§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Chapman.]
9.36 am§ Mr. Alun Michael (Cardiff, South and Penarth)I feel immensely privileged this morning, on the last opportunity for debate this year, to be able to speak for the Somali people of the north, the former British Somaliland, whose plight has been invisible in the media and to the international community during the past year. The extent to which Somaliland is invisible is shown by the letter to all hon. Members from the Minister for Overseas Development, Lady Chalker, dated 10 December. That letter does not mention the north, Somaliland, once. In view of the discussions that we have had over the past two or three years, I find that quite incredible.
I hope that what I say will accurately reflect the views of the all-party group on Somalia, many of whose members found it impossible to change their arrangements 544 to be here today. My hon. Friend the Member for Bow and Poplar (Ms. Gordon) particularly wished to be here to speak for the Somalis in her community; and I know that the hon. Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis), as the co-chairman of the group, and my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) hope to catch your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I am sure that their contributions will be welcomed by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
The plea that I am about to make is endorsed by aid workers and by leaders of the Somali communities in Britain. I bring to the House a passionate plea from the mayor of Hargeisa, a video of enthusiastic recruits to a new police force, new evidence which arrived from Somaliland only this week, and an endorsement from the Police Federation of England and Wales. But, above all, I bring the plea that this House and Ministers face up to their responsibilities and loyalties over which Britain has hesitated for far too long.
I also have a terrible feeling of responsibility, because if I fail to persuade the Minister to act on some simple suggestions, the plight of people in the north will continue to deteriorate. In that event, in 1993 we could see the famine and violence which we have seen in Mogadishu repeated in Hargeisa and Berbera. That must not be allowed to happen.
Let me make it clear that, when I wrote to seek the debate, I sought a discussion on the north of Somalia only —call it the republic of Somaliland, the north or the fromer British Somaliland if hon. Members wish, but I will call it Somaliland for ease of reference. The name is not important, but what is important is that its history and its present situation are totally different from that of the other Somalia—call that the south, the former Italian Somaliland, or the area around Mogadishu—which appears on our television screens day by day.
Before coming to the essence of the debate, I will make two points. Terrible violence, famine and confusion have racked the south. The bravery of aid workers from voluntary organisations in Britain and from other countries has been colossal. The suffering of the people in the south has been immense.
The decision of the United Nations to take up military aid was right, and one must ask why the international community waited so long before acting and then did so only when America offered to do the job. The only mistake was the suggestion that American troops could move in and be gone in days, when careful work is needed in co-operation with the elders and faction leaders to establish stability and the conditions for long-term development. The Americans now appear to have a better appreciation of the situation, and President-elect Clinton is showing sensitivity—thank God—and a willingness to grapple with the real problems.
We must acknowledge that conditions in the north are totally different, and I will briefly describe the history in the hope that the Minister will agree that my account is accurate and can be taken as common ground in this Chamber.
The Somali nation is mainly to be found in five areas —the former French Somaliland, now the independent state of Djibouti; the former British Somaliland; the former Italian Somaliland; northern Kenya; and Ethiopia. When they both gained independence in 1960, British Somaliland rushed to merge with Italian Somaliland with what many of those involved now consider to be indecent 545 haste, based on faith and trust in a united future. Together they formed Somalia—a land shaped like the figure seven, with the former British territory forming the horizontal part of the seven.
Under the despotic rule of President Siad Barre, Somalia became a client state of first the Soviet Union and then the United States because of the strategic importance of naval facilities in the vicinity of the gulf. Barre's rule was characterised by violence and the violation of human rights. When the people of the north rebelled, he responded ruthlessly with the devastation of towns and villages, while many of those who were not killed fled into the bush and to refugee camps of Ethiopia.
While the excesses of Barre's Government were well documented, little came to the attention of the media and the international community, so we still talk of it as the hidden war. Britain stood aloof, deferring to the Italians, whose influence in the south was considerable but not always positive. The Somali National Movement enjoyed immense popular support in the north and successfully swung the tide of events against Barre. Opponents in the south gathered strength to challenge Barre as well.
