Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-19-Speech-3-014"
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"en.20081119.3.3-014"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, this corner of the world seems to be cursed and, as Alain Hutchinson has very aptly stated, there have been almost five million deaths since the start of the 1990s.
This area is like a death chamber – mass killings in North Kivu, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi – there is no end to it and each year the deaths start up again. I know that the same causes always produce the same effects; there are ethnic conflicts because the boundaries we marked out were often artificial boundaries. There is a form of exaggerated nationalism: everyone attempts to be a small-scale Napoleon III and have a Mexican adventure so that the problems of their country are forgotten. Of course, there is the taste for money, Alain pointed this out, the often incommensurable wealth of this area. There is also madness, for how else can we qualify the action of the Lord’s Resistance Army?
So what can we do? Oh, I would also like to draw attention to the action of Commissioner Michel, who has a long interest in this matter. We have seen his action at the meetings in Kigali and Kinshasa, which resulted in Nairobi. There is also the SADC and Obasanjo. Once again, we shall have large diplomatic summits. However, is that a reason to rely solely on diplomacy? We are facing a very serious humanitarian situation.
In my capacity as humanitarian aid rapporteur for your Parliament, I went to Kinshasa at the beginning of November to meet with Mr Botswali Lengomo, the new Minister for social affairs and humanitarian action. I also met with Apollinaire Malu Malu, to whom we almost awarded the Sakharov prize, and who is in charge of the Amani programme. Above all, let us not forget the considerable humanitarian effort that we must undertake.
So what are we really doing? Are we sure we are doing everything we should? What is MONUC doing? It appears to be absolutely right. 17 000 men, with 6 000 in the area, that is the equivalent of an armed division with tanks. Who is going to believe that this is insufficient to guarantee access for humanitarian assistance, even if I am aware, as you are too, of the vast territories to protect?
Hence, the solution is, of course, a diplomatic one. We must therefore support an African solution, assuming we are able to implement it. Obviously, we must ensure that the ceasefire is permanent to ensure humanitarian aid access. Without this prerequisite, humanitarian aid will not get through. The source of income must also be stopped. Needless to say, we must close the mines but also, perhaps, start criticising companies in the West who purchase the coltan and other minerals that enable arms to be purchased. We must, of course, give our full support to the peace initiatives by displaying a continued, rather than a sometimes indefinite, political interest
I shall conclude by calling for a much stronger military presence to stabilise the peace and that is something only the United Nations can do. It is my understanding that the European Union has sometimes been known to be able to convince the United Nations of where its duty lies."@en1
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