§ 90. Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the development aid needed by Somalia and the contribution that can be made by the United Kingdom towards meeting those requirements; and what conditions regarding human rights, democratic processes and the rule of law he attaches to aid to Somalia.
§ Mrs. ChalkerSomalia has in general a need for a significant volume of development assistance. Britain participated with others in the provision of such help until October 1988 when concern about human rights violations led to the suspension of new British aid. More recently, deteriorating security conditions have caused a reduction in the scale of existing activity. We remain ready to consider requests from international and British voluntary agencies for humanitarian assistance for victims of the civil conflict in the north, but current conditions make it very difficult for such agencies to operate.