The factions about which we have heard a good deal in recent months, led by General Aideed and Ali Mahdi, fall within one of the southern rebel groups, which have no greater claim to recognition than the SNM, which has maintained a fragile unity through trying and difficult times. As the fighting moved south towards Mogadishu, the media and the international community woke up to the existence of the conflict and their focus has remained on Mogadishu and the south. That concentration rightly awakened the conscience of the world eventually, but that is no justification for allowing the north to remain all but invisible. It is the north—the self-styled Republic of Somaliland—on which our debate must concentrate, not least because its people fought for Britain in two world wars and served in the Merchant Navy for more than a century, and because the family links of many British citizens are in the north.
I appeal to the Minister to leave the south on one side for the purposes of this debate, as I hope that there is no difference of perception between us about that part of the country. I ask the Minister also to set aside the question whether or not the north should be recognised as an independent state—as the Republic of Somaliland. Certainly the people of the north have a rock-solid conviction of their right to independence. As Edna Adan Ismail puts it—her husband was the Prime Minister deposed by Siad Barre in a coup—the two former colonies united in too swift a marriage and the experiences of recent years have led them to seek a divorce.
The United Nations has wisely decided that the lack of a real Government in Somalia means that help must be provided region by region. In time, there may be national reconciliation, and we will have to see whether that leads to an amicable and friendly divorce or to the continuation of a single Somalia. However, I hope that the Minister agrees that that matter is not one that must be decided now but can be put to one side for the time being.
For the moment, the priority is to understand the entity that exists and to build on whatever positive aspects exist. 546 The question of recognition can therefore be left on one side for a future occasion: the question now is how best to help the Republic of Somaliland.
Let me come to the simple nub of today's debate: what is Britain's responsibility, and how can Britain help to save the situation in the north? In Somaliland, the situation is relatively stable, with no need for military intervention. That fact is recognised in a parliamentary answer given to me by the Minister only last week, so it is not in dispute. But a generation of young people in that part of the country were brought up when their families and the whole community were engaged in fighting a ruthless dictator. They need education, skills, and stability in order to settle down to a positive future. The will is there, but the cash and the structure are not. For instance, there is no police force and no local or regional structure of government. Britain must help the establishment and training of a police service and then of a Government service.
Yesterday, with my hon. Friend the Member for Bow and Poplar, who has been a tower of strength as we have tried to find ways of helping Somalia, I viewed a video that includes a number of interviews, including British officials meeting the elders three weeks ago. It also shows a community celebrating hope as 300 men, recruited as police, march into Hargeisa. They are without training and without pay, and that very occasion seems a triumph of hope over experience, but it is one of two cornerstones on which we must now build.
The other cornerstone is the meeting in Boruma on 9 January when elders from all tribes in the north—not just from the SNM—will seek to establish a realistic basis for an Administration. It is anticipated that the present embryo Government will step aside to allow a new leadership team to take over, binding together the whole community.
Let Britain put on the table an offer of help that can offer motivation and increased hope to the meeting at Boruma and let that be done now. There are three steps that, taken now, would be the best investment ever in the future of Somaliland.
First, following his response to me in the September debate, the Foreign Secretary sent an expert to consider how best to provide a telephone system for the north. I welcome that response, but please can it be speeded up? It will help enormously if decisions taken at Boruma and afterwards are communicated quickly to the outside world.
Secondly, let us offer money to pay the police, and to pay for uniforms and for advisers to help train and support the embryo force for a limited period of weeks or months, at least in the first instance.
Thirdly, let us provide advisers from the civil service and from local government in Britain to help reconstruct the administration and stabilise the situation. Working closely with Save the Children and others who have continued to work in Somaliland, the good that could be done in a short time is enormous—and it is what the people in Somaliland want.
The Minister will agree that that is a simple and limited programme which I feel reflects the minimum that members of the all-party group on Somalia believe that Britain can do to get some way to fulfilling our obligations. I say to the Minister, by all means stress as loud and long as he wishes that those actions imply no formal recognition of a new state, but for God's sake allow these minimal steps to be taken. The people of Somaliland look 547 to Britain to take a lead, and so do people such as the United States Under-Secretary of State and our European partners.
