HC Deb 11 November 1998 vol 319 cc356-7
5. Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley)

What plans she has to visit Zimbabwe to discuss aid projects in that country. [57805]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. George Foulkes)

The Secretary of State made a brief visit to Zimbabwe in January, but we have no immediate further plans to visit.

Mr. Pike

I assure my hon. Friend that our right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is welcome to visit Zimbabwe again to spend several days examining the problems facing that country. She will know that the Porta Farm project just outside Harare has shown what can be achieved with a small amount of money. Zimbabwe is trying to respond to its problems in a positive manner, and I hope that the Minister or the Secretary of State will find it possible to visit that country at an early date.

Mr. Foulkes

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who led a very successful Commonwealth Parliamentary Association mission to Zimbabwe earlier this year. He visited the Porta Farm project where £5,000 from the DFID small grants scheme has done much good work. We have many projects in water and sanitation, local government services, health and land reform in Zimbabwe. If the Secretary of State is not able to visit Zimbabwe again, I would be very happy to go.

Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham)

When the Minister finds time in his busy diary to visit Zimbabwe again, no doubt he will be checking on the millions of pounds worth of aid that we provide to that country. What assurances can the hon. Gentleman give the House that he is not in the business of underwriting a deeply undemocratic and corrupt Government who are currently engaged in increasingly aggressive military operations in the Congo to prop up the Kabila regime, and who threaten now to engulf Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda in a continentwide conflict? Further, will the Minister tell the House whether he thinks that such assurances are irrelevant or essential?

Mr. Foulkes

We are working hard for peace in the Congo. We have made that clear in our Department as well as through the Foreign Office. We are reassessing our programme. I can tell the hon. Lady that we have made it absolutely clear that we are willing to support land reform as long as it is transparent, properly managed and cost effective, that there is a poverty focus and that it includes all stakeholders. We are concerned about the extent and impact of Zimbabwe's involvement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We have made it clear that we can establish long-term partnerships only with countries that are committed to the elimination of poverty and which develop appropriate economic, social and environmental policies. This includes partner countries not diverting limited resources into excessive military expenditure.

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