§ 72. Mr. Johnstonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has had about the plight of starving children in Uganda; whether he intends to increase aid to Uganda to alleviate this; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RaisonOne hon. Member has written to me on behalf of a constituent and I have had discussions with interested British voluntary agencies. There is no widespread famine in Uganda. Special problems of food and water supply and distribution have arisen in certain areas. Inevitably those who suffer most in such circumstances are children and the elderly. Between May and October last year the ODA disaster unit provided almost £285,000, mainly through Oxfam and Save the Children Fund, for relief purposes; we recently contributed a further £50,000 to a League of Red Cross Societies appeal. The Uganda Government have set up a relief organisation and President Obote has appealed for international help. In response we have committed an additional £250,000 for the relief and resettlement of displaced persons. If more needs to be done I will consider further requests sympathetically within our resources.