§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)I am grateful for the opportunity on this last day before the summer recess to debate, albeit briefly, the current drought in southern Africa. It is no coincidence that this debate follows a substantial and significant one in the other place yesterday, because many Members on both sides in both places, as well as the Government, are aware of the enormity of the potential disaster facing Africa today. It is because that disaster could be so unprecedented in its scale that it is vital that the House should speak on behalf of the country and say what we should and could do to prevent it.
Two of today's earlier debates have centred on regeneration and job retention in docklands and in north Yorkshire respectively. Nothing that we debate about social security, employment security or the domestic security of our residents is in the same league as the debate on southern Africa. Many members of the public understand that; therefore, we must adopt a wholly different type of stance in addressing this issue.
My interest in southern Africa goes back a long time, but only a month ago today, at the invitation of the director of Oxfam, I had the privilege to touch down with him and four others in Zambia for a five-day visit, followed by a similar length visit to Zimbabwe. To be completely honest, I think that Oxfam originally hoped that my right hon. Friend the Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (Sir D. Steel) would undertake the visit. He was unable to go, so I was asked to go in his place.
The new direct or of Oxfam, Dr. Bryer, accompanied me, together with Justin Forsyth of Oxfam, who is expert in southern African affairs, and its press officer, Liam Curran. We were also accompanied by an experienced BBC television crew, Bill Hamilton and Baz Solanki, who have visited Albania and elsewhere and reported vividly from other countries as they go through major crisis.
The purpose of our visit was clear. Reports had reached us that the sub-region of southern Africa was facing the worst drought in living memory. Oxfam is 50 years old this year, and throughout its existence it has taken up the challenge of trying to respond to disaster and famine throughout the world. It believed that the best way to respond to this drought was to send a delegation so that people could see with their own eyes and report back.
Within two days of returning from Zimbabwe and Zambia, we went to see the Minister for Overseas Development and her officials, who received us courteously. I believe that that meeting was effective. I had talks with the Labour spokesman, the hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Mrs. Clwyd), and her colleague the hon. Member for Workington (Mr. Campbell-Savours). On the following Monday, I visited the Vice President of the European Commission, with the Oxfam team responsible for such matters. Oxfam officials have also had several discussions with officials in the Overseas Development Administration and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office elsewhere in the United Kingdom and in Brussels.
We came back to present the message of what could and should be done. A great thing about the visit was the way in which it was planned. I take no responsibility for that, but applaud the way in which Oxfam thought it through. By taking an experienced and competent television crew, 1273 we could report back direct to the widest public in this country. People also saw the films in other countries across the channel. In the week that we came back there was BBC television coverage on four days—morning, lunchtime, afternoon and evening—as well as on children's "Newsround" later that week.
The result is that we have been able to contribute to what the debates yesterday and today seek to do—to raise the profile of the issue and to ensure that in this country we are not unaware of the severity of the crisis.
I do not want to go over what was said yesterday in another place, as those who follow our proceedings can read the report and it would be repetitious simply to go over facts. However, I urge people to refer to that debate and to view it alongside this one.
I want to describe the present picture, and to share some reflections on my visit. I am grateful that I had the benefit of an earlier conversation with the Minister on the subject, and I hope that we can identify new ways in which we can do something. The purpose of the debate is not merely to make people aware of what is going on, but to make them realise that we can do something as a country and we can use our influence at home and abroad.
Briefly, I shall describe the scale of the problem. It is not a cliché to say that it is the worst drought in living memory, and that is confirmed by the facts. The region is normally a net exporter of food to the rest of the world, especially grain and cereals, and it is the grain basket of Africa. It is a part of Africa that is normally self-sufficient and is not regarded as subject to this sort of crisis. Because there was no rain last year, and because in some parts of southern Africa there has been no rain, or below average rainfall, for the past 11 or 12 years—we were told that by some of the people that we visited—the crisis has not suddenly arrived but has built up over many years.
