Partnership For Peace

Sir, - In Fine Gael's call to Ireland to join the NATO-led Partnership for Peace and break its "splendid isolation" (January …

Sir, - In Fine Gael's call to Ireland to join the NATO-led Partnership for Peace and break its "splendid isolation" (January 24th), Mr Gay Mitchell is quotedas saying: "the Cold War is over, but international strife continues. Increasingly, this strife is of an internal nature (as in Yugoslavia and Algeria) and requires a new response."This is a cynical use of the Algerian conflict as an excuse for joining the PfP. Instead should Ireland not consider backing Amnesty International's call for an immediate international investigation into the recent massacres and other abuses?Ireland could also heed the appeal of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs Sadako Ogata - made on the 20th of this month in Geneva - and adopt a more generous approach towards Algerian asylum-seekers fleeing from Islamic violence.-Yours, etc.,C. Gaidoni,Ailesbury Grove,Dundrum,Dublin 16.