HL Deb 26 October 1994 vol 558 cc535-7

3.15 p.m.

Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they have received positive responses to their proposal that African countries contribute more peacekeeping forces to United Nations operations within the continent of Africa.

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary made firm proposals in his speech to the 49th UN General Assembly for setting up a framework of support to assist African countries in conflict prevention and peacekeeping. The United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity and other member states have reacted positively to those proposals.

Lord Campbell of Croy

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his reply, which is very encouraging. Should not the British initiative be generally acceptable to all members of the United Nations? While the British Army has excelled in peacekeeping duties, it is already overstretched. Nonetheless, cannot Britain help by providing training to the troops of those African states which would appreciate the assistance?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I think all noble Lords will agree that the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom are the best in the world. Indeed, they play a major role in training African armed forces; for instance, in Ghana, Namibia and recently—yesterday—they came back from Mozambique. We shall continue to provide training and assistance with a special focus on peacekeeping and the prevention of conflict.

Lord Ennals

My Lords, is the Minister aware of the admirable initiative by the Ministry of Defence in giving assistance to the Baltic states to train and service a battalion that can be of service to the United Nations? Following on from the original Question, would it be a good thing for a specific initiative like that to be introduced to assist the African states more effectively to fulfil their responsibilities to the UN?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, the British Armed Forces are deployed on a case-by-case basis across many member countries of the United Nations. In fact, the United Nations has some 78,000 personnel currently engaged on 16 operations. But the whole proposal from my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary was that the United Nations should improve the capability of African countries themselves to deploy peacekeeping forces quickly and effectively through, first, setting up logistics centres to store and maintain peacekeeping equipment; and, secondly, by the establishment of rapid mobile logistics teams to help Africans maintain their peacekeeping equipment and vehicles.

Baroness Blackstone

My Lords, perhaps I can press the Minister a little further on this welcome initiative. Can he give specific examples of the ways in which the British Government, in bilateral arrangements with individual African countries or under the auspices of the UN or with our partners in NATO, will actually help to train African armed forces for peacekeeping? It is a fact of which we are all aware that we are already involved in training programmes for African military. But the new aspect would be involvement in training them for peacekeeping. Can the noble Earl be a little more specific as to what is planned and how?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I rather hoped that in my last answer I gave specific ideas of what my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary was proposing. The ideas met with considerable enthusiasm not only in African countries but in other members of the United Nations as well. At the same time we are consulting closely with African countries to establish what they regard as their priority requirements.

Lord Campbell of Croy

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that in addition there must be taken into account any tribal or religious problems that may arise?

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, yes. What my noble friend says is extremely important. The point is that there is a growing need to help Africans to find their own solutions to their own conflicts.