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SPEECH BY PRESIDENT ROBINSON AT THE STATE BANQUET HOSTED IN HER HONOUR IN HARARE

SPEECH BY PRESIDENT ROBINSON AT THE STATE BANQUET HOSTED IN HER HONOUR IN HARARE BY PRESIDENT ROBERT G. MUGABE ON 1 OCTOBER 1994

President Mugabe, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am deeply honoured to visit your hospitable country.  The warmth of this hospitality was brought home to me vividly earlier today on my arrival in Harare.

There is a great respect and affection for Zimbabwe in Ireland.  I was very pleased to have the opportunity of meeting you at my official residence in Dublin two years ago.  I hope that my visit here will provide a further opportunity for the people of our two countries to get to know each other better.  I am sure we have much to learn and much to offer each other.

I look forward over the next few days to meeting a broad cross section of Zimbabwe's people and to seeing and learning more about the rich cultural traditions of the people of Zimbabwe.  I look forward to learning more about contemporary Zimbabwe and to knowing more about how your government is pursuing the important task of developing the country's economy.

Zimbabwe is famous the world over for the splendour and beauty of its scenery, its abundant wild life and for being home to one of the great natural wonders of the World at Victoria Falls.  I very much look forward to seeing these and also to visiting the majestic ruins at the Great Zimbabwe monument about which I have heard so much.

Mr. President,

Since your independence in 1980 Ireland has followed with the greatest interest your progress in creating a peaceful and prosperous country.  I remember the deep concern with which we in Ireland followed events throughout the long struggle for independence.  I may say that Irish governments of the day made every effort to support and encourage the achievement of a just and peaceful settlement.

Since your independence, we have watched how, in a relatively brief number of years, Zimbabwe has proudly taken its place on the world stage as a strong and independent African voice.  We have seen how Zimbabwe has come to play a major role in many of the great economic and political issues which are helping to shape the continent of Africa today.  One example of this is the leading role you took in advocating the imposition of economic sanctions against the former apartheid regime in South Africa.

Mr. President,

It has indeed been remarkable how, since independence, under your leadership, Zimbabwe has moved forward with such admirable discipline and restraint.  You and your colleagues in government have managed to weld together the different elements of Zimbabwean society for the good of the country and its people as a whole.  It was in this spirit of reconciliation that it was possible to achieve in 1987 the unity agreement between the Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe Africa People's Union (ZAPU), thus healing the divisions in the nationalist ranks.

While it has not, by any means, been easy, you have succeeded in creating a national unity out of the different groups that make up your country.  The peace and stability which your country has achieved is an outstanding example to other African countries that diversity is not an obstacle to peaceful national unity or economic progress.

It has been from this strength that Zimbabwe has been able to reach out to help others.  As President of the Frontline States, Zimbabwe had often to pay a heavy economic price for its role in the ending of apartheid in South Africa.  President Mandela has recently acknowledged with profound gratitude the crucial role Zimbabwe played in ending apartheid, both as a member of the Organisation of African States (OAU) and the Chairman of the Frontline States.  Indeed, I was pleased to meet you again at the Inauguration of President Mandela last May, a joyful occasion for all of us.

We in Ireland are well aware of your dynamic efforts to assist in the peace process in Angola and Mozambique.  We know of, and applaud, Mr. President, your own close personal involvement in seeking to resolve the crisis in Lesotho.  Ireland too has played, and is continuing to play a role within the UN in bringing peace to regions of conflict in Africa.  In Somalia, for example, Zimbabwean and Irish troops served side by side under the UN flag in Baidoa.  Members of the Irish police force are currently serving with the UN in Mozambique as that country prepares for its elections.  Zimbabwe will also, I believe, play an important role in helping the electoral process in Mozambique.

Mr. President

I am visiting Zimbabwe at a time of great hope on the island of Ireland.  Over the past 25 years there have been more than 3,000 deaths directly related to the conflict in Northern Ireland - all of them unnecessary, all of them premature.  The best memorial that these people can have is that their children may grow up in a society where each of them can cherish their own cultural heritage free from discrimination, disadvantage and disrespect.

That is the high noble aim to which both Governments have committed themselves in their efforts to achieve an equitable lasting and peaceful political settlement to the problems of Northern Ireland.

Reconciliation is a healing process based on mutual respect, forgiveness and generosity.  Above all it is a process which takes time and patience.  The World community has learned, with humility and admiration, from the example of President Mandela and the people of South Africa with this task.

Mr. President,

Zimbabwe is also playing a leading role in the development of the Southern Africa region through its membership of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).  Now that the new democratic South Africa has become the 11th member of SADC, the regional community can work with greater coherence towards developing the economy of all of Southern Africa, thereby raising the living standards of its people.

You have remarked that while there are internal problems in some of the member states, these have never been allowed to dampen the spirit of the family of SADC states.  Long may this amity continue.

