Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a brief contribution to what I consider to be an important debate. I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen, and I wish him well with his new duties.

Reference was made by Deputy Brendan Howlin to AWEPA, the body of European parliamentarians who support Africa, of which he is vice-president and of which I am proud to be a council member. It is important to put on record the approach AWEPA has taken on this issue. Not only has it been active on other issues relating to the African Continent, but in the past six months it has taken a particular interest in the crisis in Zimbabwe.

I wish the new Minister of State, Deputy Andrews, well in his role. He took the lead on our behalf in the discussion we had on this matter in the Dáil in December, when a number of Deputies raised concerns about what is clearly a serious issue. Matters have deteriorated since then.

It is right that we pay particular attention to matters in Africa. All of us in the House have issues and problems in our constituencies and our own challenges as far as the national debate is concerned. Ireland has always taken a particular interest in the African Continent. I have often stated that I come from a generation in which I had no idea where Africa was, but I always brought the penny into the nuns at the school I attended nearby on Clarendon Street. Those days were a long time ago, but I had a notion of what was going on without understanding and I have kept this interest throughout my community and political life.

I had the opportunity to visit Zimbabwe twice 13 or 14 years ago when I saw the situation for myself in what was a different era. I also remember corresponding with the then Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1964, making remarks even in my young days about the country as I saw it. I received a great deal of propaganda from his office and department on the issues I raised. Here we are, a couple of generations later and, as other Deputies, including the previous speaker, stated, matters are not improving but are getting worse for the poor people of Zimbabwe.

Deputy Michael Kitt paid particular attention to all these issues in his short term at the Department of Foreign Affairs. Yesterday, his successor, Deputy Peter Power, made the point that urgent humanitarian crises such as those in Zimbabwe and other places would be top of his agenda. I was glad to hear that. The subject matter of our previous debate this morning was Burma and the situation there upsets me very much.

What is happening in Zimbabwe is worthy of the attention we are paying it. There is no question that all of us understand democracy. Three years ago, I had the opportunity to be an election monitor in Ethiopia with the former Senator Fergal Browne. We saw people almost fighting for their votes. They were up first thing in the morning, queued in sweltering heat and went without food and water for hours on end. I came home believing this was a major lesson for me and for all of us. In many democracies, and Ireland is no different, people take their democratic rights somewhat for granted. Perhaps on a day like this we should consider focusing on this.

The people in Zimbabwe are being denied many of their democratic rights. It beggars belief that several weeks after the presidential elections, the situation has been allowed to deteriorate. We now know that not only are the ordinary poor people of Zimbabwe suffering but last Sunday The Observer reported that the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights stated 22 people died and 900 were tortured during the past four weeks. The main opposition party, the MDC, claims that more than 30 of its supporters have been killed over the election period.

I cannot get my head around this. The abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe must be strongly condemned by the international community. I do not want to upset any other democracy but we should point fingers at other African nations. South Africa, through its administration and relationship with Zimbabwe, should be more proactive in trying to solve these problems.

Reference was made to the role Ireland can and does play. Ireland's reputation in African countries is such that we should take a strong and proactive role as far as the crisis is concerned. We should be insistent with South Africa and other countries which benefit from Irish Aid, such as Zambia, where I visited, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Tanzania. I hope the Minister of State will convey this sentiment to the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Micheál Martin.

I believe the Minister will take a keen interest in these matters because Ireland is no longer isolated as far as these issues are concerned. We should send a clear message to these administrations that we expect them to do more than they are doing. I do not believe they should stand idly by and allow what is happening in Zimbabwe to continue. President Mugabe will not lose any sleep because of me criticising him or challenging him to do something. We should be clear in condemning what it is happening because it should not be permitted in a democracy in this day and age. The poor people of countries like Zimbabwe suffer and this must be addressed.

I examined many of the issues in Zimbabwe in recent days. Many reports have circulated about post-election political violence in Harare and other areas. This should be not be tolerated by the international community and the squeeze should be put on those who should be doing something about this. As Deputy Durkan said, I hope this is not a toothless debate and I hope what we are doing here will be duplicated in other democracies. We should send a strong message that not only are we discussing this problem, we want action taken. If action is not forthcoming in the short term, I hope our Government and other European governments will outline what they will do while trying to balance the action they are prepared to take with the understanding that the poor people of Zimbabwe must be their top priority. The Minister for Foreign Affairs should discuss this with his EU colleagues. Where human rights abuses and difficulties with food supply are established, they should be addressed.

All those who have contributed are sending a clear message that this situation is no longer sustainable. The international community should not tolerate what is happening in Zimbabwe. I call for urgent action and an end to this. I hope that clear message will emanate from this Parliament and that other democracies will follow the Irish example and speak out about what is happening while seeking effective action.

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