§ Mr. HunterTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what account has been taken in United Kingdom policy towards Mozambique of the 1991 EEC report concerning appropriation of internation-al aid to Mozambique by the Frelimo Government and officials.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe report concerned the provision of EC food aid to the market sector. Following pressure from the EC, the Mozambique Government have tightened up their procedures and introduced new regulations for the handling of such food aid.
Our bilateral food aid programme for Mozambique is for free distribution to those most in need, not for the market sector. It was in the market sector, and related to the payment of counterpart funds, that the problem identified in the EC report arose. Furthermore, the procurement and close monitoring by British-based non-governmental organisations of all our food aid for Mozambique further reduce the possibility of our aid being misappropriated.