Sir, - The Irish Times of February 11th reported the call by John O'Shea, director of GOAL, for Western military intervention in Zaire against what he called "head-banger armies", and for the Irish Government to stop funding to the Rwandan Government "until its integrity is established". Although this smacks of the old imperial justification that "it is the white man's burden to civilise Africa" and would require some gall when confronted with the victims of the Rwandan genocide, no doubt these calls will continue to be made, especially after the UN resolution on the situation in Zaire which, however, comes from an entirely different, non-militaristic perspective on the situation.
It is to be hoped that the Irish Government and its agencies, as well as the US and Europe, will recognise the complexity of the situation, in Zaire and the legitimacy of the revolt of the east-Zairean Tutsis and others against an oppressive dictatorship. They should pursue the line of all-party, involvement in negotiations, as itemised in the UN resolution, and continue to resist calls for a hasty military intervention, which would be seen as having the effect of freezing the situation and thus of propping up the Mobutu regime.
John O'Shea, and those like him who call in this way for Western military involvement in Zaire, like to cite in support of it what they consider to have been Western "decisiveness" in Bosnia. But if Bosnia has shown anything, it is that outside forces who do not have to live in the place tend to concede to ethnic cleansing instead of confronting it.
Let us not make the same mistakes with the genocidal Interahamwe that we made with the Chetnik Serbs, when we failed to arm the Bosnian Government to permit it to defend Bosnia against them. Support the Zairean rebels, and give them the means to deal with the Interahamwe. - Yours, etc.,
Member of the Alliance to Defend Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montague Road, Birmingham, B21 9DF.