The sense of this set of proposals has been recognised on all sides and confirmed as acceptable by the Somaliland head of mission in London, Mr. Osman Hassan, only this week. To strengthen our plea, let me read a letter brought to me by hand yesterday from the mayor or Hargeisa, Omar Mohamed Handulle:
I would like, if I may, to advise you on the current situation in Somaliland and request that you use your best offices in enlisting the help of the British Government in answer to this appeal.You already know that, following the defeat of the dictator of Somalia, Siad Barre, a meeting was held in Burao in May 1991, at which a mandate was received by the present Government from the Somali National Movement and the people of Somaliland as a whole to rule the Independent state of Somaliland for a period of two years, following which a fresh election would be held.During the time of its rule the Government has experienced continuing difficulties through lack of finance. Its Ministers remain unpaid, as do also its militia, teachers, medical officers and indeed all civil servants.It is a matter of small wonder, therefore, that looting by groups of brigands has occasionally caused some nongovernmental organisations to withdraw from the country. The need to avert this type of development is urgent. We are afraid that appeals to the international community through the United Nations will result in too late aid arrive. It is for this reason that we appeal to you for aid. Already we have made strenuous efforts towards establishing a peace agreement signed recently in Erigavo, Shekh and Hargeisa. However, it is one thing to establish an concord, while it is another to secure an environment for the maintenance of good order. It is in this area where we need outside help of utmost urgency. My reason for making this appeal to you arises partly because I think you may feel, in view of past British rule in the former Somaliland Protectorate, a degree of moral responsibility in taking the lead among nations. Also, the Somalilanders as a whole feel a strong affinity with the British and fought with them against a common enemy in two world wars. We think that an amorphous body such as the United Nations cannot have the empathy which we believe still exists in many British minds today. The British Government's responsibility regarding recognition of Somaliland as a separate state is our determined expectations. We cannot agree that present circumstances in the Somaliland and in Somalia is a rational policy. The problems of Somaliland are not those of Somalia. In Somaliland there is a popularly appointed democratic Government; in Somalia, there is no Government! In Somaliland there is peace and in Somalia there exists civil war of a most cruel kind; in Somaliland there is a little famine and in Somalia there is drastic famine. Thus, one may ask with pertinent logic, 'Why is a common solution being attempted to solve problems which are diverse?' Hitherto, British aid and funding through other sources has been small grants to non-governmental organisations. This has, however, been productive at least to certain level, in mines clearing, water supplies, sanitation and partly education. It is a matter of internal security that holds the key to future development.That is the point that I underline, above all else, to the Minister. The mayor of Hargeisa continues:
Several of us have talked together about this and would now like to put forward a formal proposal that the British Government provides us with a few experienced Police officers as technical aid who would train our police. We have already recruited a mixture of Militia and former Policemen and 300 to patrol the capital Hargeisa, but they need training, uniforms, food rations, transport, means of communication and eventually housing and pay. We cannot at the moment meet expenses for any of these because we collect no local taxes as yet for security reasons.That is the vicious circle that is illustrated by the letter. The mayor ends with these words: 548If such an exercise could be mounted by the British, it could then extend and be duplicated throughout the country, even eventually becoming the envy of Somalia. A colleague of mine has recently met Mr. Turnkington of the British ODA in London and discussed this issue with him and he was assured that the British were backing Ambassador Sahnoun's efforts in these matters. Sahnoun's resignation has since created a serious vacuum and a tacit neglect of Somaliland by the United Nations as a whole.That plea, from a local authority in Somaliland, surely demands a response from us.I am grateful for the kindness of Robert Turnbull, Somalia field director of Partner Aid International, for acting as postman and for providing a fascinating video which has confirmed the views of those in Somaliland.
The mayor's plea is endorsed by the President of Somaliland and by the elders, but, coming from the mayor of Hargeisa, it gets us away, despite his references to independence, from the question of recognition and the authority of national or regional leaders. We can start here and, if it works, help it to spread. Stability in the north will benefit the whole region, the hard-hit south and neighbouring Ethiopia.
It is a plea which I discussed yesterday with leaders of the Police Federation of England and Wales. They saw great merit in the secondment of British police officers and quoted examples of where that has worked in the past—perhaps by recruiting experienced officers who are on the point of retiring, to avoid a negative impact on police strength in England and Wales, which is not the subject of today's debate but which is important to us all.
It reflects the strong view expressed at a packed meeting in the Grand Committee Room recently, organised by the all-party group, in co-operation with Brigadier Malcolm Page for the Anglo-Somali Society and attended by many Somalis and British people who served in the former Administration during and after the end of British rule.
