Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: One moment. We provide speedy and effective humanitarian assistance. All those objectives strike me as extremely good uses of British taxpayers' money.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I am sorry that I gave way. If I had not given way, I would have had more time to develop my speech and to give the detail which supports the assertions that I have just made. I return to the argument of the right hon. Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale that a White Paper was needed. Let me tell the House how we disseminate our information—I say it with some feeling because I am...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to intervene once I have commented on what he had to say. I need to make a great deal of progress if I am to get through my speech, and I shall not be able to give way much more. The hon. Member for Monklands, West and several other Opposition Members, including the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Dr. Howells), made much of the Trinidad terms. Certainly, the...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I cannot answer that gibe, save to say that I do not take too seriously a movement that does not even bother to check its own arithmetic. I endorse the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe about debt relief. Of course, we should like better terms to be offered, but, as he recognises, that must be done multilaterally. He is right to stress the need for countries to support...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The hon. Gentleman grossly underestimates our contribution to assistance in Rwanda. The 50 trucks that he dismissed so contemptuously are precisely what the Secretary-General asked us to supply, but, of course, we have given £11 million worth of aid for Rwanda and for related situations. My right hon. Friend the Minister dealt with the political aspect at some length, so I shall say only...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I shall not give way again. The hon. Gentleman made a long contribution and I must get on with my speech. [Interruption.] I shall give way on this occasion, but I shall not do so again.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The hon. Gentleman mentions the disagreements in the aid lobbies about the French initiative. He said that he did not support it and I know that some of the aid lobbies and the NGOs do not support it either. By touching on that he shows the great complexity and difficulty of some of the circumstances—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman asked a question and he must let me answer it in my way....
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I am happy to endorse, but I cannot give further details tonight, the enormous amount that we do for de-mining in our aid programme all over the world. Let me touch upon another point that the right hon. Member for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale made about corruption, which is a major problem. We actively support action against it as part of our good government policy and we support the...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said a few moments ago, we are playing a full part in efforts to bring about a settlement in Rwanda and are providing substantial amounts of relief for the large number of refugees displaced by the fighting.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My right hon. Friend mentioned that bilateral aid of £11 million has been paid since the start of the crisis. It is helping mainly with refugees and with the collection and burial of bodies, including those in Lake Victoria. An Overseas Development Administration team recently visited the region to assess the situation at first hand and will return there in early July.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Everyone must agree with my hon. Friend's words. I confirm that we are the fourth largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. We cannot be accused of default on that ground. All along, we have been very active in calling for effective and swift United Nations action in Rwanda.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, the Secretary-General submitted his report on 2 June following those Security Council decisions in April, and on 8 June there was a further vote to adopt resolution 925 and endorse the arrangements for the deployment of the expanded United Nations Aid Mission in Rwanda—UNAMIR—which is the situation that we now face.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My hon. Friend has expressed his opinion, and we are doing everything that we can in our way to bring about a change in the dreadful events. As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said, seven African countries are contributing troops and five countries—including ourselves—are prepared to help with logistical support for those troops.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I cannot agree with the hon. Gentleman that a crisis of leadership in Britain is responsible for the situation in Rwanda. He is suggesting somehow that the British Government are responsible. We are doing what we can, as my right hon. Friend and I have explained in the most careful terms, to bring about a change in the dreadful situation.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. Clapham) should be aware that the appalling slaughter about which we have read in Rwanda is not the result of arms sales by western or other countries. The crudest weapons, which would be available in any agricultural society, are being horrifically used in the terrible slaughter.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: We enjoy a close and constructive relationship with Mauritius.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The Mauritian Foreign Minister recently said that relations are entering a new period of understanding and co-operation, and he has seen my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary twice in the past year. As for education, under an agreement called the Laureate scheme, we are providing nearly £3 million over a five year period to fund scholarships which enable 13 Mauritians to come to...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) has brought to the attention of the House a matter of great tragedy, and I am pleased to respond this evening to give an indication—I hope that it is a full one—of the Government's position. All of us share the horror felt around the world at the appalling events in Rwanda in recent weeks. The images of mass killing, butchery,...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I shall move fast to try to cover most of the hon. Gentleman's points. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda —UNAMIR—was established by a Security Council resolution in October 1993 at the requests of both the Government of Rwanda and the Rwandan Patriotic Front to monitor the Arusha agreement, which had been signed in August of that year. Given the political will for peace...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Expenditure for 1993–94 was in excess of £5 million and we expect to maintain that level in 1994–95.
