§ 2.54 p.m.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their official policy to back only the weaker of the two liberation movements fighting for Eritrean independence, and to describe the other as "guerrillas"; and whether they have now decided not to relieve suffering among the majority of the population who live in areas controlled by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, the British Government favour a negotiated settlement in Eritrea, and do not support any of the movements in question. The British Government deeply regret the suffering in Eritrea; their policy on the distribution of humanitarian relief is to try to ensure that it is channelled through international bodies without discrimination.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, would not the Minister agree that, while the aid is being channelled solely through the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, it reaches the ELF without the knowledge of the 651 Ethiopian authorities, and because of the Government's refusal to make this relief aid available to the Eritrean Relief Association, it does not get to areas controlled by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front? Why are the terms of the Disaster Emergency Committee framed in such a narrow way that help cannot be given to the vast majority of the Eritrean people who live in those areas?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I am glad to hear that the noble Lord agrees that it is necessary for this aid—or any aid of this kind—to reach the people who really deserve and need it. I appreciate his concern on this score. The matter which he has raised about whether, through these policies which the Overseas Department rightly insists on, this aid is getting to the areas he mentioned I will take up with my right honourable friend and seek her views on it. I take it that he and I are agreed that the aid should be properly supervised through international agencies to ensure that it reaches the people for whom it is intended.
§ Lord SEGALMy Lords, can my noble friend say whether there is still a Cuban presence on Eritrean soil and what steps are being taken by Her Majesty's Government to assist in its removal?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, there is certainly a Cuban presence in the area mentioned by my noble friend. We have no evidence—at least at the moment—that it is combat presence. We have consistently made it absolutely clear to the Cuban Government and to others that we regard involvement in a military sense in internal disputes of this kind as very detrimental to the prospects of peace and a peaceful settlement of such disputes.
§ Lord AVEBURYMy Lords, is the Minister aware that the latest information from Eritrea is that Cuban troops have been involved in combat? Returning to my Question, does he not agree that, since the Eritrean Relief Association is not an international agency, it has not hitherto been recognised by the Disaster Emergency Committee? Would he put that point to his right honourable friend? Can I send him material showing the enormous preponderance of need in 652 territory controlled by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, where relief is administered by the ERA?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, certainly, if the noble Lord wishes to give me information on this point, I would see that my right honourable friend the Minister for Overseas Development considers it very carefully. I would suggest that he might have a word with my right honourable friend directly. There is no need to go through an international channel for that kind of bilateral contact. If I can be of any help in this matter, I take the view that the objective is to make available to the people who need and deserve this aid, through the proper agencies, whatever is offered. ODM have laid down certain conditions. I do not think they are onerous; they are very prescient. I would expect—indeed, I suspect—that the noble Lord is in agreement with those objectives. Any information that he cares to make available to me, I shall gladly consider and discuss with my right honourable friend.