The figures have been identified by the United Nations, according to the best advice given to it. Potentially, 18 million people could die of famine. That is more than one quarter of the population of this country. People have already died because of the drought in southern Africa. Because of weakness through lack of food, they have not been able to survive. We visited villages in the eastern provinces of Zambia and the southern part of Zimbabwe where, within the preceding day or two, people had received their first food for weeks. They had been living on roots and berries, which have no nutritional value but give a little moisture and a semblance of food. In some cases they had rubbed the leaves of plants to make salt, which was the only other food for them to eat.
Water is the life source, and some people either have none or they find a little stagnant water left in the bottom of a pool perhaps a mile away. They might find a drop of water in an almost empty well or in a borehole in the back of beyond away from the villages. Rivers and streams are dry, and reservoirs that normally contain 100 ft of water are all but empty.
We visited places where the villagers, often women, had to walk 10 miles to borrow a bucket—because they had none—and walk another 10 miles to collect a bucketful of stagnant, polluted water from a source shared by wild animals, and then carry it back to their families. It will not surprise the House to hear that they face not just hunger and malnutrition but the diseases that follow, such as 1274 cholera, TB, malaria and dysentery. Already, there have been significant numbers of deaths among the elderly and children, and even the healthy middle-aged.
We were told by one family that it had 20 cattle last year. Fifteen had died through lack of water and food and the remaining five were too weak to be of any use. In many parts, people have no cattle to produce food for them, and their income and wealth have been destroyed through no fault of their own. Instead of acres, mile upon mile, of fields growing green, providing crops for the people of rural southern Africa and others, there is a brown horizon yielding nothing.
Relief agencies and Governments have been asked to respond and provide the grain needed immediately. But including the other crisis area of Africa, the horn, we are still about $550 million short of the money needed to buy the food and provide the aid needed to meet the immediate crisis.
The countries concerned are democracies which are grappling to cope with imposed, though agreed, terms for their economic development. Those terms were laid down by the International Monetary Fund. They are doing their best to turn old demand economies into capitalist economies. They are removing subsidies and thereby increasing food prices to their people. They are trying to balance their books and pay off their debts, and so far they have not defaulted.
In addition to trying to cope with incredibly difficult economic problems—far more difficult than we face in the present recession—they are facing additional hardships such as the prevalence of HIV and Aids and thousands of refugees coming over the border from countries such as Mozambique, where there is war as well as famine. So this is an accumulated crisis.
There has been a good response from Britain and the European Community, but we need a general awareness that more must be done. A part of the world that can normally look after itself—and look after us in large measure—is saying not that it needs handouts but that it cannot now do everything to help itself. Given the tools, it will do the job, but it desperately requires help to overcome the immediate crisis. It needs food and cash, and we must ship it quickly through the coastal into the landlocked countries in the centre of the region. We must ensure that it is distributed effectively. That will enable us to prevent drought from creating famine and disaster from becoming an unparalleled crisis in the history of the continent. We can also create the possibility of survival and restructuring thereafter. For that, many obvious things are needed: seed, fertiliser, tools, tractors, technical equipment, and so on.
To show how desperate the position is, may I complete the picture by illustrating the consequences? If there is no water, the hydroelectric scheme cannot produce as much electricity. Therefore, it cannot supply as much industrial production and industry will lay off people. Those people become unemployed and produce less, sell less and earn less. The country's balance of payments problems are therefore far more difficult to resolve. So the whole of the economy and everyone in the region are directly affected as a result of what may appear on the surface to be a crisis of the rural economy.
The agenda for our response should he as follows. First, as President of the European Community for the remainder of this year, it will be within our term of office to decide about this issue, and we must ensure that the 1275 shortfall in pledges is soon made up. Secondly, we must ensure that the pledges are converted into effective delivery, a point which my hon. Friends and I made strongly to the Vice President of the Commission, when we said that it was all very well making a pledge, but we must deliver the goods. Thirdly, to judge by Baroness Chalker's reply in another place yesterday, there will be an opportunity next week to see whether we can alter the terms of debt repayment—the Trinidad terms—so that Zambia, which is in a different International Monetary Fund category, does not have to repay its debt either at all or under such rigorous terms.
