The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, could expect up to 20,000 anti-war postcards this month, if a protest by an anti-war alliance in Galway goes according to plan.
The Galway Alliance Against War says it has received an overwhelming response to its initiative, which involved printing 30,000 cards. Designed by the Community Workers' Co-op, the cards call on the Taoiseach to argue against the military response to the atrocities in the US on September 11th.
The alliance comprises non-party community workers and concerned citizens, along with representatives of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA), the Green Party and Sinn FΘin. It hosted a candlelit vigil in Galway city centre late last week and the Labour Party's foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Michael D. Higgins, was the only TD in the constituency to attend, along with his wife, Sabina, and family.
All sitting TDs in Galway West and Galway East were invited. Mr Michael Kitt TD sent apologies, according to the alliance spokeswoman, Ms Majella N∅ Chr∅ochβin.
The disastrous effect of the military campaign on the work of aid agencies has prompted Mr Higgins, as foreign affairs spokesman, to call for an emergency meeting of the Oireachtas subcommittee on development aid. Last week, the Irish relief agency, Concern, published advertisements in the national press quoting a dispatch from their representative in northern Afghanistan, Mr Dominic McSorley.
Military activity is hampering the agency's work in an area where people need 120,000 tonnes of food before winter sets in, he said. Air drops of humanitarian aid were a "last resort" as they could not ensure that aid went to the most vulnerable. "We must avoid the militarisation of aid," he said.
Mr Higgins has been in touch with Concern, and said the agency's voice must be listened to. He also expressed astonishment at the "silence" of the Minister of State with responsibility for Overseas Development, Ms Liz O'Donnell.
"The defence of the integrity of humanitarian aid must surely be one of her primary responsibilities," Mr Higgins said in a statement.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, had drawn attention to the scale of crisis, he said.
"There is widespread consensus that the bombing of Afghanistan over the past week has, to a large extent, neutralised the military capability of the Taliban regime," he said. "A pause in widespread air strikes to give non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the region an opportunity to deal with the impending humanitarian crisis will go a long way towards saving the lives of thousands of civilians."
It would also reinforce the point that the current campaign was directed, not at the Afghan people, but at those guilty of the September 11th attacks and the regime that lends them succour. It was a message that many Muslim countries that had supported the campaign needed to hear, he added.
The Galway-based director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Prof William Schabas, has said the military response to the attack on the World Trade Centre could constitute a war crime.
