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prevented us from maintaining regular official contacts with representatives of the Somali National Movement, which took power in the north last year.

Nor has the lack of formal diplomatic recognition prevented the British Government from continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to the north. The region faces appalling problems. We are in very close touch with a number of agencies working in the north, and in the past year we have committed £1.87 million in emergency relief to NGOs working there. We have funded projects such as the rehabilitation of the water system in Hargeisa and Burao through Oxfam, medical programmes run by Save the Children Fund, and a rehabilitation programme in Sanaag run by Action Aid. We were also pleased to contribute to a mine-clearing programme by the British firm, Rimfire, which will help rid the region of its estimated 1 to 1.5 million unexploded mines. Most recently, I approved a grant of £150,000 to the International Red Cross for veterinary assistance to the important livestock sector. We are ready to do more. We have encouraged the European Commission to provide what aid it can to the north.

We had been able to consider this degree of assistance because, unlike the south, for much of last year northern Somalia appeared to be stable. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Fighting has broken out between clan militia in several of the major towns. Aid agencies have recently had funds stolen, their staff abused and their warehouses looted. We are urging our partners in the United Nations and the EC to ensure that full attention is given to the need to stabilise conditions in the north. Otherwise, there is a real risk that the north will go the way of the south, in a downward spiral of clan fighting, food shortages and banditry. Until the fighters see some source of revenue other than looting, peace will be hard to come by. We are discussing with the United Nations what more might be done. I am not satisfied that the United Nations agencies have yet addressed seriously enough the problems of this region. I will continue, despite the election, to do all that I can to bring real action on the part of the United Nations to the people of Somalia.

As in the south, lasting peace and reconciliation can come only from the Somali people themselves. We cannot impose it from outside. That is why we shall not lose sight of the Somali situation as a whole, in the understandable concern with the horror of Mogadishu, and also the horrors elsewhere. We hope that Somali leaders themselves will also have learnt from recent events that the international community can provide the assistance which is so desperately needed only if they also commit themselves to a policy of peaceful resolution of their disputes. I hope that that message at least can go from this House to the people of Somalia tonight. We wish them peace, but it will be a difficult job to achieve. Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at five minutes past Eleven o'clock.

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