HC Deb 25 October 2000 vol 355 c146W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will (1) list those areas where the negotiators of the Lome Peace Accords requested advice from Her Majesty's Government; [134196]

(2) list those articles of the Lome Peace Accords on which his Department contributed advice. [134192]

Mr. Hain

Representatives of HMG, along with the other international observers helping to facilitate the Lomé peace negotiations, were in close touch with the negotiators over all aspects of the draft agreement, in the interest of encouraging a successful conclusion. However the resulting agreement was a matter for the parties involved, not for HMG.

Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 19 July 2000,Official Report, column 186W, on Sierra Leone, if he will make a statement on the nature of the conflict between the Commission for the Management of Strategic Resources and existing Sierra Leonese Government ministries, with reference to related action by Her Majesty's Government. [134198]

Mr. Hain

We understand that the respective roles and functions of the Commission for the Management of Strategic Resources, National Reconstruction and Development, the Ministry of Mines, and the Government of Sierra Leone itself has yet to be defined.

This was a matter for the respective bodies to work out. Our own policy was—and remains—to support the objective of the Lomé Peace Agreement that the Government of Sierra Leone shall exercise full control over the exploitation of gold, diamonds and other natural resources for the benefit of all of the people of Sierra Leone.

Ms Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of UNAMSIL in Sierra Leone. [134262]

Mr. Hain

We strongly support the UN's effort to help bring peace and stability to Sierra Leone. We remain ready under a Memorandum signed with the UN in 1999 to deploy a rapid reaction force of up to brigade size, based in the UK, in support of UN peacekeeping operations including that in Sierra Leone. Final decisions on deployment remain with the Government, but the speed and scale of the force's deployment in Freetown in May shows what is available. We are also meeting requests from the UN to fill key appointments in the UNAMSIL headquarters in Freetown, adding to the military observers already deployed.