§ Baroness Rawlings asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What they are doing with regard to the present developments in Zimbabwe.
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, my honourable friend the Minister of State, Brian Wilson, summoned the Zimbabwean High Commissioner on 27th April to protest at the war veterans' programme of intimidation and extortion against the business community, with which there is clear official connivance. The targets include businesses from half the countries of the European Union and a transit depot of EU humanitarian aid. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary will raise Zimbabwe again at the General Affairs Council next week.
§ Baroness RawlingsMy Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. We have been giving aid to Zimbabwe to the tune of £14 million a year. Nearly £1 million goes to governance and human rights. Who monitors the distribution of the British taxpayers' money? Bearing in mind the amount of corruption in Zimbabwe at the moment, what assurance can Her Majesty's Government give that those funds are not being distributed by Mugabe's cronies? With corruption so rife, have the Government considered targeted personal sanctions such as travel bans on Mugabe and his family and identification of their assets?
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, we are alive to the importance of targeting the aid where it will be properly delivered and of ensuring that it is the kind of aid which will benefit the people we wish it to benefit. We continue to maintain a bilateral development programme in Zimbabwe, as the noble Baroness rightly said, for which the 2000–01 allocation is around £14 million. That programme is focused on health issues, such as AIDS and HIV-prevention programmes and rural water and sanitation measures along with the reform of local government, governance and human rights. Twenty-five per cent of the adult population are infected by the HIV/AIDS virus and 63 per cent of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line. We have a responsibility to help those people.
A long list of projects was given by my right honourable friend Claire Short on 2nd May in a 892 Written Answer, which I shall happily forward to the noble Baroness and also place a copy in the Library. My right honourable friend, in addition to giving the list of the current projects being carried out in Zimbabwe by DfID, said that she continues to keep the Zimbabwean programme under regular review to ensure that it is still effective and appropriate in the current difficult circumstances.
§ Lord Hughes of WoodsideMy Lords, can my noble friend say what is the Government's current attitude towards land reform in Zimbabwe and to the UNDP initiative on land reform?
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, as my noble friend is aware, we have always said we will support a land reform programme which is transparent, fair and cost-effective and which forms part of a wider Zimbabwean government programme to reduce poverty, as agreed by the Government of Zimbabwe in 1998 at the land conference. However, their present so-called "fast-track" programme does not meet those conditions. We urge the Government of Zimbabwe to take immediate steps to end the illegal occupation of farms and to restore the rule of law.
In relation to the UNDP initiative, we welcome any initiative which encourages dialogue between all stakeholders and leads to a programme based on the principles agreed at the 1998 land conference. The UNDP has now received a response to its letter to President Mugabe and it is in the process of consulting donor countries and donors on the next step.
§ Baroness Williams of CrosbyMy Lords, does the Minister agree that at a time when the whole of democratic institutions and human rights are at stake in Zimbabwe, we must do everything possible to assist those who are battling for those rights, including the Opposition leader, against whom a very dubious case has been brought? We must also recognise the astonishing courage being shown by both black and white judges in Zimbabwe in trying to sustain the culture of human rights and the rule of law.
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, I could not agree more with the noble Baroness. We are greatly impressed by the courage of both the judges and the political Opposition. We will give our backing wherever possible from the outside, although such backing is unfortunately limited because this is a struggle inside Zimbabwe. The brave judiciary is upholding the finest traditions of sustaining the independence of the judiciary. We, like the rest of the democratic world, are watching with great interest the trial of Mr Morgan Tsvangirai. He achieved what he wanted to happen, the trial having been referred to the Supreme Court. We have full confidence in the independence of the Supreme Court and await the outcome of the trial with interest.
§ Lord EltonMy Lords, the Government of Zimbabwe made clear their objective of removing white people who own property in Zimbabwe. Is that not a form of ethnic cleansing? When will it be treated as such?
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, I do not know how I can say more emphatically what I have said from this Dispatch Box and what other Ministers of this Government have said in both Houses. We deplore the violence that has accompanied the occupation of the farms. It is contrary to the land reform process to which the Government of Zimbabwe agreed. We call on the Government of Zimbabwe to end the illegal occupation of the farms and to ensure the enforcement of the rule of law.
§ Lord Lea of CrondallMy Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Crosby, mentioned the position of Morgan Tsvangirai, who, before he became leader of the Opposition, was a trade union leader. Is the Commonwealth engaged in looking at his legal position, including his trial?
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group decided to send a three-man ministerial mission, led by Barbados and including Australia and Nigeria, to Zimbabwe. That mission was to visit Zimbabwe in time to report back to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group so that the group could make appropriate recommendations to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. In fact, that is dependent on the Government of Zimbabwe receiving the mission. It is up to the participants in that mission, plus the Commonwealth Secretary General—
§ Lord Peyton of YeovilMy Lords—
§ Baroness Ramsay of CartvaleMy Lords, if the House does not wish to hear the answer in relation to the Commonwealth, that is not giving the matter its due importance.
§ Lord Peyton of YeovilMy Lords, there have been some prolonged Answers. Is the noble Baroness aware—
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Jay of Paddington)My Lords, the clock says "8 minutes". I believe that the feeling of the House is that we should move on.