THE Dail is to be asked next week to approve the sending of a contingent of Irish troops to Africa. The Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring, said the Government had decided to agree to a request from the United Nations to contribute to the humanitarian mission arising out of the conflict in the great lakes area.

The proposed force would be a temporary one, deployable until March next year. It was intended to augment and support humanitarian efforts rather than compete with them.

Humanitarian action alone, however, could not solve the problems of the area. There was a critical need to develop mechanisms to address the underlying political problems in a comprehensive, coherent way, Mr Spring told the House. "That is the only route to a durable political settlement in the region."

The challenge for the Rwandan government in absorbing returned refugees on the current scale was daunting and the plight of large numbers of refugees and displaced people in eastern Zaire remained a major source of concern.

Mr Spring congratulated Canada on its initiative in putting together a multinational force. The European Union, under the Irish presidency, had been playing an active role in the operation.

The Fianna Fail spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Ray Burke, said the House was due to debate a motion on the dispatch of Irish troops to Zaire but instead they were having statements which would result in little being done.

"It is shocking that the international community, including Ireland, is still dithering as to the type of force that will be sent to the area. We, on this side of the House, welcome the idea of the force and warmly support the sending of troops to that region to assist in any way we can".

There was a historical precedent for Irish troops in the region since it was in the Congo - now Zaire - that the first UN mission was carried out by Irish troops in the early 1960s.

GOAL, the third world agency, had recently concluded that there was little interest in the fate of the Rwandan refugees stranded in Zaire. As president of the EU, Ireland should renew the call for immediate action by sending an international peace keeping force gas soon as possible.

"A military force deployed in the region could act as a conduit towards the ultimate aim of achieving basic human rights for Hutu refugees and the resettled Tutsi population in Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire," said Mr Burke.

A military force could play a vital part in protecting the 700,000 refugees who failed to return to Rwanda in the last 10 days.

The Progressive Democrats spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Des O'Malley, said the anxiety of the EU to placate the Rwandan government was quite disturbing. He asked why Rwanda was still holding 85,000 people in conditions of appalling detention rather than bringing them to trial.

Instead of action there were ministers and ministers of state "running around for talks and consultations, congratulating one another on how successful their talks are".

"Because it is happening in Africa the international community is turning its back and people are going to be left to die," he said.

The European powers had contributed greatly to the creation of the present situation in Africa. The best contribution we could make was to face up to the fact that "these artificial countries created by European princes drawing lines on maps in the last century had not worked.

"There will have to be some recognition of the ethnic and tribal differences and, if necessary, for their own safety, some redrawing will have to take place so that people can live behind boundaries of their own choosing in safety from those who are of a different ethnic background," Mr O'Malley said.

The present lines on the map, dividing the great lakes region into countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire had no real meaning on the ground.

It was sad that the EU, led by a small country which did not have a colonial history, was not prepared to stand up for those now suffering as a result of colonial activities in previous times.