Mozambique (Hansard, 17 May 1993)

§ Mr. Hunter
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what parts of Mozambique he regards, for the purpose of providing aid and development assistance, as Government controlled and what parts as RENAMO administered.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
No such distinction is made for aid purposes. Aid is provided to meet identified needs wherever it is practicable to do so, taking account of the resources available and access to appraise and monitor use of the aid.

§ Mr. Hunter
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will provide details of the channels through which United Kingdom development assistance and food and emergency aid is distributed in Mozambique.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
British food and emergency aid is provided primarily through non-governmental organisations, which are best placed to distribute to those most in need. In addition we have contributed to appeals from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Childrens Fund.
Longer-term development aid is provided in the form of balance of payments aid to support Mozambique's economic reform programme channelled through the Government of Mozambique's system for foreign exchange allocation; capital aid for projects mostly channelled through British companies, and technical co-operation which funds British consultants and experts for a range of projects and training programmes.

§ Mr. Hunter
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much(a) food and 20W emergency aid and (b) health care and medical project assistance the United Kingdom has given to (i) Government-controlled areas in Mozambique and (ii) areas administered by RENAMO, in accordance with the October 1992 general peace accord.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
As required by protocol VII of the October 1992 peace accord a donor conference was held in Rome in December. At this conference we pledged £3 million of humanitarian assistance. About £1.7 million of this has already been spent mainly for seeds and tools programmes managed by British non-governmental organisations. None of this commitment has so far been spent on medicines. Since the peace accord we and other donors have succeeded in distributing humanitarian aid much more widely throughout the whole of Mozambique, although some areas remain inaccessible.

§ Mr. Hunter
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the estimated levels of diversion and/or theft of United Kingdom aid in Mozambique; and what representations he has made to, or received from, the Mozambique authorities following Mozambican Government commissions of inquiry into aid diversion and theft in Mozambique.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The only reported losses of British bilateral aid have been pilferage of food aid. We estimate the losses to be less than 1 per cent. of bilateral food aid provided in 1992. All our bilateral food aid last year was provided through British non-governmental organisations, which employ contractors, paid on performance, to store and transport the food to specific destinations. Distribution to beneficiaries is supervised by NGOs.
Distribution of food and other emergency aid is monitored at regular meetings in Maputo, to some of which RENAMO are invited. Our ambassador has taken up cases of pilferage with Ministers in the Government of Mozambique and provincial governors and has received assurances that action is being taken to prevent further instances.