It is a plea to which only Britain can respond because of the trust and confidence that people in Somaliland still place in us, though, God knows, we have done little enough to deserve it. It is a way forward that experts on the ground—
§ Mr. Tony Worthington (Clydebank and Milngavie):I congratulate my hon. Friend on having secured this debate. I concur with him on the need for a British initiative, but does he not agree that it was disappointing that it took until November for the British ambassador in Addis Ababa, who is responsible for northern Somalia, to visit northern Somalia in order to find out what is happening there? I agree with my hon. Friend that no other country is as well placed as Britain to show some initiative. My extensive contacts with Somalis in this country have demonstrated that they cannot understand why that initiative has not already taken place.
§ Mr. MichaelI am grateful to my hon. Friend, who visited Somalia during the summer, for his confirmation of that point. His view is supported by the Save the Children Fund and other groups, which believe that such an initiative would work.
The overwhelming consensus is that Britain must take this step and that nobody else can do it for us. The international community would understand and respect a move by Britain to help now. Others may help, but we must take the lead.
Frankly, despite the genuine concern which has been shown by Lady Chalker and other Ministers, we have done 549 too little to fulfil our historic obligations to Somaliland. As a recent parliamentary answer showed, the Government have not even kept records to show how much aid from our aid budget went to help the north. I appeal to the Minister to make an offer now, in time for it to be discussed by the people of Somaliland and their leaders at the conference in January.
I also ask the Minister to arrange for the Foreign Secretary to meet personally a number of people after the holiday period in order to consider the mayor's letter further. As well as officers of the all-party parliamentary group, I would suggest that he should meet representatives of the aid organisations, particularly the Save the Children Fund and the Anglo-Somali Society. Each of those organisations would be able to offer practical suggestions and help on how to make progress.
Too many ministerial answers say that the Somalis must solve the security problem before we can help. That is not a tenable argument. The fact is that we have the opportunity to help to establish just that security which is certainly needed so that Somali can show the pride and independence of spirit which has always characterised them and help themselves to build a new Somaliland.
If the Minister gives a positive response, I know that it will be received with enthusiasm on all sides. It will be the best possible answer to an elder on this tape who, recalling his memory of the negotiations in 1948, says:
You are in a deep sleep, the British. Now what we need is not food but help with training, with demobilising the army, communications and media to tell the world we are independent and different from the South.He says that cash is the problem.I have one final suggestion. It will be some time before a Parliament exists, in the full sense, for Somaliland or Somalia, but the support and interest of British Members of Parliament is seen as a symbol of hope. Will the Minister agree to a visit to Somaliland early in the new year by representatives of the all-party group? That is something that my co-chairman, Lady Chalker and I agreed to some time ago, with the caveat "when the time is right". I am sure that the time is now right for us to be seen to be taking an interest and to be closely involved with the situation in Somalia.
The elders in Somaliland accept, albeit reluctantly, that one does not need recognition or independence in order to run a police force, or to provide education, or to start rebuilding. We can unite on the point of working in the regions, a point with which I know the Minister agrees and the United Nations supports. However, to do any of these things, we need security, law and order and a police force. Britain can help to achieve that stability. Britain has a duty to do so. Parliament has a duty to help. Please, I appeal to the Minister, let us not fail in that duty.
§ Mr. John Bowis (Battersea)I thank my co-chairman, the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael), for the way in which he introduced the debate, for his choice of subject and for allowing me briefly to support what he has said about the people of Somaliland. My hon. Friend the Minister knows why we are raising the problems of that area in particular—it has constituency contacts going back many generations, and more recently with the refugees.
550 The eyes of the world have not been on Somaliland. The television cameras are not there, the press photographs do not come from there, the United Nations does not look there and nor does the European Community. That is why we must look there. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman read out the rather moving letter from the mayor of Hargeisa. It is the sort of message that we knew existed, but it is the first time that it has been in writing before the House.
I wish briefly to refer to another part of Somalia, which is not to the south but to the west. The charity Concern, which is based in my constituency, operates in that part of Somalia. It is an example of the sort of aid that is needed in the north. Concern has focused its work on nutrition, in particular targeting severely malnourished children, but also malnourished adults, the sick and the elderly. It has also been involved in agricultural sanitation and education work.
