§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much bilateral aid has been allocated to Rwanda since April.
§ Mr. BaldryWe have committed £60 million for Rwandan displaced and refugees in neighbouring countries since April 1994; £33 million of this is bilateral emergency aid and £27 million is our share of EC aid.
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§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance he is providing to the Governments of Zaire, Tanzania and Uganda to help them to cope with the influx of refugees from Rwanda.
§ Mr. BaldryOur emergency aid is normally provided to operational field agencies. Almost all our £33 million bilateral emergency aid has been allocated through such agencies for relief activities and to encourage the safe return of refugees to Rwanda, which is the best help that we can give to neighbouring countries.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what steps he is taking to assist with the voluntary repatriation of refugees to Rwanda;
(2) what assistance is being given to the new Government of Rwanda to assist with rehabilitation and reconstruction.
§ Mr. BaldryOur present emphasis is to help create conditions within Rwanda which will encourage refugees to return. Thus we have recently provided over £2 million to NGOs involved in immediate rehabilitation, including seeds and tools provision, restarting of health care services and tracing and registration of unaccompanied children. In addition, £100,000 of equipment has been provided towards the re-establishment of the Rwanda Ministries of Health and of Rehabilitation and Social Integration.
We have also made grants to UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration, who are helping refugees return to Rwanda.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with other aid donor Governments regarding provision of financial compensation to the Government of Tanzania for the environmental degradation caused by the influx of refugees from Rwanda.
§ Mr. BaldryNone. However, we recognise the importance of mitigating environmental degradation and have provided £35,000 to the non-governmental organisation, CARE, in support of an environmental impact assessment.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance the United Kingdom is providing to the Government of Rwanda in re-establishing and training a civilian police force.
§ Mr. BaldryIn response to a request from the Government of Rwanda, a training programme, aimed at providing trainees with a basic knowledge of routine and investigative police work to enable them to address the immediate law and order problems in Kigali is now under way under UNAMIR auspices.
§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Secretary of State, for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance. the United Kingdom is providing in the clearance of land mines in Rwanda.
§ Mr. BaldryIn response to a UN request, we provided mine detecting equipment valued at £30,000 to assist in548W the training of Rwandan teams. We are awaiting the outcome of current UN assessments.