Sir, A United Nations representative has warned that 80,000 children under five could die this month in Central Africa unless the international community takes decisive action on the Rwanda/Zaire refugee crisis. Let us hope that, through our presidency of the European Union, we can give whatever kind of effective support is necessary to the actions of Africans so that such a tragedy can be averted.
It is worrying, however, that the same international community appears to continue to do little about the 34,000 children under five - well over one million a month - who die needlessly every day, due to deprivation in our world of plenty. We of the rich world, whose thoughtless greed and indifference underlies this deprivation, must surely have a responsibility to press for political action, especially at EU level, to address this awful injustice.
Yours, etc.,
Bayside Walk, Sutton, Dublin 13.