Concern has 38 expatriate personnel in that part of Somalia, ranging from doctors and nurses to engineers, administrators and agriculturists. It has 850 Somali staff. The charity is achieving a great deal. It has opened 14 wet feeding centres, two 24-hour therapeutic centres for children and one for adults, and it is about to open a second for adults. The numbers attending the feeding centres were rising, but they are now falling, and there is good news in that. They rose from 650 in May 1992 to 30,955 in September, but then dropped to 21,339 in November. The reason for the fall is that many families now feel able to return to their farms. The death rate has also dropped. That is a tribute to what those people have achieved.
Concern has distributed food to 83,600 beneficiaries, and provided 43 million tonnes of sorghum, 6.3 million tonnes of cowpeas and 3.2 million tonnes of groundnuts. It has distributed 40,000 blankets, 70,000 T-shirts and more than 240,000 m of cloth. Vegetable kits have been distributed and seeds are being planted. The crops are growing. It is fortunate that there has been rain in recent weeks, so the crops are doing well.
We all share their concern about security. I hope that the Government are keeping in close touch with the Americans because there is a risk of retaliation to the expatriate workers and their Somali colleagues as the American troops move through the country. The interests of those workers must be paramount.
The message that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth has brought to the House is that everything is possible if the will exists. I hope that I have shown that everything has been possible in one part of Somalia; we want it also to be possible in the north. Somaliland has called this morning, and I hope that the House and the country will respond.
§ 10.2 am
§ Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael) for allowing me to participate in the debate. I appreciate the work of the Committee, and in particular the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Bow and Poplar (Ms. Gordon), who unfortunately cannot be here this morning.
Everyone must be deeply concerned and alarmed about what is happening throughout Somalia. My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth was right to 551 say that the world has transferred its attention to the former Yugoslavia and is largely ignoring the crisis in southern Somalia. The bottleneck at the port of Mogadishu and the warlords who are fighting around it have caused an enormous problem. Aid cannot get through and, obviously, it is being stolen and pillaged.
Somalia has the misfortune that it was of great strategic interest to the super-powers of the past, which in a sense is the base of its current problems. It was of great interest to the British in the 19th century and later to the Italians, the Soviet Union and the United States. That led to the way in which the Barre regime behaved—the playing of super-power politics that ultimately ended in its own destruction. Unfortunately, large numbers of people were killed at the same time.
United Nations resolution 794 points out the need for security to bring in the necessary food aid and vital equipment needed to restart normal human life in southern Somalia. There is a great danger in that. I do not understand how the United States can get in and out by 20 January. I fear that it does not have any carefully thought out political agenda.
I am also concerned about the fact that the American troops are not under United Nations command. I would be much happier if it was a United Nations force under United Nations command, and preferably drawn from a much wider group of countries. There should be a political agenda that recognises the fact that a political structure already exists in Somaliland in the north and also in parts of the south. We should not seek to impose a solution from elsewhere; we should work for a solution from the indigenous people.
There was a good article in The Guardian on 3 December by Said Samatar, who is a professor of African history at Rutgers university. He explains the problems very well and points out that if there is to be any resurrection of hope throughout the country, and if there is to be normal government, that cannot be achieved by flying in experts from around the world to impose a system; it must be done through the elders working through the local communities, gradually building up a system of government. I commend the article to the Minister and pay tribute to the expertise of Said Samatar.
My constituency, together with many others, has a significant number of Somali refugees. Many sad families live there. They may be sad, but they are proud people who have come from a background of pride. They have also come from a background of anger and horror about what has happened to their country. They are looking for safety in this country. They want to contribute; they are not supplicants at the window. They also want to take their skills back to Somalia when safety and other conditions there allow that.
I ask the Minister to say to his colleagues in the Home Office, "Please understand the needs of asylum seekers." I want him to pass a strong message to the British missions in Addis Ababa, Cairo, Khartoum and Nairobi that there needs to be a far greater degree of understanding of the desperate need for family reunion and of the horror felt by elderly relatives who are left waiting for months on end for news of what has happened to their families. I end on that plea.
§ 10.7 am
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Mark Lennox-Boyd)I am grateful to the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael) for raising the question of Somalia today. It is very timely. The House knows of the great interest that he takes in all aspects of Somali affairs, especially in the north-west. He has done a great deal of work for charity and his tremendous and tangible commitment to the cause of those he respects and of whom he is fond is visible to all. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis) and to the hon. Members for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) and for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) for their contributions.
