Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I speak in this debate as a friend and supporter of Africa. I regret that we often have to focus on the negative issues on that wonderful Continent, populated by such wonderful people. I speak as vice-president of AWEPA, the body of European parliamentarians who support Africa and who have done so for more than 20 years.

I also speak as an optimist for Africa and for its future. In a period of gloom and pessimism, it is important that we acknowledge that there have been many shafts of light and hope about Africa. The NEPAD process is a structured African programme for economic and social development, and for co-operation between African countries. Many of Africa's woes have been caused by the aftermath of colonialism. The boundaries of the African countries were arbitrarily drawn by Europeans. In the NEPAD process, under the auspices of the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament, it is only now that new structures of co-operation to overcome that artificial division are being put in place.

There are important elements in the Pan-African Parliament and African Union processes, such as the peer review mechanism. Under this mechanism, the human rights records of different African countries can be scrutinised by other African countries setting their own standards, rather than by western countries or former colonisers. We did something similar over 50 years ago, when the Council of Europe set out the European Convention on Human Rights. There are also several regional bodies, such as SADC, the Southern African Development Community. SADC is a force not only for economic and social good but for ensuring that human rights can be vindicated within the southern African region.

Deputy Tom Kitt mentioned visits he and I made to Africa many times over the years. In one of our earlier visits, we interacted with SADC and we met the youthful general secretary of that organisation, Mr. Simba Makoni. It is interesting to note that he went on to become a finance Minister in the Zanu-PF Government, but became so disillusioned with the decline under Mugabe that he broke away from Zanu-PF and offered himself as an independent candidate in the most recent presidential elections in Zimbabwe.

These are signs of hope amid the doom and gloom. However, there are very deep clouds of doom and gloom that must be mentioned. Central to a sustainable future for Africa is political stability based on democratic principles that root out corruption. I am an optimist and I believe that is a process that is under way in Africa and it is something we must support. Deputy Kitt and others referred to the lack of baggage of Ireland. We can approach Africa without a colonial tradition, with only goodwill in our hearts and with no ambitions to seize political influence or resources, unlike many of the international forces and countries at play in Africa.

Support for democracy and transparent economic management is a fundamental requirement for future progress in Africa. We can spend countless billions of euro in developing agriculture and physical infrastructure, but if we do not have stable, political governance that is transparent and is not fundamentally corrupt, we are going nowhere. There are really big challenges across Africa. The AIDS pandemic is real and ongoing. It has been successfully tackled in some countries, such as Uganda, but it has had a devastating impact in sub-Saharan African countries such as Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Malawi. The impact of global warming on Africa will require an unprecedented degree of co-operation as it will bear down disproportionately on developing countries.

Zimbabwe was a beacon of hope and expectation for a new type of society that allowed different races to come together to build a new country and a new economy. Unfortunately, that hope and expectation is being cruelly crushed by the activities of an individual for whom I once had great respect, Robert Mugabe. Unfortunately, he has turned into a power-grabbing megalomaniac. He has brutalised his own people and turned his political movement into an instrument of oppression in his own country. We are all aware of the current situation. The outcome of the first round of the presidential election is unknown. A tally of the posted figures across the country do not square with the subsequent posted figures of the electoral commission.

Where do we stand now? Notionally, there is to be a second round. After much debate, the Movement for Democratic Change and its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, have indicated they are willing to participate in the second round but there are those who believe there will be no second round. Yesterday, we saw the Zimbabwean justice Minister extend the limit for the second round of presidential voting until 31 July, overruling the limit set by Zimbabwe's electoral Act. There are many who believe that the constant delay in announcing the result in the first place and the pushing back of the second round is allowing a regime of oppression to rob the election and not allow the true opinion of the Zimbabwean people as to who should be the president to be heard and fully vindicated.

The international community has a responsibility to ensure the will of the Zimbabwean people is heard. Deputy Higgins referred to observation and the need to examine the whole registration process from start to voting, rather than sending people in a few days before the election. That must be done in a structured way. We must expend energies as a parliament, with colleagues in the EU and Africa, in achieving proper oversight of elections.

In the earlier debate on Burma we discussed the fundamental issue of the extent to which national sovereignty overrules the rights of the international community to vindicate human rights. While we respect the national sovereignty of every country, it was respect for national sovereignty that allowed totalitarianism to develop on our Continent. We need international rules and the post world war structures of the UN have hopefully set us on another course where international law will apply.

We must make it clear that those who are perpetrating atrocities will be held to account, that there will be no impunity, that the International Criminal Court will apply and that those who are acting against their people will be held to account in the court of international justice.

My colleague previously spoke about the land issue — I wish I had time to deal with that. I acknowledge the role Trócaire played in the Lancaster House talks process. The issue of land distribution, which was not concluded in the Lancaster House talks and was to be funded on the basis of the willing buyer, willing seller principle agreed at Lancaster House, was never funded by Britain. This has caused some of the issues that oppress us.

We have a unique opportunity as a country that was not a coloniser to set moral standards and build allies to ensure that the wonderful Zimbabwean people have their rights vindicated and that the cruel tyranny of recent times is lifted from their shoulders.

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