. I commend the work in Darfur of Irish missionaries and Irish NGOs, through which more than €16 million in official aid has been provided by the Government, bringing the total to €32 million.

Ireland is doing everything it possibly can in this respect. The House can rest assured that the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs will take up the proposal by Deputy Carey to contact all the foreign affairs committees in the other 24 EU member states.

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