Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement

:w lkechpark lfoad, I· O'\rock, Duhlin 18. With l rdand. Compliments . - - ... IRISH ANTI-APARTHEID MOVEMENT 20 Beechpark Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18 Tel. 01-895035

21st December 1987 Comrade President Oliver Tambo SPONSORS Afr ican National Congress Niall Andrews MEP P.O. Box 31791 William Artley Monica Barnes TD Lusaka Professor Kevin 8oyie Zambia Dr Noel Browne Senator Katharine Bulbulia John F Carroll Dear Comr ade President Frank Cluskey TD Sheila Conroy Fergal Costello I regre t very mu ch that I was unable to attend the Dr. Cyril Cusack Dr. Liam de Paor Movement's histori c conference of solidarity held in Arusha Margaretta D'Arcy earlier this month. Our representative, Rafique Mottiar, was Professor James Dooge Lord Dunleath able to provide a very full report about the remarkable effect Brian Farrell the confe rence had on participants and how strengthened their Fr. Austin Flannery OP John Freeman convicti on was concerning the ANC'S leadership and vitality. Seamus Heaney Michael D. Higgins TD John Hume MEP The reason for my absence was firstly due to demands Noreen Kearney at the university from which I could not withdraw. All I could do Justin Keating PC K ilroy was to pr epare a paper on the illegitimacy of the regime and look Chris Kirwan forward to your visit to Dublin next March for our rally on Tom Kitt TD Denis Larkin sanctions and solidarity. Professor Mary McAleese Sean Mc Bride SC Inez McCormack What I was able to do was to attend a meeting of the Sr . Margaret McCurtain OP Bureau of the International Association of Democratic .Lawyers Jim Mccusker Patrick McEntee SC QC which was held in Leningrad to coincide with the 70th anniversary Sean Mac Reamoinn celebr ations of t he October Revolut ion. Th is =eeting was he ld after Professor John Maguire John Mitchell the Arusha Conference and did not denand a long absence from work. Donal Nevin There were some important developments concerning our work there Professor Martin O'Donoghue Sean O'Faolain and I write to you about them. Michael O'Kennedy TD Professor Mliirtfn 6 Murchu E G Quigley The first is of some delicacy and may require an urgent Ruairi Quinn TD response. Represented at the Bureau meeting was the Association Rodney Rice Senator Mary Robinson of African Jurists which is largely run by a Senegalese, Senator Brendan Ryan Dr Benoit Ngom. He was closely involved with the organsiation Eoin Ryan SC Patrick Scott of the Dakar meeting with the Afrikaner intellectuals in July Alan Shatter TD Joe Sherlock TD and the Association has now taken up the suggestion made by Mercy Simms President Diop of Senegal at the end of the meeting that there Des Smith Rev. Norman Taggart should be an International Tribunal to arraign the criminals of Niall Toibin apartheid. It appeared that some of the preparetory work has already been done through approaches to people like Andrew Young, jurists PRESIDENT and others and that Sean MacBride has already agreed to be Revd T . P. McCaughey president of the Tribunal.

CHAIRMAN Kader Asmal At the Bureau meeting, there was evident support if not enthusiasm for the idea. However, it was pointed out to him and VICE-CHAI AMAN his colleagues that such a proposal could not get off the ground LG. K ilgaller. without the support and involvement of the ANC.· Dr Benoit HON SECRETARY mentione d that he had held oral discussions about the Tribunal Louise Asmal with two members of the ANC but this was the first I had heard of HON TREASURER the idea. We got together with the general secretary of the IADL, R . Mottiar Amer Bentoumi, who also impressed on Dr Benoit for the need to have an official representative of the ANC on the preparetory committee. ASST. TREASURER Tony Ffrench Subsequently, it was agreed by Dr Benoit . that the ANC would have to be represented and my feeling is that the o~iginal hesitation was due more to inexperience rather than any other factor.

for freedom in Southern Africa 2. They seem to be set on going ahead with the idea of the Tribunal and are optimistic that they will raise the money from the OAU and African and European Governments. At present, they do not appear to be very firm about details such as membership of the Tribunal, language to be used, venue and how the material is to be assembled but they do not envisage that there would be any problems.

I undertook to write to you to let you know about this initiative. The Association seems to have important political links with Gov ernments in Africa and now that they have agreed to have an ANC representative on the preparetory committee, it would appear that the only course of action would be to support it. However, it would be necessary to make enquiries for further information either from Dr Ngom or the Presiden~of Senegal and Mali, Dr Ngom' s address is: Association of African Jurists, 37 , Boule vard Ornando, 75018 Paris.

The other point is of a somewhat different nature. For a number of years, I have in common with some international lawyers, thought that it would be very helpful to our international and domestic struggle if a systematic indictment against the apartheid criminals could be prepared. This would be a major indictment, modelled on the Nuremberg or Vietnam models, involving considerable research on the laws of South Africa, the relevant international rules and specific legal, administrative and constitutional responsibilities of the highest organs of the apartheid system, corporations and individuals.

We would not need to publicise it but it would assist us in our work and would be an important element in our argument about the illegitimacy of the apartheid regime.

Such a piece of work is beyond the resources of one person or even our Legal Affairs Committee because it would need a large team of researchers. Such an opportunity may arise as the GDR Association of International Law is prepared to assist us in this project. The Association would require a formal request from the ANC and the conclusion of a protocol, an agreement which would enable the Association to set up a proper research team. However, the research would be under our joint supervision and control.

I hope it would be possible to give consideration to what appears to be a very important and exciting venture. Because these two matters touch on their areas, I am sending a copy of this letter to Comrades Thabo and Zola and look forward to your reaction.

With best wishes.

Yours sincerely

Kader Asmal Chairman