§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current political and military situation in Sierra Leone. [94616]
§ Mr. HainThere has been clear and welcome progress in recent months in the peace process in Sierra Leone. The overall security situation, however, remains volatile.
We welcome the signing of a Peace Agreement by the Government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front in Lomé on 7 July. The Agreement offers the people of Sierra Leone the real prospect of a sustainable peace. We support the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation to Sierra Leone.
We expect all parties to honour the agreement and the accompanying ceasefire, and to implement these fully. An important first step will be early progress on the Disarmament, Demobilisations and Reintegration programme for former combatants.
We welcome the return to Freetown on 3 October of Foday Sankoh, the leader of the RUF, and Johnny Paul Koroma, the leader for the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. This is an important step forward in the peace process.
I gave further details of how we have implemented our £10 million package of assistance in my written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian (Mr. Clarke) on 20 October 1999, Official Report, column 599.