§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support his Department is giving to the moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of light weapons adopted by the Economic Community of West African States in October 1998. [80503]
§ Mr. Tony LloydThe Government fully support the ECOWAS moratorium on light weapons.
342WThe moratorium applies to the import, export and manufacture of pistols, rifles, submachine guns, carbines, machine guns, anti-tank missiles, mortars and howitzers up to a calibre of 85mm and ammunition and spare parts for the above.
A Code of Conduct was agreed by ECOWAS Member States on 24 March 1999 regarding the implementation of the moratorium. If an ECOWAS Member State believes it has a valid reason for an exemption to the moratorium, the Code states that the ECOWAS Executive Secretariat should be involved in the consultation process. Similarly for proposed imports of weapons for peacekeeping operations, the Code states that the ECOWAS Secretariat should be notified.
The Government will take the provisions of the moratorium and the ECOWAS Code of Conduct fully into account when assessing relevant export licence applications.
The summary of Government Commitments on the application of Strategic Export Controls has been updated to reflect the moratorium and copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
The UK will brief participating states to the Wassenaar Arrangement on the moratorium, and our policy towards it, at the next Wassenaar Arrangement General Working Group meeting.
The UK is also financially supporting the moratorium. The Department for International Development has pledged $500,000 over three years to assist the UNDP in the implementation of the moratorium. We are also considering how the UK might help ECOWAS administer the moratorium.