Zimbabwe (Hansard, 11 April 2000)

§ Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, I beg leave to ask a Question of which I have given private notice, namely:
Whether Her Majesty's Government will make a statement on the future of the United Kingdom's relations with Zimbabwe.

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary, together with other members of Her Majesty's Government, have sought in all statements to demonstrate that Britain is not an enemy but a friend of the people of Zimbabwe. It is because of that friendship that Britain is leading the international demand that the Government of Zimbabwe respect the rule of law and that the people of Zimbabwe have the right through free and fair elections to decide for themselves who will 85 govern Zimbabwe. We shall continue to take every responsible and realistic step to secure those twin demands.

§ Baroness Rawlings
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that statement. Your Lordships' House will be concerned by recent and continuing events in Zimbabwe: the wholesale intimidation of journalists and, as the noble Baroness is aware, of anyone with dissident views; the way that lawless thugs are being cynically encouraged by the Mugabe Government to break the law and invade other people's property, despite failing to win the recent referendum; the continued prosecution of a costly and pointless war in the Congo; and the postponement of the elections. All those things condemn Zimbabwe, which should be one of Africa's most prosperous and stable nations, to penury and oppression. The process has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.
Is the House aware that everyone in Zimbabwe agrees that land reform is needed but that the 1 million acres acquired by the Government over 20 years since independence has been given not to the dispossessed but to Mugabe's cronies? Can the Minister tell the House why bilateral aid to Zimbabwe's Government is increasing; why Britain is still providing military assistance to Zimbabwe; why Britain has done nothing to investigate freezing the overseas assets of Mr Mugabe and his cronies; why the European Union yesterday continued to provide aid to the government of Zimbabwe; and whether the Foreign Secretary has agreed to meet Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, as Mr Maude plans to do, in Britain later this week? Why has nothing been done to involve the Commonwealth?

§ The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Jay of Paddington)
My Lords, I hesitate to interrupt but the House will be aware that there was an agreement in the Procedure Committee about the arrangements that we should make on the basis of these deferred Questions being taken in the form of an extra Question at the end of Question Time.
I refer the noble Baroness to the Companion in which it says that where there is a Private Notice Question which is to be repeated in the Lords, the questions should be confined to not more than two short points.

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords,the noble Baroness has asked a number of question, in fact so many it was difficult to keep track of them. But in response to the plethora of questions which I have been asked, I shall outline what we have done because that is important in relation to what the noble Baroness said.
Your Lordships will know that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State met President Mugabe last week in the margins of the EU-Africa summit and he was grateful to President Obasanjo of Nigeria for helping to arrange that meeting. The Secretary of State emphasised our deep concern at the present situation 86 in Zimbabwe, and in particular the refusal of the Zimbabwe police and the government of Zimbabwe to uphold the rule of law by complying with a court order to clear the illegal occupation of farms or by protecting the right of citizens to peaceful demonstration without fear of violence.
My right honourable friend stressed also the importance that we attach to free and fair elections within the time frame set out in the constitution of Zimbabwe.
It is extremely important to remember that when we talk about the land issue we are talking about something which affects all Zimbabweans. Whether black or white, they are Zimbabweans first. President Mugabe assured my right honourable friend the Secretary of State that he intends to hold the elections. He agreed also to send a delegation to London to discuss all our concerns. Britain remains willing, within such a discussion, to support a programme of land reform; but that would be on the basis of a fair price to willing sellers and must be targeted on helping the real rural poor. There can be no question of us supporting a programme of land reform unless the illegal occupations end and free and fair elections are held.

§ Lord Hughes of Woodside
My Lords, while it is certainly the case that the situation in Zimbabwe is extremely volatile and dangerous, does my noble friend believe that the trotting out by the Opposition from the dictionary of insults and headlines in a hostile way towards a Commonwealth government helps the situation, or does she believe that a calm and sensible approach of discussion with the Government of Zimbabwe will pay better dividends?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, I wholeheartedly agree.

Lord Carrington
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that probably the best way of getting President Mugabe to change his mind is for a fellow African to persuade him of the error of his ways and that he is driving his country into economic ruin? There are Africans who may be able to do that.
Secondly, will the Government do everything that they can in all the international bodies, such as the United Nations, the European Union and the Commonwealth, to persuade President Mugabe not only to have an election but to have monitors to ensure that the election is fair?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, as usual, the noble Lord speaks with great good sense and I respectfully agree with his suggestions. It is of importance and of some comfort that President Obasanjo of Nigeria has been very helpful in that regard. We are obviously giving him our wholehearted support. We wish to see this matter successfully concluded.

§ Lord Shore of Stepney
My Lords, I am very glad to hear what my noble friend said in response to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, 87 but surely we should have placed a greater emphasis on the Commonwealth in this matter. After all, it was in Harare where the declaration wa s made about the future commitment of the Commonwealth to democracy and the enforcement of it.
I have no objection whatever to the European Union also exerting some influence, but that is not the primary place for influence to be exerted. It should have begun by obtaining advice on this matter from the Commonwealth Secretariat and then ideally we should find an African Commonwealth leader who might intercede.

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, I obviously hear what my noble friend says, but Iassure him that we have given proper emphasis to our Commonwealth partners. The efforts that we have made have very much included the Commonwealth. We have been warmed and greatly encouraged by the fact that our Commonwealth partners have come to the fore and have helped us to deal with this issue. We give real credit to the Nigerians for their efforts because we know that, historically, they have had their problems and have overcome them. We hope that that experience will assist them greatly in the conversations that they are able to have with President Mugabe.

§ Viscount Cranborne
My Lords, in the light of the Minister's reply to the noble Lord, Lord Shore, and my noble friend Lord Carrington, if she feels, as I do, that the Commonwealth should be taking a leading role in this matter, how is it that Her Majesty's Government have emphasised the role of the European Union at the expense of that of the Commonwealth until the Minister's replies this afternoon?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, we have not. We need the help of our EU partners just as much as we need the help of our Commonwealth colleagues. This is a joint enterprise upon which we should all be engaged, irrespective of from whence we hail.

§ Lord Avebury
My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that the dissolution of the Zimbabwean Parliament today provides a time limit within which the elections must be held and yet there is no electoral register and no boundaries have yet been defined? Will the Government do everything that they can to persuade President Mugabe that, if he does not want to accept the offer of technical assistance from the United Nations, some other international body—whether it be the European Union or the Commonwealth—will offer that technical assistance which will allow a clean and fair electoral register to be compiled and boundaries to be properly delineated?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, we absolutely share the noble Lord's concerns. In the conversations that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State and others have had with President Mugabe and members of that administration we have made clear the importance of a fair and free election and the need to really concentrate on making sure that thattakes place. Therefore, we are convinced that that 88 needs to happen with that technical assistance, from wherever it can be culled.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that they fact that the European Union has become involved has not proved to be helpful and, indeed, is being used by President Mugabe to say that that is interference by the European nations against free African countries which have been decolonised?

§ Baroness Scotland of Asthal
My Lords, I cannot agree with the comments made by my noble friend.