As a member of the European Union, Ireland is happy to note the successful outcome of the recent Berlin Conference between the European Union and SADC.  As a new era dawns for Southern Africa the Conference was a timely opportunity to open doors for wide-ranging and substantive co-operation between our two regions, co-operation in which we in Ireland will most willingly participate.

When I went to Somalia, in October 1992, the famine there was at its worst and help from the international community had yet to find its way to the millions of dying and starving Somalis.  I reported on my visit personally to the UN Secretary-General and encouraged action by the UN and by the international community.  We in Ireland, as I am sure you too in Zimbabwe, continue to follow with keen interest events in Somalia since the terrible days of 1992.

This year the unimaginable horrors of Rwanda have overshadowed the terrible tragedy in Somalia.  I wholeheartedly applaud the response of those African countries, including Zimbabwe, which have made troops available to UNAMIR in Rwanda and which have offered humanitarian support to the Rwanda people.

Reflecting on what has been happening in Somalia, Rwanda and other similar situations, and without diminishing the responsibilities of the international community, my hope is that through time, and as Africa strengthens, some form of common action may be created by African states to cope with these terrible humanitarian disasters in the first instance, and better still, to prevent them occurring. 

Mr. President, I know that you yourself have called for an effective mechanism for conflict prevention and resolution.  This is an entirely laudable and necessary objective and one perhaps in which regional co-operation could play a major role.

Mr. President,

Both our countries have emerged from colonial legacies.  Since 1922 Ireland has been engaged in the process of developing our democratic institutions and in defining our role in European and world affairs.  Since 1980 you have embarked on a similar task as an independent African state.

Ireland's reputation in many parts of the world is greatly influenced by the role of the Irish diaspora.  The descendants of those emigrants who left Ireland over the past two centuries and those who have left in more recent years are of great importance to Ireland.  For one thing they number over 70 million, while the population of Ireland is three and a half million.

I have a light burning in the President's Residence in the Phoenix Park in Dublin to symbolise that there is always a welcome there for the Irish throughout the world, including, of course, those here in Zimbabwe.

I know that the descendants of some of those who came to Zimbabwe are with us here tonight.  Many came to Central Africa out of a sense of vocation, as missionaries, teachers, doctors and nurses.  Among the earliest of these, the name of "Mother Patrick", Mary Patrick Cosgrave, who founded the first hospital in 1891 in what is now Harare, stands out.  Among the earliest religious in Zimbabwe were the Jesuits, who included many Irish priests and were especially active in the area of education, as I am sure you yourself, Mr. President, can attest.  I would also mention Bishop Donal Lamont, Bishop of Umtali, who was a very eloquent opponent of apartheid.

In addition to the formal government contacts that already exist between our countries, I am sure that Irish people in Zimbabwe will be able to contribute to building bridges both economic and cultural between our two countries.

Mr. President,

One of the principal links between Ireland and Zimbabwe in recent times has been in the area of development co-operation.  The development co-operation programme began in the early 1980s, when, following independence, many sectors here were left without senior management personnel.  The programme provided technical assistance in the agricultural sector and for the development of the National Hotel and Catering College in Bulawayo.

Irish Aid has more recently begun a programme of support to the Monitoring and Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Finance here in their key role in relation to the Economic Reform Programme.  Support is also being provided to the Business Extension and Advisory Service to allow it to open a new regional office in Bulawayo to encourage indigenous small business development.  There is also very close co-operation with many of your own NGOs leading, for example, to the establishment of a training centre for the National Federation of Women's Institute of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.

A number of Irish agencies are participating in Zimbabwe's development and will, I am sure, be glad to continue this work.  The Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO) currently has some 46 Irish personnel working with the Ministry of Education and other agencies primarily as teachers in the education field.

We are very happy to share with Zimbabwe what skills and expertise we possess in the field of development.  I am happy to note that Irish Aid is planning to double the level of support to Zimbabwe next year.

Mr. President,

Ever since you honoured us with a visit in 1983 Ireland has been moving forward rapidly.  Our economy has one of the highest growth rates and lowest inflation rates in the European Union.  We are aware that your country wants to attract greater foreign investment and to develop and increase its international trade, as do we.

We would greatly welcome increased mutual trade and investment with Zimbabwe and we hope that this will become a major part of our overall relations.

In conclusion, Mr. President, Ireland and Zimbabwe are both countries which have fought for and achieved their independence relatively recently.  Both have earned the respect of the international community for taking principled and independent stands on important issues of international concern.

Since gaining independence you, Mr. President, have guided your country through the difficult early years to stability and the increasing well being of the Zimbabwean people.  You have stood as a beacon in Africa for democracy, human rights and freedoms and you have earned the reputation of being one of Africa's most distinguished statesmen.

Mr. President,

Ireland regards you as an honoured friend, and I ask you to accept the best wishes of the Irish people for the future prosperity of Zimbabwe and its people.

Thank you.