HC Deb 04 November 2002 vol 392 cc33-4W
Dr. Cable

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what(a) financial and (b) other assistance her Department (i) is providing and (ii) plans to provide to the Government of DRC; and if she will make a statement. [77553]

Clare Short

To date UK assistance to DRC has focused on humanitarian and peace building assistance provided through the UN and international NGOs. We have had no direct Government-to-Government assistance programme. However once an inclusive transitional Government has been agreed, the UK will be willing to consider providing direct assistance to the Government of DRC. In the short term we are considering options for Quick start initiatives to demonstrate to the people of DRC the benefits of peace. In the medium term we plan to provide assistance in a number of sectors where we believe we can best add value such as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and support to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process. We will also continue our humanitarian and peace building activities, and will support re-engagement in the DRC by the international financial institutions (IFIs).

Dr. Cable

Asked the Secretary of State for International Development how many(a) UN Force and (b) MONUC representatives are in the Democratic Republic of Congo; what plans there are to send British troops there; what plans there are to increase the number of MONUC representatives; and if she will make a statement. [77641]

Clare Short

On 30 September the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) comprised 4,309 uniformed personnel (military observers, troops and civilian police), and 1,185 civilian personnel. Five of these military observers have been provided by the United Kingdom. There are no plans to send British troops to the DRC.

Last month the Secretary General of the UN (UNSG) produced a report on MONUC's activities, which is now being discussed by the UN Security Council. The principal recommendation of the report is that the cap on MONUC's military personnel be increased from 5,537 to 7,500. We are encouraging the UNSG to get MONUC more focused and effective on DDR, particularly in eastern DRC.

We warmly welcomed the Pretoria and Luanda Agreements which Rwanda and Uganda respectively signed with DRC as major breakthroughs towards peace in the region. We are working closely with all three governments, and that of Burundi, as well as the South Africans and the UNSG who are the third parties in the Pretoria Agreement, to ensure full implementation of these Agreements.

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