Madam, - The departure of the first part of the Irish United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to Liberia makes us proud to belong to this nation. We are grateful that 430 professional Irish soldiers have volunteered to engage with the people of Liberia in their efforts to rebuild their country.
These soldiers are aware that they are the first Western military force to go to Africa since the infamous US intervention in Somalia. Also, the tragedy of the Irish peacekeeping mission to the Congo four decades ago must be still alive in the Irish Army as it is among the population in general. We are grateful that, despite those precedents, the Irish Government and the Irish Army have been happy to accommodate the request of the United Nations.
Liberia has been isolated from the international community, for very good reasons, for the last decade. With the departure of Charles Taylor and the establishment of interim government, normal international relations can be resumed.
Ireland is leading the way for the international community by making Liberia the focus of its contribution to the UN peacekeeping project. This contribution benefits not only Liberia but also its neighbours in the sub-region. Peace and reconstruction in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone is impossible without stability and good governance in Liberia.
For 140 years the greatest contribution which Ireland has made to this West African sub-region, has not been financial but rather the Irish people who have spent part or all of their lives working there in solidarity with the population of this, the poorest region in the world; now that commitment is deepened again.
This declaration of support from the international community, which the Irish presence represents, will bring new hope to Liberians who have suffered too much since 1989. We pray that God will keep the Irish troops safe during this operation. - Yours, etc.,
CECILIA DORBOR, For the Liberian community in Ireland, MARTIN ROWAN, Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership, North Circular Road,
Dublin 7.