29 April 1999 Edition
Adams slams NATO bombing and `Partnership for Peace'
BY MARTIN SPAIN
We have very first-hand experience of how NATO troops behave, of how NATO turns a blind eye to the military excesses of one of its member states, but also how NATO seeks to use our situation as a testing ground of new weapons and surveillance technology, counter-insurgency techniques, and crowd control methods
- Gerry Adams
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has strongly slated the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat government's intention to join NATO's `Partnership for Peace' organisation. He was speaking at a conference on Irish neutrality and European security organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) in Trinity College, Dublin, on Saturday, 24 April. Also contributing to the debate were Labour Party President Proinsias De Rossa and Fine Gael TD Alan Dukes.
Adams said that in examining Ireland's attitude to NATO and neutrality, ``it is worth remembering that we in the Six Counties are living in a state dominated by a foreign power, Britain, occupied by British troops, who are also NATO troops.
``We, therefore, have very first-hand experience of how NATO troops behave, of how NATO turns a blind eye to the military excesses of one of its member states, but also how NATO seeks to use our situation as a testing ground of new weapons and surveillance technology, counter-insurgency techniques, and crowd control methods.
``I would therefore strongly suggest that before the Irish government takes the grave step of joining Partnership for Peace and abandons Irish neutrality, that it listens to the voices of those who have direct, daily experience of one of the military powers it wants to enter an alliance with.''
He also stressed the positive role that Irish people can play in international affairs. ``As a people who have been fighting against colonialism for centuries, we are unique in the European Union, most states of which are former colonial powers. Our responsibility therefore, should be to work with other nations to develop a bridge within Europe between those emerging nations in eastern and southern Europe which are disadvantaged and between Europe and the peoples of what is called the `South' - the poorer nations of the world representing the majority of humanity, who are crippled by a foreign debt which keeps them permanently impoverished. Ireland should be proactively promoting the campaign demanding the scrapping of this debt.''
Adams clearly spelled out Sinn Féin's position, saying the party believes `` there is no role for the European Union in military and defence matters. These should be left up to the individual states. International peacekeeping should be under the auspices of the United Nations. We are totally opposed to membership of the so-called Partnership for Peace. Joining NATO's front group would seriously undermine our UN role.''
Adams called for an end to the bombing of Serbia, saying it was ``most definitely not the solution to the complex political crisis in the Balkans''. He pinted out that NATO was in breach of the Geneva Convention, the UN Charter, and even its own charter. In a reference to the current impasse in the political situation at home, Adams said:
``It is amazing how tons of bombs dropped on civilians in Serbia are morally and politically acceptable to the British government and the jingoistic media, while the silent guns of the IRA, we are told, are a threat to peace.''
Proinsias De Rossa, while advocating a European common defence policy, said it was important that this policy be under democratic control, which would be lacking in the Partnership for Peace, which had no control over NATO's actions. He said that NATO's decision to bomb from the air rather than send in ground troops was a sign that NATO was not serious about about resolving the conflict but was seeking to use it to become the main security protector for Europe.''
Fine Gael's Alan Dukes, a longtime advocate of European federalism, favoured member ship of the Partnership for Peace, but only as a means to upgrade the military structures here for inclusion in a common European Union military alliance.
We have very first-hand experience of how NATO troops behave, of how NATO turns a blind eye to the military excesses of one of its member states, but also how NATO seeks to use our situation as a testing ground of new weapons and surveillance technology, counter-insurgency techniques, and crowd control methods
- Gerry Adams
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has strongly slated the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat government's intention to join NATO's `Partnership for Peace' organisation. He was speaking at a conference on Irish neutrality and European security organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) in Trinity College, Dublin, on Saturday, 24 April. Also contributing to the debate were Labour Party President Proinsias De Rossa and Fine Gael TD Alan Dukes.
Adams said that in examining Ireland's attitude to NATO and neutrality, ``it is worth remembering that we in the Six Counties are living in a state dominated by a foreign power, Britain, occupied by British troops, who are also NATO troops.
``We, therefore, have very first-hand experience of how NATO troops behave, of how NATO turns a blind eye to the military excesses of one of its member states, but also how NATO seeks to use our situation as a testing ground of new weapons and surveillance technology, counter-insurgency techniques, and crowd control methods.
``I would therefore strongly suggest that before the Irish government takes the grave step of joining Partnership for Peace and abandons Irish neutrality, that it listens to the voices of those who have direct, daily experience of one of the military powers it wants to enter an alliance with.''
He also stressed the positive role that Irish people can play in international affairs. ``As a people who have been fighting against colonialism for centuries, we are unique in the European Union, most states of which are former colonial powers. Our responsibility therefore, should be to work with other nations to develop a bridge within Europe between those emerging nations in eastern and southern Europe which are disadvantaged and between Europe and the peoples of what is called the `South' - the poorer nations of the world representing the majority of humanity, who are crippled by a foreign debt which keeps them permanently impoverished. Ireland should be proactively promoting the campaign demanding the scrapping of this debt.''
Adams clearly spelled out Sinn Féin's position, saying the party believes `` there is no role for the European Union in military and defence matters. These should be left up to the individual states. International peacekeeping should be under the auspices of the United Nations. We are totally opposed to membership of the so-called Partnership for Peace. Joining NATO's front group would seriously undermine our UN role.''
Adams called for an end to the bombing of Serbia, saying it was ``most definitely not the solution to the complex political crisis in the Balkans''. He pinted out that NATO was in breach of the Geneva Convention, the UN Charter, and even its own charter. In a reference to the current impasse in the political situation at home, Adams said:
``It is amazing how tons of bombs dropped on civilians in Serbia are morally and politically acceptable to the British government and the jingoistic media, while the silent guns of the IRA, we are told, are a threat to peace.''
Proinsias De Rossa, while advocating a European common defence policy, said it was important that this policy be under democratic control, which would be lacking in the Partnership for Peace, which had no control over NATO's actions. He said that NATO's decision to bomb from the air rather than send in ground troops was a sign that NATO was not serious about about resolving the conflict but was seeking to use it to become the main security protector for Europe.''
Fine Gael's Alan Dukes, a longtime advocate of European federalism, favoured member ship of the Partnership for Peace, but only as a means to upgrade the military structures here for inclusion in a common European Union military alliance.