§ Tom Brake:To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures the Government can deploy in the case of a breach of the Memorandum of Understanding with Rwanda. [142513]
§ Hilary Benn:Our engagement with the Government of Rwanda is based upon the joint commitments set down in the UK/Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding. These commitments include:
the promotion of peace and stability within the Great Lakes regional, including the promotion of transparency and legality of the exploitation of the region's natural resources;the promotion and protection of all human rights, including social and economic rights, for all Rwandans, including through the promotion and observance of relevant international agreements;the promotion of democratic institutions of governance;the pursuit of poverty reduction, by placing poverty reduction and social inclusion at the centre of policy-making and resource allocation;strengthening systems for budget execution, financial management and financial accountability, to ensure that funds are used for the intended purposes, are properly accounted for, and provide value for money.Progress against these commitments is reviewed each year by a team of independent consultants. That review forms the basis of the annual UK/Rwanda Partnership Talks. Any concerns arising from the independent review or from the UK's routine assessment of Government policy and practice are discussed with the Government of Rwanda.
Should we believe that the Government of Rwanda are not honouring the commitments made in the Memorandum of Understanding, and where the consultation process provided for within the Memorandum of Understanding fails to satisfy our concern, then we reserve the right to amend or entirely suspend our engagement with the Government of Rwanda. Our aim in any reconfiguration of our engagement will be to continue to make the greatest possible impact on poverty in Rwanda.
§ Tom Brake:To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment of the fairness of elections in Rwanda his Department has undertaken. [142511]
§ Hilary Benn:The recent national elections—the first since 1994, when genocide claimed the lives of over 800,000 Rwandans—were an important step towards Rwandan democracy. They were well organised and peaceful, they helped establish an electoral process in a country with no democratic tradition, and they demonstrated a genuine public thirst for democracy. But we believe that they were also flawed. The European Union's Election Observation Mission highlighted a 726W number of irregularities, although it stopped short of questioning the validity of the process or the result (Observation Missions from the Africa Union and South Africa reported far fewer irregularities). And we assess that in the run-up to the elections, Government moved to control the activities of opposition parties, civil society and the independent media.
We have urged the Government to take confidence from its new popular mandate, to open up space for legitimate political debate and to continue its work to establish a democratic and inclusive state.
§ Tom Brake:To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has undertaken of the time scale over which democracy will be introduced in Rwanda with free elections. [142512]
§ Hilary Benn:DFID's 2003 Country Assistance Plan, a copy of which was recently placed in the House of Commons Library, presents our analysis of the process of democratisation in Rwanda.
We conclude that the Government of Rwanda is committed to establishing a democratic and inclusive state, at the pace that Rwanda's continuing social fragility dictates. We see evidence of this in the recent national elections, the first since the 1994 genocide and civil war. Although flawed, these elections were also well organised and peaceful, and helped establish a democratic process in Rwanda. The Government aims to build democracy from the bottom, by empowering local communities to engage with local government structures around policy development and resource allocation. It believes that democracy built in this way, with its emphasis on social participation and inclusion, will act as a counter-balance to political extremism including genocidal ideology. Local government structures are being established at a rapid rate, and significant resources are now being channelled to them.
We cannot determine a particular year by which "democracy" should be established. The pace of democratisation will be determined by the country's experience as it moves to establish local government, reintegrate ex-combatants returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo and individuals guilty of genocide and allows greater space for Parliament and the public to scrutinise the executive. But we have identified with Government a number of actions that should be taken over the next 12 months in certain key areas of political governance which are necessary to strengthen and demonstrate the move towards democratisation. These actions will be set out in the 2004 UK/Rwanda Memorandum of Understanding, which we will sign with the Government of Rwanda in January. The annual independent review of the Memorandum of Understanding provides the basis for our Partnership Talks with the Government of Rwanda.