Written answers
Wednesday, 24 January 2024
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Foreign Conflicts
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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53. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the efforts of the Irish Government and his engagements with his European counterparts regarding alleviating civil strife and humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3274/24]
Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has experienced periodic conflict over many decades, with increasing insecurity and violence in eastern DRC. The ongoing conflict in is driven by a number of factors, including competing attempts by armed groups to control the rich mineral resources of the region.
Elections were held in DRC in December 2023 in the context of a ceasefire that largely held. They saw the re-election of President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi.However, tensions between the DRC and Rwanda have remained at a high level. We and our EU partners have expressed concern at this high level of regional tension and we stress the importance of regional efforts to reduce tensions.
We worked closely with our EU partners on the development of a new EU strategy for the wider Great Lakes region that was adopted in 2023, with a particular focus on the eastern provinces of the DRC. We fully support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries in the region and condemn any support to local or foreign armed groups. Ireland has also emphasised the importance of the engagement of national and regional organisations in promoting peace and stability and note the contribution by Angola and Kenya to advancing a peaceful resolution and the recent decision by the Southern African Development Community to deploy a multinational force to eastern DRC.
Almost 27 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in DRC. There are an estimated 6.9 million people internally displaced, while over a million refugees from the DRC are in neighbouring countries. The DRC itself hosts more than half a million refugees.
Ireland directly provided over €8 million in asssitance in 2023 in response to the situation in DRC. Over €4.6 million has been allocated to long-term development and chronic humanitarian crisis programmes under Ireland’s Civil Society Partnership. Five partners (Christian Aid Ireland, Concern Worldwide, Oxfam Ireland, Trócaire and World Vision Ireland) are operating in DRC. In addition, we have provided €3.8 million to UNICEF to address child malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa,, earmarked for DRC. Following recent flooding in DRC, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) provided $3.6 million in immediate assistance. Ireland provided €14.5 million to the CERF in 2023. The Start Fund, an NGO-managed pooled fund, is providing €145,000 in response to flooding in DRC. In 2023, Irish Aid provided €1,400,000 to the Start Fund. In 2023 the EU provided almost €92 million in humanitarian funding to address the needs of the most vulnerable people in the DRC.
We will continue to work with EU and other partners to promote peace and stability and address humanitarian need in DRC.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his engagement with the Colombian Minister for Defence regarding Irelands support for the Colombian peace process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3275/24]
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I had the opportunity to meet with Colombia’s Minister for Defence, Ivan Velasquez, during my recent visit to Colombia on 10-11 January.
Ireland’s continued support to peacebuilding in Colombia was the key issue discussed in a rich and engaging encounter. This included hearing Minister Velasquez's perspectives on the ongoing peace dialogues in Colombia. We spoke of the current dynamics in the dialogue process with the Estado Mayor Central, in which Ireland is acting as a guarantor country, and we agreed on several peace-related issues on which Ireland and Colombia can continue to exchange lessons learned from our respective peace processes. Minister Velasquez also stressed the need to address the underlying causes of conflict in Colombia, including land reform and inclusion of marginalised communities.
I was pleased to inform the Minister of Ireland’s commitment to enhancing our support to the implementation of the 2016 Agreement and the Total Peace dialogues in Colombia, including by increasing our funding for Colombia to over €5 million in 2024, primarily in support of peace.
Minister Velasquez and I also discussed ongoing police cooperation between our jurisdictions and exchanged views as to how this can be further progressed. In this vein, we also discussed approaches to tackling organised crime and drug use, and agreed to continue to deepen cooperation in this area. This includes building on the work to date of Ireland's Garda Liaison Officer attached to the Embassy of Ireland in Bogota.
I was pleased to share information with the Minister regarding policing reform on the island of Ireland, Ireland’s consent-based policing model.
In addition, we exchanged experiences on models of citizen engagement, and on approaches to improving the inclusion of society in policy and decision-making.
I was also able to discuss many of the above-mentioned points in a meeting with the two Vice Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Francisco Coy and Elizabeth Taylor Jay, as well as in a separate meeting with the Chief of Staff and other senior officials from the Colombian High Commission for Peace.
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