In much of the correspondence which the television programmes have generated for me, people have said that we must write off the debt once and for all to give those countries a chance of survival. Lastly, there are opportunities to alter what everyone in those countries talks about—structural adjustment. That means altering the structure of those countries' economies so that they are not required to be so economically and financially self-righteous that they cannot carry out their principal duty: to feed the people whom they are elected to represent.
I wish to finish with a personal comment. I make it only because I hope that it will give the debate the immediacy that it deserves. When I arrived back at Heathrow, I was greeted with the devastating news that an elder brother of mine had died, having caught malaria on his honeymoon. This has been reported in the press and I repeat it only for that reason. If the death of one person in one's own family can have such a personal devastating effect on so many, as other colleagues in the House have experienced in their lives, I hope that that will persuade us of the reason and urgency to do something about these 18 million people who are already suffering while we still have the time to do something about it. I hope that we will realise that, for many millions of people, what we decide this summer is nothing less than a matter of life and death.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Mark Lennox-Boyd)I congratulate the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on initiating this Adjournment debate. It is timely and he has spoken well and with great feeling as he described, in his closing words, the crisis facing southern Africa. I know of his visit to southern Africa with Dr. Bryer and Mr. Forsyth and of his discussions with my right hon. and noble Friend Baroness Chalker. If I do not manage to answer all his points in the few minutes left, I am comforted by the fact that he has had a full discussion with my right hon. and noble Friend.
The hon. Gentleman's concern is shared by everyone in the House. It is important to appreciate the scale of the problem and to give the threat of famine in the region its due place on the international agenda. The drought, both in terms of its geographical spread and its severity, may be—as described by the hon. Gentleman—the worst to affect the southern part of that continent this century. With regional production of basic food grains down to about 40 per cent. of the normal level, and with shortage of water leading to the widespread slaughter of livestock and to an increase in diseases among the most vulnerable groups, especially the elderly, up to 18 million people are at serious 1276 risk. A region which can normally expect to be largely self-sufficient in cereal crops is having to import more than 11 million tonnes of food.
These basic facts provide some measure of the problem. Lives are at real risk and, as the hon. Gentleman said, there is grave threat also to the processes of economic and political reform which have been making significant headway in the region over the past year or so. These are threats which the international community must recognise and act quickly and decisively to avert.
The hon. Gentleman was kind enough to say that Britain has taken a leading role in responding to the crisis. He had discussions with President Mugabe, who confirmed that. We provided an initial package of assistance for the worst-hit countries at the beginning of March and, since then, the Minister for Overseas Development has made bilateral commitments of aid which, so far, amount to more than £48 million. This aid has been balance of payments support to help cope with the burden of extra food imports, food aid, technical assistance and support for both local and British-based voluntary agencies.
The Government have also pressed for a generous response from the European Community. I shall say more about that later. On 4 May the Development Council approved additional food aid totalling 800,000 tonnes. Some 370,000 tonnes of that additional aid will go to southern Africa and we shall contribute more than £11 million towards the cost.
The drought appeal conference in Geneva in June—at which, sadly, my noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development was the only Minister from a donor county—produced a positive response from the international community as a whole. In terms of the specific categories of assistance covered by the appeal, pledges made at the conference, which came to about US$600 million, fell short of the appeal target of $850 million, but these included substantial commitments from some major donors, including notably the Americans and the Japanese. Other donors, including the Dutch, the Canadians and ourselves, have made substantial extra commitments since the conference. We shall continue to take every available opportunity, both in the European Community under our presidency and in other international forums, to urge others to join in responding generously to the needs of southern Africa.
It would be wrong to imply that the solution to the crisis is solely help from outside. The countries of the region have acted with commendable speed to put the machinery of co-operation in place. A regional task force of representatives from the member states of the southern African development co-ordination conference was set up in April. Six transport corridor groups have been established to supervise the importation of food, and they are liaising closely with national emergency co-ordinators and with the logistics advisory centre now operating in Harare with the support of the world food programme. It is encouraging to note that this co-operation transcends political differences, with the port and railway authorities of southern Africa playing a vital role in the massive logistical effort that is now under way. If there is a positive aspect to the drought, it is this readiness on the part of all the countries of the region to act together at a time of crisis. That gives some comfort for the future.
