§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What humanitarian relief they and the European Union are providing for the people of Sierra Leone, in accordance with the Conakry Agreement and Security Council Resolution 1132; and what action they have taken to encourage cross-border relief operations from Guinea, and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief by sea to Freetown. [HL489]
§ Lord Whitty:The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided £1 million of humanitarian aid to support the life-saving activities of the International Red Cross (ICRC) within Sierra Leone, and approximately £250,000 to selected refugee care programmes in neighbouring countries.
The European Community Humanitarian Office is currently funding six humanitarian projects in Sierra Leone totalling 1.9 million ecu.
The UN Sanctions Committee, under Resolution 1132, of which we are a member, is aware of the problems with processing humanitarian aid on the border. Operational responsibility for the clearance of humanitarian aid across the Guinea/Sierra Leone border was passed from the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to the Guinean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More recently, there has been agreement for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) representatives to be stationed at the border of Guinea and Sierra Leone to authorise humanitarian imports.
Humanitarian relief by sea to Freetown is not a preferred route because of the added risk that items will be diverted by armed factions and therefore strengthen the organisers of the coup and not reach intended beneficiaries.
§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action the Department for International Development has taken, in accordance with the policy of providing assistance to the most vulnerable civilian populations, to relieve the health and nutritional problems of the people of Freetown, Sierra Leone, identified by the United Nations Secretary-General in his S/1997/958 of 5 December 1997. [HL490]
§ Lord Whitty:The Department for International Development (DFID) has provided £1 million of humanitarian assistance to support the life-saving activities of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Freetown and other parts of Sierra Leone. The ICRC are providing basic health care and distributing food to vulnerable civilians.
Her Majesty's Government also contribute to the European Community Humanitarian Office, which is 186WA currently funding humanitarian projects in Sierra Leone totalling 1.9 million ecu.
§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What information they have about the mission of Claude Bruderlein of the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs to Guinea and Sierra Leone; and whether they now consider that the total blockade imposed by the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) has caused malnutrition and death by starvation to many Sierra Leoneans. [HL491]
§ Lord Whitty:The mission led by Mr. Bruderlein is currently in the region assessing the impact of sanctions on the provision of humanitarian assistance.
The principal reason for the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone is the ongoing violence. This is due to the coup which overthrew the legitimately elected Government of President Kabbah.
The continuing fighting and the co-opting of humanitarian items by armed factions makes it enormously difficult to prevent the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance to targeted vulnerable groups.