HC Deb 14 December 1994 vol 251 cc922-3
18. Ms Hoey

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest developments in Bosnia.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

I refer the hon. Lady to the answers that my right hon. Friend and I have already given.

Ms Hoey

As the Minister obviously does not want to answer a question about Dr. David Owen, I will not: press him on that. Did he see a report in The Times last week that British soldiers had not just been held by Serbs, but taken out of their tanks and beaten up? What did the British Government do about that? Would they have reacted differently if British troops had been taken out of tanks by Saddam Hussein's troops?

Mr. Hogg

It is important to keep in mind the limited mandate that UNPROFOR has in Bosnia. We did not go into Bosnia to wage war, but to reinforce the humanitarian effort and to maintain peace and tranquillity where we could. We have achieved considerable success in both of those objects of policy. For example, we have been able to achieve a great degree of peace and tranquillity in central Bosnia. The consequences of the limited mandate is that British troops and UNPROFOR forces in general are not equipped in the way that they were equipped to go to war against Iraq in Kuwait.

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