HL Deb 11 July 2001 vol 626 cc1082-3

2.57 p.m.

Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will confirm that the "no-fly zone" in northern Iraq will be maintained, together with the related allied air patrols.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government remain committed with their coalition partners to maintaining and enforcing no-fly zones over both northern and southern Iraq. Regular air patrols are a key element to our efforts to prevent Saddam Hussein from using air power to repress his own people, as he did so brutally prior to the establishment of the zones 10 years ago.

Lord Hylton

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer, which I find most positive. Have the Government received reports that Saddam Hussein has been concentrating land forces close to the edge of the safe haven? Will the Government take one step further by at least considering the possibility of improving existing landing strips in northern Iraq so that they can be used by our allied air forces which patrol the air?

Lord Bach

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his comments in support of our policy. I agree with his assessment of the importance of the zone in preventing a recurrence of the dreadful scenes which we saw and about which we read some years ago. I am sure that he will join me in paying tribute to the bravery of the coalition air crew, who are regularly subjected to attack by Iraqi air defence forces.

As regards the noble Lord's question about a troop build-up, we are aware of rumours of Iraqi troop movements in areas bordering the Kurdish autonomous zone. We receive such reports from time to time and are monitoring the situation very closely. While we remain vigilant, what we have seen to date does not give rise to undue concern. Of course we shall consider the noble Lord's suggestion about airstrips. However, at present we have no plans to do as the noble Lord suggests. We are very grateful for the support for our efforts in the no-fly zone, and in particular for the use of the Incirlik air base. At the moment, we have no plans to move operations from that base.

Baroness Turner of Camden

My Lords, I understood that there was to be a possible review of policy on Iraq and that there had been a UN resolution in that respect. Can my noble friend tell the House what the situation is in that regard?

Lord Bach

My Lords, it is no secret that we have been engaged with the United States in trying to secure international consensus on a new approach to Iraq. The aim is simply better to achieve our objective of containing Iraq and stopping its development of weapons of mass destruction. Our efforts have centred on trying to agree more focused controls on Iraqi weapons and illegal oil exports while easing the flow of civilian goods to the Iraqi people. That would mean an end to sanctions on ordinary imports, nailing once and for all the lie that the regime is not responsible for the ills of Iraq. But, with much regret, I must tell my noble friend that only last week the Security Council was unable to agree the details of the proposed new arrangements that I have set out. There was consensus among four permanent members of the Security Council, including China. Her Majesty's Government find it hard to understand why Russia was unable to support our resolution. Having said that, we remain committed to implementing the new approach. We are working with our allies to resolve differences and hope that other council members will be equally constructive.

Baroness Williams of Crosby

My Lords, in the light of the Minister's very helpful reply, can he tell the House anything about the sanctions committee of the United Nations, it being suggested in some quarters that it has held up some crucial civilian infrastructure projects? My understanding is that Ministers said they would look at that. Can the noble Lord tell the House anything further about it?

Lord Bach

My Lords, I am not aware of the matters of which the noble Baroness speaks, but I shall find out straight away, write to her and place a copy of the letter in the Library. Whether that was part of the proposals last week will become clear from my letter.