§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what commitments the Government entered into for providing financial support for land reform in Zimbabwe at the time of granting independence; what obligations remain for providing such 21W funding; what further requests have been received from the Government of Zimbabwe; and if he will make a statement. [120086]
§ Clare ShortI have been asked to reply.
I am informed that at the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference in October 1979, the UK Government undertook to assist with land resettlement alongside other donors—noting that scale of assistance required was beyond the scope of any individual donor. No specific figure was pledged. £20 million was offered through the 1981 Land Resettlement Grant; though this grant closed in 1996 with £3 million unused by the Zimbabwe Government. A further £27 million was provided during the 1980s as budgetary support to help the Zimbabwe Government meet their share of resettlement costs.
Since taking office in May 1997, we made it very clear that we were willing to support land reform and resettlement in Zimbabwe, because Zimbabwe needs land reform to reduce poverty. We are willing to fund schemes which are focused on helping the poor. We also made it clear that we will only support a programme that is fair, transparent, cost effective, within the rule of law, and which will genuinely benefit the poor. Because these principles are not being fulfilled we cannot support the Zimbabwean Government's Land Reform and Resettlement Programme.