Government's ostrich-like stance on security is a serious cause for concern

Last October, following NATO threats, Yugoslav President Milosevic promised to let terrorised civilians return home and to pursue a peaceful settlement of the Kosovan question.

To date an additional 25,000 refugees have fled since the collapse of the Paris peace talks, a quarter of a million Kosovars are homeless and mass murder is common. This is happening in Europe and as 14 European states are NATO members they clearly believe they have a particular interest in their immediate region. They, and the US, claim they have the right in international law to restore order in Yugoslavia.

In the Dail yesterday I asked:

a) if the Government supported the NATO strategy of bombing specific targets in Serbia and where precisely the Government stands on this issue?

b) on what principle does the Government base its attitude to these events?

c) is the Government satisfied that the act of bombing is in keeping with international law, and

d) what specifically is the Government doing to contribute to the resolution of this conflict on our own continent? I also asked the Government view on the alternative to bombing.

In a series of non-answers the Minister for Defence, standing in for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, implied support for the threat of bombing as an adequate response. Whether NATO should bomb or who should do the threatening or whether it is lawful to bomb, he would not say.

The Government position on security and defence issues is not so much neutral as neutered, and on conflicts of this kind it behaves like an ostrich.

The reality is that Slobodan Milosevic, through tyranny, has been the main cause of mayhem in the Balkans for over a decade, including repeated genocide.

He has refused to sign an internationally brokered peace agreement and used the period of the negotiations to continue to unleash the might of his military and police forces against Kosovars.

We have been here before. Still the Government refuses to state where it stands on the current conflict. As European affairs minister I sat through numerous EU General Affairs Council meetings where joint statements and demarches on Bosnia-Herzegovina were argued at length with no effect whatsoever.

Only when NATO became involved were the tyrants brought to account. NATO, whether we like it or not, is still the only body capable of bringing Milosevic back to the negotiating table. The problem is he knows that, and he will milk it for all it is worth as cover for any unpalatable concessions wrung out of Serbia.

The alternative to NATO bombing would be peace enforcement through a Partnership for Peace (PFP) type of force. The Government departed from all its rhetoric about the horrors of PFP and at last admitted, in response to a Fine Gael Dail motion last month, that we will in fact join PFP in the second half of this year.

Because we have dragged our feet on this issue for so long we do not yet have the experience of interoperability of forces which PFP would provide, and, in any event, it is unlikely that the 100,000 or so troops needed to enforce peace in Kosovo could be put together in the near future. So NATO is in effect the only credible force able and willing to act.

The conflict in Kosovo has exposed serious weaknesses in current Irish foreign policy. The Government has neglected to prepare both the Irish electorate and the Irish defence forces for any involvement in resolving conflicts like Kosovo.

Fianna Fail in particular must be more open and transparent about security issues. It must stop playing the fear card to the electorate. We are right to be proud of our peacekeeping forces and the expertise they have obtained over the years. We are wrong to restrict the development and the implementation of this expertise, where it can be practically used to assist in the maintenance of peace, stability and order.

The Government must assist in the development of an EU military capability for Petersberg Tasks. The US wants this. The EU wants this. The Kosovars need this.

The Government should be contributing more to diplomatic negotiations and attempted resolutions of disputes, establishing itself as an effective broker. Ireland is in a unique position of having a UN peacekeeping reputation and significant negotiating experience and is seen as having no ideological baggage or an imperialistic agenda of its own.

The Government should consider supporting the Danish initiative for a UN rapid deployment force/state of high readiness brigade (Shirbrig) for deployment in UN-mandated operations.

The Government should continue to promote the importance of the EU's enlargement process. Enlargement is vital to bind central and eastern European countries into a democratic, stable, prosperous and peaceful union of peoples.

The EU should step up assistance to ensure the Balkan countries are able to redevelop their economies, imbed democratic regimes and share in the growing prosperity of Europe.

Ireland needs to play its part in providing resources to the 11 applicant countries as well as the remaining European states. It is in our interests as well as theirs. Economic, social, political and cultural ties should be established and nurtured between EU member-states and other European states undergoing unstable periods. Such ties would ensure better understanding, foster economic growth and hopefully encourage their further democratisation.

For too long we have behaved like hurlers on the ditch, commenting on the actions of other states while failing to act ourselves. Whatever about the rights or wrongs of bombing targets in Serbia, the Government must take our international role and responsibilities more seriously and prepare accordingly. ail performance by the Minister for Defence confirmed my worst fears.

Gay Mitchell is Fine Gael spokesman on foreign affairs