Sir, - Congratulations to Vincent Browne on his excellent article castigating Europe for its continuing cynicism in respect of sub-Saharan Africa ("Europe fails to face up to its duties in the Congo" October 20th).
In denouncing our current and repeated intervention in interstate and ethnic conflicts on that continent, our support for corrupt and murderous dictatorships, and our encouragement of genocide, as well as the horrors perpetrated by the various powers during the colonial era and the unimaginable sufferings caused by the slave-trade, he exposes what we in Ireland choose largely to ignore. Most of Africa is of little strategic value and conflicts, for which we are at least in part responsible and which result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, huge displacement of populations and untold suffering generally, seldom make the headlines.
Is it not time we faced up to our responsibilities, and at the very least made an effort to find out what is happening in that afflicted continent?
It is a matter of great wonder, and an indication of the extraordinary tolerance and patience of Africans in general, that they are still prepared to extend the hand of friendship to us Europeans, whether here at home or in Africa itself. Let us recognise the unique value of that friendship, firstly by informing ourselves as to what we have done and are still doing on the African continent, and then by disengaging ourselves with all possible speed from partisan participation in these murderous conflicts. - Yours, etc.,
Pat Little, Clarinda Park West, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.