Examination of Witness (Questions 1350
- 1359)
TUESDAY 10 NOVEMBER 1998
VICE ADMIRAL
ALAN WEST
Chairman
1350. Admiral West, welcome to our Committee.
We would be grateful to rely on your advice on a number of key
matters affecting our consideration of the events in Sierra Leone.
You are in the happy position, if I may say, of standing back
a pace or two and watching what went wrong in another department.
What would be helpful for us first is if you would indicate how
you see your own role in this whole saga?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) Yes, thank you very much
indeed. I think probably it is best if I first of all just explain
my organisation, the DIS. It comprises a headquarters here in
London, *** One of those is JARIC, which is the reconnaissance
centre, ***
1351. Yes.
(Vice Admiral Alan West) Then there is the section
called Military Survey. They are based down in Feltham and Hermitage,
and they provide surveyors, primarily for the Army, but they do
all the detailed work, *** I also have an area called the Defence
Intelligence and Security Centre which is at Chicksands, which
is a centre that teaches *** specialists on broad issues of security
for our forces. That encapsulates the span of my people. I have
got about 4,700 people who work for me altogether, spread out
in those locations. My responsibility within the MoD is to provide
warning and all source intelligence; warning of possible threats
to the United Kingdom, her interests, her forces and her people
at home and overseas. Then, following on from that warning, I
provide intelligence relating to the intentions and possible intentions
of people who might have interests which are opposed to those
of the United Kingdom; details of their armed forces—because
it is particularly military intelligence I am specifically looking
at—details of their weapons systems, *** details of their
tactics, doctrine and all of those sorts of things. I do that
specifically for the MoD, for an MoD audience, and also I provide
detail across other Government Departments, but a lot of that
is done through the context of the Joint Intelligence Committee,
the JIC, of which I am deputy chairman. I also do a certain amount
of work when I am detailed to on embargoes, so for example specifically
I have a section which looks at the embargoes relating to Iraq,
Libya and also the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Those three
I have people looking at all the time.
1352. You did not mention Nigeria. Would
it be fair to say that among the priorities in your department
West Africa would be in a very low category?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) Yes, it would. ***
1353. Because when you did the roll-call
on embargoes you did not mention Nigeria, where of course there
is a European Union embargo. Was that significant, in that you
did not mention it in that the whole area is of no priority?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) I must not give the wrong
impression. What it means is that I actually have people specifically
working on those other areas. They are doing detailed work, primarily
I have to say on weapons of mass destruction, and looking at larger
weapons rather than small arms and things, but they are doing
very detailed work into those areas, *** So I think at the moment,
and I have the details if you want them exactly, there are 18
embargoes,[1]
of which I think eight are United Nations-type embargoes, and
then on top of those United Nations ones are the EU, OSCE and
UK—for example we have ones against Argentina and Iran—but
then there are other ones. Then there are other minor embargoes
which are not full embargoes on places like Burundi and Rwanda
and that sort of thing. So it is a very complex area. Whilst my
people are not doing detailed work on those lower priority ones,
obviously they are aware that there are embargoes and should flag
up if they see something there.
1354. If it happens to come into their area?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) If it happens to come
into their area. In terms of the whole of this Sierra Leone issue
in my own area, whilst there was nothing done that was wrong within
my organisation, I have made sure now that if they come across
even just one piece of evidence, I want them to flag it up higher
up the organisation. As you can imagine, with roughly 5,000 people,
generally they have to be fairly selective what is passed on and
what is passed on comes up, but I have said, "Let's flag
it up, even if you are not sure of the evidence".
1355. I am sure colleagues will pursue with
you the lessons you have learnt in your own department. At the
moment I am just wanting to set the scene. *** How many military
personnel were in Sierra Leone at the relevant time?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) Of course it depends
what the relevant time is.
1356. From May 1997 onwards.
(Vice Admiral Alan West) *** Lieutenant Colonel
Hicks, who in fact was a Major but he was an acting Lieutenant
Colonel ***. He went out to Conakry, I cannot remember the exact
date, to join Mr Penfold there, and then went back into Sierra
Leone with him when he went in, and he sent a series of reports
back ***
1357. He would have been aware of the European
Union embargo of Nigeria?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) He was aware there was
an embargo, yes. I think the precise details of it; again I am
not sure if he knew the exact details of the embargo.
1358. He would have known there was an embargo
on arms supply to Nigeria?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) I think he knew there
was, he did know there was an embargo on arms supply to Nigeria.
I am not 100 per cent certain whether he was absolutely sure of
the detail of it. I think there was some confusion by some people
about whether arms could go to nobody at all in Nigeria or exactly
what the rules were. For example, were ECOMOG, which was a Nigerian
force, breaking the rules by being in Sierra Leone with weapons
and getting ammunition in?
1359. But he would also have been aware
that it was the declared policy of Her Majesty's Government to
pursue the restoration of the president only by peaceful means?
(Vice Admiral Alan West) He was aware of that,
yes. He was aware that was the case.
1 Note by Witness: The latest FCO Listing (9
October 1998) contains 19 arms embargoes: UN 8: Angola, Iraq,
Liberia Libya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sierra Leone, FRY; EU 7: Afghanistan,
Bosnia/Herzegovina/Croatia/FRY, Burma, China, Nigeria, Sudan,
Democratic Republic of Congo; OSCE 2: Armenia, Azerbaijan; UK
2: Argentina, Iran. Back
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