STATE BANQUET OFFERED BY MARY ROBINSON PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, DUBLIN CASTLE, 13 MARCH, 1995
STATE BANQUET OFFERED BY MARY ROBINSON PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, DUBLIN CASTLE, 13 MARCH, 1995
President and Madame Mwinyi, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Government and people of Ireland it gives me very great pleasure to welcome you, Mr. President, Madame Mwinyi and the members of your party, to Ireland. Your visit, following that of your esteemed predecessor, Mwalima Nyerere in 1979, and the visits of my predecessor, Dr. Patrick Hillery in 1980 and my own last year, are a fitting tribute to the very close ties of partnership and co-operation that unite our two countries and peoples.
My husband and I are particularly pleased to have this early opportunity to return, in some measure, the warmth of the welcome and hospitality which we received when we visited Tanzania last October. Our memories of your fascinating country and its friendly people will long remain with us. My visit to Tanzania last year, as well as affording me a valuable opportunity to see at first hand the various aspects of co-operation between Ireland and Tanzania and its impact on peoples' lives, also helped to strengthen the already close relationship between our two countries. I am sure that your visit here this week will further cement the ties between Ireland and Tanzania.
I would like, Your Excellency, to refer to a few aspects of Tanzanian society which I found particularly impressive. The first of these is the spirit of unity and mutual tolerance, which I hope will continue to flourish there. Tanzanian society today reflects the varied cultures and peoples, African, Arab, Indian and European, who have influenced its history over the centuries. One of the most striking features of contemporary Tanzania is the extent to which these diverse peoples have been brought together in harmony and tolerance into a united nation. The promotion of Kiswahili as the national language has undoubtedly been a major factor in the fostering of national unity.
Secondly, I was greatly impressed by the manner in which the Government and people of Tanzania have demonstrated an unparalleled spirit of humanity and generosity to the over 600,000 refugees from the tragedy of Rwanda who have sought sanctuary in Tanzania. During my visit I had an opportunity to witness at first hand the situation in Ngara, the location of the largest refugee camps in Tanzania, including the impact of the refugee influx on the local population and environment.
The visit also allowed me to pay tribute to the work of the international and local relief agencies and NGOs, including Irish NGOs, such as Concern, Trócaire and GOAL, who are active in the humanitarian effort. Although so far removed physically from Rwanda, the tragedy there last year touched the hearts of the people of Ireland, who contributed over $10 million to the relief effort, in addition to the Irish Government's contribution of approximately $5m, much of it to agencies working in Tanzania. More recently, Ireland has assisted with the rehabilitation of primary schools in Karagwe District, several of which were used for shelter by the refugees when they first arrived in Tanzania. In that way we are contributing to the international effort to ease the burden placed on Tanzania's limited resources by the presence of such large numbers of refugees.
After leaving Tanzania, I travelled to Kigali, where I met the President of Rwanda and other senior officials of the Rwandese Government and later visited Goma in Zaire. The political roots of the Rwandan genocide were obvious from my visits to the refugee camps in Tanzania and Zaire. It is important for us to recognise that, in man-made disasters such as that in Rwanda, humanitarian aid takes place in a political context. To ignore that political context is perilous.
Nobody who visits the region could underestimate the challenges which situations like Rwanda pose for all of us. Our approach must be guided by clearly enunciated principles. In the case of Rwanda, many of the principles necessary to a settlement are contained in the Arusha accords which were negotiated under the auspices of the OAU and agreed by parties in Rwanda in early 1994. We recognise that Tanzania has played an extremely important role as facilitator in this area. I heartily commend you, Mr. President, and your Government for your continuing work towards the re-establishment of peace, security and national reconciliation in Rwanda, and hope that your efforts will be crowned with success. However, in order to create conditions which will facilitate the early return of the refugees to their homes, there is also a compelling and imperative need for generous and creative international support for reconciliation in Rwanda. This a fundamental point.
Your Excellency,
While in Tanzania I met with a range of people and gained some appreciation of the rapid changes, both economic and political, which are taking place there. Under your leadership over the past ten years, the country has embarked on a wide-ranging and comprehensive programme of economic reforms and restructuring. The remarkable economic progress which has been achieved since the early 1980s, as shown by the level of economic activity and private sector dynamism, is testimony to the success of the economic reforms. The Tanzanian Government is to be congratulated on the achievements to date. We also welcome the determined measures which are being implemented to address some recent fiscal problems.
