Great Lakes Region, Africa (Hansard, 12 December 1996)

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)
My Lords, on 18th November the UN Secretary General issued an appeal for £155 million for food aid and for other urgent needs for the next six months. On 21st November the Government of Rwanda circulated a further appeal to meet internal rehabilitation and reconstruction needs. Reported pledges amount to nearly £200 million, including substantial new pledges from the European Union. On 20th November I announced a further British commitment of £10 million.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. However, will the noble Baroness accept that she has nothing but good will from this side of the House as she endeavours to play her part in grappling with this immense human tragedy, with more than 2 million people across the region still as refugees and displaced persons? Will the Minister also accept that our concern centres on whether emergency supplies are now reaching all those in need and whether additional support is being provided to the Governments of Tanzania and Uganda to help them cope with the burden of refugees and to Rwanda to help with reintegration and reconstruction? Can the noble Baroness tell the House what is being done to curb the killing, especially in Burundi, and whether there are sufficient human rights monitors in place? Above all, can the Minister say what support she and the Government are able to provide to the OAU and to President Nyerere in their efforts to work for a regional solution which must, presumably, encompass both Francophone and Anglophone countries in the region?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I can assure the noble Lord that, where we know the location of refugees or displaced persons, emergency supplies are getting through. However, if the estimates are as high as the United Nations Secretary General has suggested—that is, between 300,000 and 1180 700,000 refugees—it is still quite clear that they have not yet all been discovered. Until they have been discovered they cannot be assisted.
The noble Lord also asked about help to Tanzania and other countries which are hosting refugees. That is a well-made point. We are already helping in Tanzania, both for the voluntary return of refugees and, indeed, in Rwanda, where they are mainly returning, to help them settle down. That is why of the £10 million that I announced on 20th November there is £3 million for the human rights operation, not only in Rwanda but also in Burundi. Britain is the largest contributor to that particular and important aspect of need.
As regards the OAU, I have indeed looked with the organisation, on a recent visit to Addis, at how we can help further. We have of course partly funded the office supporting past President Nyerere in all his efforts. There will be a meeting next Monday in Nairobi of the regional heads of government, which I hope will take the voluntary repatriation of refugees still further and ensure that the pipeline of supplies to those who need our help is a sure pipeline which will reach them.

§ Lord Redesdale
My Lords, considering the Tanzanian Government's decision, in their declaration, to make all Rwandan refugees go home by the end of this year, is the Minister doing anything to assist that government to help Rwandan refugees integrate? I ask that question because if the number of refugees—over 700,000—were all to leave within the next three weeks it would cause a humanitarian crisis.

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I do not believe it is feasible that anything like that number of refugees could return to their home countries before the end of December. We have committed over £3 million to help the Tanzanian Government cope with the return of refugees. The most important thing is that there are already reports that Rwandans themselves in Tanzania are making preparations to return. Indeed, 4,000 of them have already returned of their own volition, while others have fled the camps to avoid repatriation. That makes me believe that there will be nothing like the number of refugees that has been announced. The UNHCR is in close consultation with the Government of Tanzania and with the aid agencies in preparing for that return.
It is most important that both the Government of Rwanda and that of Tanzania should work for a staged and orderly return. It is all very well to have target dates; but it is much more important that those people should get back safely and securely and that they are actually able to resettle. That is what we are working for.

§ The Earl of Lauderdale
My Lords, can my noble friend tell the House whether there is any prospect of the countries in the OAU getting together to work out an economic scheme for the development of the Great Lakes region and its economic resources?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I think that there is a very firm wish on the part of the OAU 1181 to do just as my noble friend has suggested. However, the difficulty in the OAU at present is that many of its member countries feel that to concentrate just on the Great Lakes region would detract from other areas which need assistance. I can assure my noble friend that the matter is one which is conscientiously being considered both by the senior officers in the OAU and, indeed, by the leaders of the East African countries who are meeting next Monday.

§ The Lord Bishop of Carlisle
My Lords, can the Minister tell the House what particular action is being taken in support of British nationals working for the humanitarian agencies assisting not only refugees but also displaced persons in the area?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, the right reverend Prelate is right to ask that question. The non-governmental organisations and the UN agencies which have many British people working for them are doing a first-class job. One of the difficulties that we will always have is that of ensuring that those who are displaced can return to their original homes. One of the ways in which that is being done by the Government of Rwanda, with the help of human rights monitors from this country and others, is to set up temporary refuges for those who have to leave the places that they have occupied for the past few years so that the returning refugees can go back to their own homes. They are also providing refuges for those who return from other countries until such time as they can be settled. We are putting resources to that through the NGO movement.

§ The Earl of Sandwich
My Lords, is it not the case that the multinational force could be reinstated for the protection of the non-governmental organisations which would like to locate the refugees in Zaire and discover what condition they are in? Is the Minister aware that in the period up to Christmas many people in this country will be concerned about those hundreds of thousands of refugees? Is she also aware that an Anglo-Norwegian plane sent by the Churches has been sent back and was under fire? That surely proves that the NGOs need better protection.

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, while I believe it is absolutely clear that NGOs must register their interests and where they are going before they make flights or any other forays into eastern Zaire, I do not believe that they are in need of troops to be deployed in their defence. The situation has changed greatly over the past four weeks. The situation regarding the Anglo-Norwegian plane is not entirely clear at the present time. We are looking into it. If there is a need for forces on the ground we shall be prepared to give what help is needed. At the present time none of the information from the British Canberra bombers which are flying overhead leads me to believe that we should be deploying troops in this situation.