Letter from the Clerk
of the Committee to Sir John Kerr, 2 July 1998
Thank you for clearing your diary to come before
the Committee on Tuesday. I am sorry that I could not escape from
the Committee to speak to you personally, as I would have wished.
The Second Clerk was, exceptionally, in Brussels on other business
and at the key time I was unable to find a suitable colleague
to replace me. I hope, though, that my staff kept your office
adequately posted on what was very much an evolving situation.
Before the evidence session started, the Committee
considered whether the question objected to by Mr Ross on 23 June
should be put to you. It resolved that it should do so, in the
terms in which the question was recorded in the Minutes of Proceedings
of 30 June, which was as follows:
"Sir John, I must put it to you that I have
the terms of reference of the Legg Inquiry in front of me and
the Legg Inquiry terms of reference relate to "allegations
about government involvement with the supply of arms to Sierra
Leone by UK citizens or firms". I am not asking you, Permanent
Under-Secretary, about the supply of arms, quite clearly; I am
asking you, about the issue of military advice, which is quite
different. I am asking you, Sir John, to respond on the question
of whether military advice was given to the Government of Sierra
Leone in exile."
In the event, this precise question was not
asked, although much of the substance of the matter was, I think,
aired. In order to put beyond doubt whether the Committee's Resolution
has been complied with, I am now therefore submitting this specific
question to you, on the Committee's behalf, for a written reply.
I look forward to hearing from you in due course.
Letter to the Clerk of
the Committee from Sir John Kerr, 7 July 1998
Thank you for your letter of 2 July. I confirm
that it was not UK policy to provide military advice to the Government
of Sierra Leone in exile. We wished to see the restoration of
President Kabbah by peaceful means.
Whether any military advice was in fact provided,
despite this clear policy, is a question on which Sir T Legg may
throw some light. However, as far as I am aware—and I have
not interviewed them—officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office gave no such advice.
|
