Madam, - I would like to respond to a number of points made by John O'Shea of Goal in his letter of April 4th and repeated by him in an interview on RTÉ radio.
There is no question but that a major humanitarian crisis has unfolded in the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent years and that many important issues remain unresolved there. However, a comprehensive peace agreement has been signed by all the parties to the conflict, a transitional power-sharing administration has been agreed and all foreign armies have withdrawn or will have done so by the end of April.
Ireland worked hard in the Security Council over the past two years to promote this outcome and we remain actively involved in efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the DRC. But deep-rooted ethnic tensions remain and spark incidents of horrific violence, including the recent massacre in Ituri (whose victims, incidentally, the UN now estimate to have amounted to 150-300 rather than the initially feared 1,000).
The peace process in the DRC remains extremely fragile and will need all the support it can get from the international community if the gains made so far are to be consolidated.
Uganda is one of a number of countries which have been party to the conflict. It has committed itself to withdrawing its remaining troops by the end of April. We expect that this commitment will be honoured fully and on time.
We operate a programme of development assistance in Uganda (currently valued at €30 million annually) because it is one of the poorest countries in the world and poverty reduction is our paramount goal. All of Ireland Aid funds, whether in Uganda or in our other programme countries in Africa (Lesotho, Zambia, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Tanzania) are dedicated to poverty reduction - focused on improving primary education, basic healthcare, access to clean water and improved sanitation. They are fully accounted for via rigorous auditing systems.
These systems demonstrate clearly that our funding is not going into the pockets of corrupt civil servants, as has been suggested, but is spent directly on poverty reduction reaching the poorest of the poor.
Our involvement in Uganda has given us unprecedented influence and oversight in relation to government expenditure across a range of areas, including defence. In addition, along with our donor partners, we are prepared to use, and have used, both enticements and disincentives to encourage Uganda to adhere to a pro-poor approach.
Uganda has emerged in recent decades from the chaos and devastation of the regimes of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, when the country was described as a graveyard. Progress since then, aided by development funding from donors such as ourselves, has included halving the number of people living in absolute poverty in Uganda.
This shows that our assistance is being put to good effect and provides ample justification for the continuation of our aid programme there. - Yours, etc.,
TOM KITT, Minister of State for Development, Dublin 2.