Strasbourg, 23/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - By adopting four resolutions at the end of the emergency debates in Strasbourg on Thursday, the European Parliament took stances on the situation in the following countries:
Madagascar: Parliament calls on both sides headed by Didier Ratsiraka and Marc Ravalomanana to fully implement the Dakar Agreement signed on 18 April of this year, in the respect of the Constitutional Law in place in the country. It remains convinced that only an agreement between the sides and national reconciliation will allow for the current crisis to be settled and preserve the country's unity. It calls on the EU to provide political and technical support for the implementation of the agreement and help organise elections, and on the Commission to prepare emergency humanitarian aid and aid to reconstruction. In addition, it calls for the political dialogue process provided for by Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement to be engaged in to prevent the partition of Madagascar. The Spanish Presidency is urged to send a troika responsible for meeting all sides, as well as Madagascar's neighbours in Southern Africa.
Zimbabwe: the situation in Zimbabwe must continue to be among the EU's priorities, whose Member States should raise the issue at the Security Council, says the EP, calling for the organisation of new presidential elections within twelve months, in compliance with internationally accepted standards and under the auspices of independent international observers. Parliament demands that that EU place further pressure on the Mugabe regime while ensuring the strict implementation of current measures. It also demands that the EU Troika, that is to go to Southern Africa this week, urge Zimbabwe's neighbours to act more resolutely in favour of the return to democracy and the rule of law in the country.
India: Parliament condemns in the strongest terms all acts of violence committed in India in the name of sectarianism, following the incidents of 27 February last by Muslim extremists, of a train at Ghodra that left 58 Hindu pilgrims dead. The EP also condemns the violence that followed on the part of Hindus that indiscriminately attacked Muslims, and Parliament calls on the Indian Government and that of the State of Gujarat to investigate the massacres perpetrated in the State of Gujarat and to take those responsible to court. It calls on the Commission to support efforts deployed by the Indian Government and urgently help all displaced people.
Indonesia: Parliament express its deep concern at the "appalling" violence that took place in the Moluccas Islands and the persistence of the conflicts in Aceh and Papua, and expresses its sympathy for all victims of these violent conflicts. It deplores the fact that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights should not have taken account of this worrying situation, and calls on the EU to envisage, with the United Nations and the Indonesian Government, a programme aimed at rebuilding a civil society that respects the ethnic and religious balance of the Indonesian Moluccas Islands. It urgently calls on the Indonesian Government to find a peaceful solution to the situation that prevails in Aceh and Papua, to protect all the endangered populations and urges the United Nations' Special Rapporteurs on torture and summary executions to go to these regions.