HL Deb 07 March 1996 vol 570 c28WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is to be included in the report from the Secretary General of the United Nations on the Implementation of Annex 1B on regional stabilisation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

In compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1021, the Secretary General is required to submit a report by 12th June on the implementation of Annex 1B to the peace agreement. It is too early to say what will be included in this report, but we expect that it will address issues relating to regional stabilisation, including those on sub-regional arms control covered in Article IV of Annex 1B to the Dayton Agreement.

Negotiations are under way in Vienna under the auspices of the OSCE.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What effect on the status of the Dayton agreements has the relationship referred to in paragraph 10 of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 10.31 (1995), "between the fulfilment by the parties of their commitments in the Peace Agreement and the readiness of the international community to commit financial resources for reconstruction and development", given that these latter resources are forthcoming very slowly, and whether their failure to arrive detracts from the obligation of the parties to fulfil their commitments.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The international community will not provide reconstruction assistance to any party in Bosnia in serious breach of its peace agreement commitments.

Substantial resources are already available for reconstruction following the December conference. Progress on the ground is not, however, dependent solely on funding, but also on factors such as speed of project preparation, co-ordination of implementation capacity and ability to deal with bureaucratic obstacles. The UK is playing its part: an ODA team is currently in Bosnia to consider expansion of the existing utilities rehabilitation programme. Two ODA-funded experts will shortly be taking up post in Prime Minister Muratovic's office to advise on project preparation and donor co-ordination.

A further pledging conference will be held in April.