I am glad to be able to tell the House that, after discussions that lasted well into last night, agreement has 1277 been reached in Rome on secure corridors for the safe passage of relief supplies in and through Mozambique. That is excellent news not only for the people of Mozambique but for those in neighbouring landlocked countries, and it is a further step towards the peace that Mozambique so badly needs.
I said that I would say a few more words about the European Community response, which the hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey mentioned. Given the nature of the procedure involved, I consider that the approval given on 4 May to a substantial programme of additional food aid was something of an achievement. Of course, as the hon. Gentleman also said, delivery is equally important. I assure him that the Commission is fully alive to the need for a proper delivery process.
Nearly half the Community's total food aid programme for 1992 had been shipped or was on the point of shipment by the end of June. Another enormously important factor, of which I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware, is the vital necessity for food aid shipments from the Community and from other bilateral and multilateral donors to be managed and co-ordinated properly over the next few months so as to ensure an even flow of supplies between now and the next harvest, in March.
§ Mrs. Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley)As the Minister knows, the House will be in recess for the next three months. We are told that the crisis will intensify in September. Can the hon. Gentleman assure us now that, if things get worse, every effort will be made by the Government and by the EC, and that all the machinery is in place, to ensure that emergency action is taken to send food to the people as soon as possible? As the Minister has said, pledges have been made and have not yet been delivered. That is a matter for great concern to the House.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydIn the four minutes remaining to me, I had intended to deal with some of those points.
My right hon. and noble Friend referred specifically to the drought at the meeting of the Development Council of the European Parliament yesterday. I have no doubt that the subject will be on the agenda at the next Development Council, and that both my right hon. and noble Friend and our colleagues in the EC will take it extremely seriously during the coming months.
The Paris Club is meeting next week and will consider Zambia's request for debt relief. That is the appropriate forum for the consideration of debt relief issues, and we shall continue to work there for the application of more generous terms on the lines of the original Trinidad proposals suggested by the Prime Minister.
The hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey asked about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is different from Zambia, in that it has been able to service its debts in full, and thus to maintain its creditworthy status. We 1278 understand that it has no plan to seek debt relief. Indeed, because it is anxious to maintain its creditworthy status in commercial and financial markets, it does not intend to change that approach.
The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the deaths of livestock, and recovery and rehabilitation problems. Of course, there is a severe impact on livestock. In Zimbabwe, for example, 40 per cent. of commonly owned and smallholder cattle may die. In the commercial sector, numbers are likely to fall by as much as 25 per cent. The threat to wildlife is mainly confined to the south-east of the country, where a major cull is being carried out to help to ensure that at least some of the animals survive.
We know that emergency humanitarian aid is not enough, and that we must consider recovery and rehabilitation. That must be the next step, and it will include helping to rebuild livestock holdings and ensuring that supplies of seed are available for the next planting season.
There can be no doubt that the people of southern Africa face great hardship over the coming months. The task of the international community will be to ensure that hardship does not turn into grave loss of life and widespread dislocation of the region's political and economic structures. That is the threat which must be faced and overcome.
I assure hon. Members that the Government will keep a careful eye on developments in the region in the coming months and will remain in close touch with their European partners and with other bilateral and multilateral donors. My right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development will visit some of the worst-hit countries in September and will have the opportunity then to assess what more may need to be done.
I will conclude on a slightly more hopeful note on significant developments which are under way in southern Africa. We have seen progress towards the ending of long-standing conflicts in Angola and Mozambique, towards economic renewal and more open and accountable government, and towards a transition to multiracial democracies——
§ Sir Teddy Taylor (Southend, East)On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It was announced a few minutes ago that the German central bank has rejected the appeal from the Chancellor of the Exchequer and has increased its discount rates by 0.75 per cent., which will clearly have a fundamental effect on British economic policy. May I ask you whether it would be in order for the Government, if they so wished, to make a statement during the next hour on the implications of this alarming decision for British economic policy?
Mr. Deputy SpeakerI have received no notice of any Minister intending to make such a statement. I think it rather unlikely that there will be such a request.