One of Tanzania's striking achievements is the way in which economic restructuring has been combined with the maintenance of political and economic stability, and a determination by the Government to focus more attention on the social sectors. In this regard, we warmly welcome your Government's new strategy which emphasises greater local control and responsibility for social services, as well as a renewed emphasis on reducing barriers to women and the poor in gaining the benefits of these services. This approach is in accord with Ireland's aid policy, which emphasises as a fundamental tenet the need to safeguard priority social spending, especially spending on basic education and health. We strongly supported the agreement by the recent World Summit for Social Development that structural adjustment programmes should include social development goals.
My visit to Africa last year brought home to me the importance of ensuring that international economic agreements, including the treatment of debt, can serve African countries such as Tanzania, which are making genuine and considered efforts to develop their economies. In my view, it is a moral, economic and social imperative that the international community now find a definitive solution to the problem of debt and especially that of the poorest countries. Means must be found to break the unending and frequently vicious cycle of refinancing. While some progress has been made in tackling the debt problem in recent years, more needs to be done. Various options, including debt cancellation, need to be seriously considered. The multilateral institutions must play an active role in the process of seeking a solution to this problem.
The Government are to be congratulated on the smooth progress of Tanzania's transition to a multi-party system. I note that the first national parliamentary and Presidential elections under multi-partyism will take place later this year. The effective participation of men and women in the decision-making process of the system of government under which they live, is an essential component of a functioning democracy and of sustainable development, as is freedom of expression by individuals and the media. Equally important is the effective operation of the rule of law and protection and promotion of the rights of the individual. I appreciate and welcome the attention paid by Tanzania to these major issues.
Mr. President,
Although relatively distant in terms of geography, I feel that the peoples of Tanzania and of Ireland have a good deal in common, not least a relaxed, friendly and outgoing approach to life. Both countries experienced colonisation for a significant length of time. Like their Tanzanian colleagues, Irish soldiers are serving abroad in the cause of international peace-keeping. In Ireland over the past forty years, we have gone through a relatively rapid transition from a rural society, based on agriculture, with comparatively few amenities to a modern, industrialised, export-orientated economy. I would like to suggest that Ireland's own comparatively recent experience of the development process, as well as our folk memory of famine, should enable us to empathise with the Tanzanian situation; and that some of the understandings which we have gained may have relevance also in the Tanzanian context. As I know that Tanzania is interested in encouraging foreign investment, developing the financial services sector and promoting its abundant tourist attractions, I hope that while you are in Ireland you will have an opportunity to visit some of the Irish institutions active in these areas or meet with their personnel.
Ireland's links with Tanzania have become increasingly close since the late 1970s with the establishment and growth of the Irish Aid programme. We do not rank among the major donors to Tanzania in absolute terms but Tanzania is an important priority country for Irish Aid. The Tanzania Programme is in fact the largest of our six Priority Country programmes. It has almost doubled in size since 1991. As I saw at first hand last year, through a spirit of partnership and dialogue with the Government and local authorities of Tanzania, we have developed a very productive programme, focused on capacity building and the development of your country's great human resources as well helping to meet basic needs. Ireland is willing to continue to expand this partnership programme, in line with our proven areas of expertise and the needs of Tanzania.
Your Excellency,
In spite of the disparity in size between our two countries and the geographical distance which separate us, there have been significant contacts between us, a learning from each other, and a sharing of attitudes on a wide variety of issues. We look forward to continuing our close and friendly relationship with Tanzania and implementing our shared commitment to create a world free of violence, oppression and poverty.
President Mwinyi,
You, Mrs. Myinyi and the members of your party are most heartily welcome in Ireland. I would like to bid you, in the words of our traditional Gaelic greeting "Céad Mile Fáilte" (a hundred thousand welcomes). I hope that, your stay in Ireland will be a happy and successful one.
May I propose a toast to the President and the people of the United Republic of Tanzania and the continuing friendship and co-operation between our two countries.