Sir, - In response to Andy Storey's letter (May 7th), permit me to make the following points.
GOAL makes no apology for the fact that our medical and logistical teams worked in the Rwandan refugee camps in Eastern Zaire in 1994 and 1995. Our efforts to save human life earned unstinted praise from among others, the President of Ireland Mary Robinson, various Ministers in the Irish Government, UNHCR and the EU.
To the charge that GOAL and the UN should have concentrated the aid effort on the victims of the genocide in Rwanda, I would argue that the lives of starving and desperately ill refugees in the cesspool which was Goma and Bukavu were deserving of saving. The few agencies and the UN who worked in Eastern Zaire in those dreadful days knew that among the refugees were people who were responsible for the horrendous genocide in Rwanda. But the task of separating the innocent from the guilty and bringing to justice those responsible, was not one for the NGO community. Rather the international community should have accepted its responsibilities to mankind, sadly it did not.
There is little doubt now that revenge killings are taking place in Eastern Zaire. Both the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Emma Bonino have spoken out recently condemning the slaughter. In this circumstance I believe it is morally wrong for the Irish Government to continue to support financially the Rwandan government, who, according to credible UN and media reports are deeply involved in Laurent Kabila's extermination activities.
We believe that all aid going into Rwanda should be channelled through international aid agencies. - Yours, etc.,
GOAL,
PO Box 19,
Dun Laoghaire.