I want to make a few quick points. I shall attempt to answer the questions raised, but it would not be wise of me to try to make policy on my feet, especially during the last seven minutes of a debate. The Government understand the enormous bitterness felt by people from the north about the treatment that they endured from Siad Barre. Now that he has gone, I hope that Somalis everywhere, both north and south, will co-operate with the United Nations in securing reconciliation throughout the country. I am sure that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth agrees that that transcends the political ambitions of people in the north-west to seek independence.
My right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development sent a letter on 10 December immediately we heard news of the United States/United Nations expanded military operation which, I am sure the hon. Gentleman would agree, focuses rightly on the centre and the south. I know that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth has discussed the north with my right hon. and noble Friend, the Minister for Overseas Development, on many occasions. She is in no doubt about the situation in the north-west, but the reason for her letter was different.
Of course we stand ready to help in many of the ways that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth described. We have now received the report from the telecommunications expert and we are considering it quickly. The BBC has already agreed to broadcast messages. With regard to the United Nations development programme, the Germans are already involved in the police. We do not want to duplicate and confuse. We are prepared to consider help with civil administration, but we want to work with the United Nations. I apologise for making such a short comment on that point, but I do not have time to do more this morning.
I am most grateful for the copy of the letter from the mayor of Hargeisa, and its contents will be communicated to my right hon. and noble Friend immediately. I know that she will be prepared to meet the all-party group again and representatives of the Somali people and discuss whether it would be right for the parliamentary Somali group to visit the country in the near future.
In response to the hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie, I must point out that officials from the embassy in Addis visited northern Somalia in February well before the visit of the ambassador in November. In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, I stress that we work very closely with Concern. Concern is extremely good, as are so many of the non-governmental 553 organisations as we are all aware. We have encouraged Concern to make new requests to us for assistance from the new pledge of £4.5 million announced on 4 December.
I am aware that the concern of the hon. Mininster for Islington, North is genuine, but I hope as gently as possible to put him right. Of course there has, in the past, been a lack of political attention to the problems of Somalia although not in humanitarian terms so far as Britain is concerned.
However, the world is now paying considerable attention and a major world power has made a commitment. Whatever the hon. Member for Islington, North may say about the desirability of it being a United Nations operation or an American operation, we should give the fullest possible credit to the United States for making that commitment to try to help those troubled people in a part of the world which most people in the United States would have difficulty locating on a map. It would be churlish of us not to give profound and deep recognition and gratitude to the American initiative following the Security Council resolution.
I must now spend a minute considering British aid, as I must in every debate. We have given enormous support and are one of the largest donors. Since the fall of Siad Barre, we have provided £37 million of humanitarian assistance. That includes 34,000 tonnes of food, 19,000 tonnes of which has already been delivered. No one can doubt our commitment to Somalia as a whole.
Many issues must be considered in the next few months. First and foremost is security over the whole country. Secondly we must consider relief. Thirdly, we must consider political reconciliation and finally we must consider rehabilitation and reconstruction. Obviously, I cannot make many structured remarks today. However, the Government and I recognise that the threats to the 554 relative peace of northern Somalia should not be discounted. They must be considered in the current operation. We know that some of the armed gunmen from the south are moving northwards, and that is naturally a matter of concern.
§ Mr. MichaelWill the Minister try to give a positive response which will enable British support to be seen specifically for the meeting on 9 January?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI take note of the hon. Gentleman's request and I shall give him a more considered reply in due course.
The political situation is obviously of concern to the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth and his friends and contacts in the north west of the country. Political reconciliation must begin first at the grass roots level. We all know that it cannot be imposed through military strength. That is why the United Nations initiative to conduct local and regional consultations with military leaders and clan elders who are such an important part of Somalia's traditional system of authority, and other civil groups, to begin to establish a framework for national reconciliation is so important.
The hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth said that there may be an amicable divorce in due course. I cannot comment on that. However, the important point is that there will be consultation through the United Nations. That is an enormously important way forward and we strongly support that approach. That approach will take time, but it will start soon.
I am pleased that the United Nations Secretary-General intends to become involved. We understand that he plans to begin the process by meeting Somali factions and other Somali representatives in early January, possibly as early as 4 January although it may slip a day. We hope that that will be the beginning of a fruitful dialogue and will enable the factors that the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth has mentioned to be taken into account.