§ Mr. Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports the Government have received since 1 January 2002 from(a) international governmental organisations, (b) international NGOs and (c) other sources, regarding the supply of Hawk jet spare parts to the Democratic Republic of Congo; what the content was of the reports; what action has been taken; and if he will make a statement [112328]
§ Mr. StrawThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office received many reports from international governmental organisations, international NGOS and other sources. To the best of our knowledge only one of these refers to the supply of Hawk jet spare parts to the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the report of the UN Expert Panel on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Panel) published on 15 October 2002. It is available on the internet at: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m = S/2002/1146.
We supported and developed a new mandate for the Panel, asking them to provide evidence supporting the allegations in their report of 15 October 2002. We have asked the Panel for information about the supply of Hawk jet spare parts, but have not yet received it. We continue to repeat our requests for this information.
There is an EU arms embargo against the DRC. We condemn the sale or supply of arms to DRC, whether from a European country or otherwise, while this embargo is in place.