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Bosnia
7. Mr. Barnes: If he will make a statement on progress towards meeting the Dayton accords with respect to Bosnia. [12118]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Tony Lloyd): We are making excellent progress with the tougher approach to peace implementation that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary agreed with his steering board colleagues at Sintra in May, but much more remains to be done and we shall be keeping the pressure up until it is. I shall make that clear to all three parties when I visit Bosnia this week.
Mr. Barnes: Are not the Bosnian Serbs driving a coach and horses through the Dayton accord by refusing to hand over indicted war criminals to the court in The Hague? Is it not essential that the criminals should be handed over, if lasting peace is to be achieved in Yugoslavia and if refugees are to be returned to the areas that they came from?
Mr. Lloyd: My hon. Friend raises a real question. The Bosnian Serbs should learn the clear lesson given by the Bosnian Croats when Kordic and the other nine Bosnian Croats went to The Hague to face the charges against them. We expect the same from all indictees, whether Bosnian Serbs or Bosnian Croats. On the question of the return of refugees, my hon. Friend will be glad to know that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has a programme to return 100,000 refugees this year. Already, 83,000 have returned and the programme is on course. That is good news. Progress has been made and will continue to be made.
Rev. Martin Smyth: The Minister said that he was keeping pressure on the three parties concerned. Does he agree that he might also need to keep pressure on the Americans, who hosted the Dayton accord, because there
seems to be a growing lobby in that country for withdrawing to an offshore commitment, instead of a hands-on commitment in Bosnia?
Mr. Lloyd: Let me place on record that we work closely with the Americans and all our allies in Bosnia. Progress is being made. For example, the problems caused by corruption have seen Mrs. Plavsic break with the Pale crowd, including Karadzic and his cronies, in her anti-corruption drive. We have seen the seizure by the Stabilisation Force of the transmitters in Pale, which stopped the transmission of the daily messages of hate. Transmissions will be stopped until we get an agreement from the Bosnian Serbs in Pale that messages of hate are a thing of the past. We have seen an effort by our troops in Prijedor in arresting indictees, which gives a signal to all indictees that we expect to see them at The Hague. We shall see them at The Hague. Progress is being made, because all the allies are working together in the Dayton framework.
Cyprus
8. Mr. Hanson: What plans he has to meet the UN envoy to Cyprus to discuss the outcome of recent initiatives by the UN. [12119]
12. Mr. Waterson:
What progress has been made in the talks about the future of Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [12123]
Mr. Doug Henderson:
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has no present plans to meet Mr. Cordovez, whom I met on 18 August. The Foreign Secretary discussed prospects for Cyprus with the United Nations Secretary-General in September, and assured him we would remain actively supportive of his efforts on Cyprus.
Negotiations took place in July and August under the auspices of the UN between the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus. Those talks produced no definitive results, but the United Kingdom welcomes the intention of the UN to resume talks in early 1998.
Mr. Hanson:
I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Can he assure the House that the British Government, in any future negotiations, will ensure that the sovereignty of Cyprus continues and that United Nations resolutions are maintained? Will he also give especial emphasis to the issue of missing persons when Cyprus is discussed again? I welcome the Government's efforts in helping to move the process along.
Mr. Henderson:
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and I can give him the assurance that he seeks on the question of the sovereignty of Cyprus. We believe that the negotiators should consider the issue of missing persons as part of their agenda and I hope that they can reach a solution that is acceptable to all involved.
Mr. Waterson:
Does the Minister agree with the recent motion passed by the European Parliament which criticised--yet again--the attitude of the leader of the northern Cypriot regime, Mr. Denktas, to the negotiations? Is it not the case that, in these negotiations
Mr. Henderson:
I hope that all the people of Cyprus recognise that the world is different from the one in which the current divisions were drawn up, many years ago. All those who can bring some intelligence to the process of resolving the difficulties must do what they can. During my recent visit to Turkey, I asked the Turkish Government to put any pressure they could on Mr. Denktas and his colleagues to be positive, and the same message has gone to our friends in the southern part of Cyprus.
Mr. Evans:
Not only do we have a special relationship with Cyprus, but we have a special responsibility for it and its people. Will the Minister ensure that the talks on the accession of Cyprus to the EU will not exacerbate the problems? Will he ensure also that the sensitivities of the people living north and south of the green line are taken on board?
Mr. Henderson:
The EU's decision to open talks with Cyprus on its accession to the Union is, as the hon. Gentleman will know, a prior commitment accepted by the Government when we took office. It is one which we welcome and will honour. Every effort must be made by all parties to solve the difficulties in the communities, as that will allow accession to take place successfully.
9. Mr. Ian Bruce:
What assessment he has made of the foreign policy factors leading to the sale of Hawk jets to the Indonesian Government. [12120]
Mr. Fatchett:
None. Any future application to export licensable defence equipment will be considered against the new criteria that we announced on 28 July.
Mr. Bruce:
I am sorry that the Minister has not got to grips with this matter. The decision to sell Hawk jets was made by the previous Labour Government two or three years after the takeover of East Timor. The House and the country would like to know why the Government, who are looking at ethical issues in arms sales, believe that we should not sell Land Rovers to Indonesia some 22 years after the takeover of East Timor, whereas the previous Labour Government sold jets to Indonesia a couple of years after that country--some say because they were urged to do so by the American and British Governments at the time--took over East Timor. It is a confusing issue. May we have some clarification?
Mr. Fatchett:
I am rather confused by the hon. Gentleman's question. Is he urging the Government to stop the sale of Hawks? If so, he should look at all the faces around him and consider the commercial interests represented by his hon. Friends. We have published clear guidelines for the sale of defence equipment and we will judge every export licence against those criteria. We will take no lectures from the hon. Gentleman and other Conservatives who, when in government, armed Saddam
Dr. Palmer:
Is my hon. Friend aware of the widespread support, not just among Labour supporters, for the new approach to foreign policy, and in particular the Government's willingness to look again at the sale of Hawk jets, which concerns a great many people who feel that they will be used to support oppression in the area claimed by Indonesia?
Mr. Fatchett:
I welcome my hon. Friend's warm support for our foreign policy and, in particular, for the arms criteria which we published in July. He may also be interested to know that Jose Ramos Horta, the East Timorean, made a clear statement in Mozambique 10 days or so ago, in which he also expressed strong support for the ethical foreign policy of the Labour Government in the United Kingdom and for our approach to exports and defence sales.
Mr. Blunt:
Is not the truth that, considering the licences for arms sales to Indonesia that were disallowed by the previous Government and the licensing of Hawks under the present Government, foreign policy is neither more nor less ethical than it was before 1 May? The only victim of the soundbite diplomacy of the past six months has been the British national interest, as we learn that Malaysia has signed a £1 billion contract for patrol ships with a German company, when Vosper Thornycroft thought that it was in pole position, and that Turkey says in effect that we will be disbarred from a $7.5 billion export market. British jobs and the national interest are bearing the burden of soundbite politics.
Mr. Fatchett:
The hon. Gentleman has made his argument very clear: he would sell to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and would take no account of the regime and have no regard for human rights. We know where that policy leads: it led to the arming of Saddam Hussein and to the loss of taxpayers' money. It is time that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues understood the failures of the previous Government and recognised the new Government's positive policies.
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