§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance his Department is giving to(a) the Government of Eritrea and (b) aid agencies operating within Eritrea. [144156]
§ Hilary BennWe are not providing any direct assistance to the Government of Eritrea.
However, in 2003, we have provided the following assistance for Eritrea to address humanitarian needs:
£ International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 500,000 UNICEF 1,000,000 World Food Programme (WFP) 1,000,000 CAFOD 200,000 Dutch Interchurch Aid 550,000 We are considering what support we should provide to the 2004 Consolidated Annual Appeal for Eritrea that has recently been issued.
We also have a Small Grants Scheme, which is managed by our Embassy in Asmara and is for the funding of small development projects in Eritrea. Our total support for this scheme in the current financial year is £200,000.
830W
§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions he has had with the Government of Eritrea on development aid; and what plans he has to link aid to progress on human rights issues in that country. [144157]
§ Hilary BennWe have written to the President of Eritrea indicating that we plan to provide our development assistance to Eritrea through the EU, IMF and World Bank. DFID provides funds to these organisations.
We also indicated that in order for Eritrea to make progress on eliminating poverty through support from partners, they needed to engage in developing a strong Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. We also stressed the need for these development partnerships to be based on frank dialogue and the sharing of information.
During his recent visit to London, I explained to the Eritrean Foreign Minister that we do not have a bilateral programme with every country and referred to our support through the EU, World Bank and IMF. We also reminded him of the substantial humanitarian support that we have provided to Eritrea in 2003.