§ 22. Mr. BoothTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about aid for refugees in central Africa. [6520]
§ Dr. Liam FoxSince January, the UK has committed more than £7 million bilaterally to address refugees' needs in the great lakes region. It remains our aim to encourage the safe, voluntary return of refugees to their homes. We are prepared to continue to help meet urgent needs as they arise.
§ Mr. BoothI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the crisis in central Africa illustrates the complexity of aid and that the only way to understand the success of the Government's aid programme is to aggregate not just the money, but the help provided to charities, the debt rescheduling and the humanitarian military aid?
§ Dr. FoxMy hon. Friend is exactly right. There are many different facets to aid. Let me add one that he did not mention: the ability to provide adequate information in crises. As has been mentioned in the House, the problem in the great lakes region has been bedevilled by a lack of information. My hon. Friend may wish to join me in paying tribute to the Canberra, which has provided such valuable information on the refugee crisis in that part of the world.
§ Ms ShortDoes the Minister agree that the real lesson of the tragedy in Rwanda and Zaire is the failure of the world community to take preventive action? The backing of World Bank and International Monetary Fund programmes has impoverished Rwanda and exacerbated ethnic tensions. May we have an undertaking from the Minister that, now that the cameras have moved away, long-term action will be taken to help refugees resettle, assist survivors of the genocide and bring those who are guilty of war crimes to trial? Can he explain why, in the face of all that need, the Government have cut their aid budget yet again? When the Conservatives came to power in 1979, overseas aid represented 0.52 per cent. of gross 15 domestic product; it is now down to 0.24 per cent. Only 14 per cent. of that is spent on direct poverty alleviation. Is the explanation that aid follows the sale of arms, as appears to happen in Indonesia?
§ Dr. FoxAs I cannot debate the matter at length, I cannot correct the hon. Lady's figures one by one. She will welcome the new £10 million commitment announced by my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development on 20 November which was designed to assist with resettlement and the immediate needs of refugees. That is extremely important.
If there is a lesson for the international community in Rwanda and the great lakes, it is that any settlement must originate from the region; it cannot be imposed from outside. We welcome another conference being set up with the countries concerned. The world community cannot impose a settlement in the great lakes region; it has to come from the countries and the communities involved. Historically, outside involvement in the area does not work. A settlement needs to be found locally.
§ 23. Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his latest assessment of the situation in Zaire in respect of overseas aid; and if he will make a statement. [6521]
§ Dr. Liam FoxThe situation remains very unclear. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports about 250,000 refugees and displaced persons, about 75 to 100 km west of Lake Kivu, but substantial numbers of refugees remain unaccounted for.
§ Mr. ThurnhamDoes the Minister agree that priority should be given to reconstruction in Rwanda itself, in view of the half a million or more Rwandan refugees still in Tanzania and elsewhere?
§ Dr. FoxYes, and we have committed a substantial amount of aid for that purpose. We have committed more than £145 million bilaterally and in support of EU actions in the great lakes region since 1993. Our aim is broadly in line with the hon. Gentleman's suggestion—in fact, I shall be visiting Tanzania in four weeks and I shall make those very points.
§ Mr. Jacques ArnoldBearing in mind the fact that good government is the criterion for much of the giving of British aid, what steps have Her Majesty's Government taken to press home the importance of good government to the Governments of Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire?
§ Dr. FoxThe Government, directly and through other organisations, make the question of good governance plain. Since my hon. Friend asks, there are four aspects to that: legitimacy, accountability, competence and respect for human rights and the rule of law. I am sure that the whole House is extremely aware that all those aspects have been called into question by recent events in the great lakes. The Government—and, I am sure, every democratic politician—take every opportunity to make those points to the Governments concerned.
§ Mrs. DunwoodyThe Minister will know, from his medical background, that example is better than instruction. He also knows that the people who are now 16 refugees in that general area, irrespective of the borders, need help with the diseases that are killing them, such as dysentery. Those are straightforward diseases that could easily be dealt with. How much urgency lies behind the Government's real commitment?
§ Dr. FoxThere is, of course, a great deal of urgency. As I have said, we have committed a further £10 million in new assistance; but we are talking about the great lakes, not about Surrey, and one of our problems is getting access to the refugees and to some of the areas involved. For example, we have only recently—on 4 December—regained access to Uvira, and we expect the United Nations team to report back to us later today. When we have that information, we will be able to act.
The hon. Lady is well aware that, to try to take precipitative action, without knowing exactly what we are dealing with—what numbers are involved, where the people are and what conditions they are kept in—is completely pointless. When I stood at the Dispatch Box a few weeks ago, we were talking of the possibility of tens or hundreds of thousands of people dying because of the conditions in which they were living. Happily—to the surprise of all hon. Members, I am sure—the refugees turned out to have been in substantially better medical condition than many had feared.