§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military personnel are involved in Sierra Leone; how many have been involved in each of the past two years; what the cost to the MOD of the deployment has been; and if he will make a statement. [46672]
§ Mr. IngramWe currently have some 360 shore-based military personnel deployed in Sierra Leone, supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Sir Geraint, and we will maintain our presence at that level over the period of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 2002. We are also contributing 15 military observers and seven headquarters staff to UNAMSIL, the UN operation in Sierra Leone. At its peak, there were 4,500 personnel deployed on Operation PALLISER in May 2000, when we first committed troops in significant numbers. We then had up to 550–600 shore-based military personnel in Sierra Leone at any one time until the completion of basic infantry training for the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) by British Short-Term Training Teams in September 2001. The re-configuration to the current troop levels was completed by January 2002. The cost to the Ministry of Defence of the deployments, excluding the provision of equipment to the RSLAF, was £16.9 million in financial year 2000–01. The cost of the deployments in the last financial year is estimated at around £28.25 million, and will be met from the cross-Government Africa Conflict Prevention Fund. The future costs of our military training and assistance programme will also he met from this budget.
As I was able to see at first hand during my visit to Sierra Leone on 19–20 March, we are making good progress in helping to develop a professional, accountable 14W and effective RSLAF and Sierra Leone MOD. The UK-led International Military Advisory and Training Team will continue the task of capacity-building in the RSLAF and the MOD over the longer term. Our ultimate aim is that the RSLAF will be able to protect the security and integrity of Sierra Leone without needing substantial external assistance.