Lord Plumb as Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, reports before the EP on the situation in Rwanda.

debate

plenary session

EU - Rwanda (T)

PLUMB, Henry (EPP, UK, The Lord)

Debate on the situation in Rwanda : statement by Lord Henry Plumb, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, Madam President, I would like to thank Mr Kouchner, who tabled these questions, for allowing me to speak first as the leader of the mission. Madam President, I would ask you to convey my thanks and that of the mission to President H&auml;nsch for enabling us to travel to Rwanda as a matter of urgency.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, The subject which we went to examine has never left the front pages of our newspapers since before we went. The tragedy is first and foremost a tragedy of enormous human proportions. Its causes, as we well know and recognize, are largely political and they are also related to the history of this small fertile country in the middle of Africa. We are not here to discuss the causes, although I am sure many Members will have varying views on that particular matter. We are here as a parliament to propose ways of acting within the context of European Union to contribute to the resolution of this drama and to do our utmost to ensure that political decisions are taken which in future will minimize the chances of such a situation arising again, either in Rwanda or elsewhere.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, All of us have read about Rwanda in the press, we have witnessed on our television screens the suffering of the Rwandan people, but few of us have had the privilege, as I have, of meeting those people and of seeing and feeling the plight of the whole nation. I and my colleagues of the Rwandan delegation have submitted a report and in it you will see our findings. Our report reflects the discussion which we had with the Prime Minister, with other members of the Rwandan Government, and it reflects also what we were able to see and do in the few days we spent in the country at the end of July. It reflects the views that were expressed to us by the many representatives of non-governmental organizations. We were able to spend time with them and I pay tribute to the work of the UNHCR, the Red Cross and all the other aid agencies operating in Rwanda, in particular in Goma.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, The report also describes what we saw of the actions of the French humanitarian troops in Operation Turquoise and also of their contribution in the Goma region. I should also like to express my personal admiration for the way in which they have acted under the most extreme circumstances. When we were in Rwanda, the government had assumed office only ten days earlier, the very day we met for the first time as a new parliament. Kigali was to all intents and purposes a ghost town with no electricity, no water supply, no communications and very little economic activity. The streets were lined with wrecked vehicles and many houses and buildings were destroyed. In the United Nations headquarters where we met with General Dallaire and another other UN special representative, Mr Shah, we were briefed and we were able to learn about the difficulties of the UN operation on the ground, and the many constraints under which the UN forces were obliged to work. Travelling to Goma, we were able to see from time to time groups of people including the very young and the very old, making their way painfully along the road. The countryside was empty and the crops were lying unharvested in the fields. We hardly saw any cattle and what few towns we passed were deserted. In Goma the scenes were strangely familiar but what was not so familiar were the sounds, the smells and the oppressive aura, the aura of suffering and of despair.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, Madam President, I still find it difficult to fully come to terms with what I saw: abandoned children and many people in a state of malnutrition being cared for by non-governmental organization doctors and nurses and many other helpers. Along the road there were still the corpses which were waiting to be cleared, though mercifully not in such great numbers as only a few days earlier. The French troops had just set up the filtering and the pumping equipment for the provision of drinking water &mdash; water which was drawn from a nearby lake &mdash; and people were queuing for hundreds of yards with their containers waiting to be served. A few American trucks had just arrived. So, what we saw in Goma we had, to a certain extent, anticipated. In the French protected zone which we visited the following day, we were not fully prepared. The French commander of this sector in Gikongoro took us to a nearby refugee camp where we witnessed a situation which although not on the scale of Goma was nevertheless horrendous enough. Between 20 and 50 children were dying every day in this camp from malnutrition and there were only four sacks of rice left to feed 70,000 people.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, The medical centre was staffed by two magnificent medical Missionaries of Mary from the Irish non-governmental organization, Tr&oacute;caire, one of whom I understand knows Mr John Hume extremely well. We did what we could with the Red Cross and NGOs to try to get provisions to this camp as urgently as possible and I understand that emergency supplies reached them the following day. But after that there was once again a period when no more food arrived. Colleagues, I have only given these examples to try to illustrate what I believe was the importance of our mission. We also made very serious recommendations which I am pleased to say were communicated by President H&auml;nsch to the President-in-Office of the Council immediately. We urged immediate recognition of the new Rwandan Government. This is an important diplomatic step and it is also one that will add confidence and facilitate the return of refugees. We called for the establishment of humanitarian relay stations so that those who wanted to return would find food, medicine and assistance along their way. We called for the sending of human rights observers as part of a confidence-building measure which should be seen as attempting to provide some additional security for the people so that their natural fears resulting from the trauma of genocide could be allayed. We also called for urgent technical assistance for the country and we supported the creation of an international tribunal to judge those responsible for the massacres.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, I will not go into all the detail of our recommendations here. Members will find them in the report of the delegation and they are reflected in the resolution which we have before us today. I should like to say that I sincerely regret that in spite of the troika mission of the Council which returned last week, the Council has yet to take any concrete decisions to resolve the suffering of the Rwandan people and to support the new government in its efforts towards reconciliation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Lord Henry PLUMB, Chairman of the Parliament delegation to Rwanda, The European Union and its Member States have contributed some ECU 350 million in humanitarian aid but we have yet to learn how to take political decisions to prevent such disasters from arising. I hope very much &mdash; and I know that Mr Kouchner and Mr Matutes will share my views &mdash; that the European Union will find the institutional means to act effectively and credibly in the political and diplomatic field so that our influence may be brought to bear where it matters in such times of crisis. That is why the resolution we have before us raises these issues. Therefore, I call on the House to give its support to the resolution tabled to demonstrate our commitment not only to the people of Rwanda but also to the reconciliation of that country. I would like to thank the President of Parliament for his very valuable support and for his encouragement in what was an extremely demanding,yet, I believe, essential mission.