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Diplomatic Posts
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many posts in his Department at (a) ambassadorial and (b) Consul-General level have been advertised in the last year. [79073]
Mr. Tony Lloyd: No Ambassadorships were advertised in the last year. The post of Director General Trade and Investment US and Consul General New York, was advertised in September 1998.
Yemen
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on relations between Britain and Yemen. [79072]
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Mr. Fatchett:
Our long-standing relations with Yemen have been strained by recent incidents of kidnap involving British tourists, one of which resulted in the death of three British nationals, and by the arrest in Yemen of eight British nationals on terrorist-related charges. We are determined not to allow these set backs to cloud otherwise friendly relations. The Prime Minister wrote to Prime Minister Iriyani again on 24 March to help maintain dialogue at the most senior level, and to press our concerns about serious shortcomings in the legal process in the trial of the British nationals in Aden.
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will list all those task forces and policy reviews with external members established by his Department since May 1997 which have set up (a) sub-groups, (b) working parties and (c) other subsidiary committees; [79265]
Mr. Ben Chapman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the US Government's contribution to the central fund on Ascension. [79401]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
The US Government do not contribute to any central fund on Ascension. The Base on Ascension was built by the US Air Force during the Second World War and is provided free from rent and charges under the terms of the Agreement between the UK and US Governments Concerning the Extension of the Bahamas Long Range Proving Ground by the Establishment of Additional Sites in Ascension Island signed in 1956, as amended.
Dr. Kumar:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the United Kingdom will apply the £10 million worth of new assistance for Sierra Leone which he announced on 2 March; what assurances he has received about its use; and what is Her Majesty's Government's policy with regard to arms sales to Sierra Leone. [79670]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary announced on 2 March 1999, Official Report, columns 854-901, a new UK commitment of £10 million to promote stability in Sierra Leone. The objectives are to help the West African Peacekeeping Forces, ECOMOG,
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push back the rebels; to encourage the rebels to lay down their arms and return to civilian life; and to create a professional and democratically accountable Sierra Leone Army.
Access to this new £10 million package of assistance is conditional upon matching pledges of support from other international donors. I am pleased to report that we have now received the full amount of £10 million in matching donations as a response to our lead in the promotion of lasting peace in Sierra Leone.
Our new package of £10 million will be used as follows:
President Kabbah is also in the process of consulting ECOWAS to ensure that the supply of arms by the UK does not breach the ECOWAS small arms moratorium of October 1998.
UN Security Council Resolution 1171 prohibits the sale or supply of arms and related material to Sierra Leone, other than to the Government of Sierra Leone through named points of entry. There is also an exemption to allow the sale of arms for the sole use in Sierra Leone of ECOMOG or the United Nations. The United Nations Arms Embargo (Amendment) (Sierra Leone) Order 1998 implements the United Nations Arms Embargo on Sierra Leone in the UK. Applications for licences under the Order in Council relating to the sale or supply of arms and related material to the Government of Sierra Leone or ECOMOG or the UN are considered on a case- by-case basis.
Mr. Blunt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications of the closure of the Kosovo-Macedonian border to Kosovan refugees; and if he will make a statement. [79507]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We welcome the reopening of the border between Macedonia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 24 March, following representations by the EU Presidency and others. This will facilitate the work of
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the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in helping those who are fleeing Kosovo. The UNHCR can count on the support of the international community.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have been held with the Government of the Russian Federation on the situation in Kosovo. [79515]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
As fellow members of the Contact Group, we have remained in close touch with the Russians throughout the Kosovo crisis. The Prime Minister last discussed Kosovo with Russian Prime Minister Primakov on 25 March. The Foreign Minister discussed Kosovo with Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov on 29 March.
We will gladly take any opportunity to discuss this subject with the Russians. This is a subject on which we want to stay closely in touch.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date requests were made by the UK representative at the UN for a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the situation in Kosovo. [79516]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
We took the lead in bringing the situation in Kosovo before the Security Council in the late summer and autumn of 1998. The Security Council has been kept fully informed of developments since then. As Co-Chairs, we briefed the Council on the outcome of the negotiations which took place at Rambouillet and in Paris in February and March.
The Security Council debates on 24 and 26 March demonstrated the strength of support for NATO action.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what undertakings were given to the Government of Montenegro (a) at the Rambouillet Conference and (b) afterwards, concerning military action by NATO forces. [79514]
Mr. Tony Lloyd:
No undertakings have been given to the Government of Montenegro concerning NATO military action. However, we have expressed strong support for the political and economic stability of Montenegro, particularly at this critical time for Yugoslavia and Montenegro.
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list for all task forces and policy reviews with external members established by his Department since May 1997 (a) their dates of establishment, (b) those which have issued final reports and their dates of publication, (c) those which have been terminated and their dates of termination and (d) for those bodies still in existence, expected reporting and termination dates. [79286]
Mr. Byers:
The information requested is set out in the table.
(2) if he will list for all task forces and policy reviews with external members established by his Department since May 1997 (a) their dates of establishment, (b) those which have issued final reports and their dates of publication, (c) those which have been terminated and their dates of termination and (d) for those bodies still in existence, expected reporting and termination dates. [79285]
We have already given substantial logistic support to ECOMOG to enable it to consolidate the security situation. We have decided that £5 million will now be made available to provide further equipment for ECOMOG. Deliveries of equipment for ECOMOG forces will be arriving shortly;
£4.5 million will be used to fund a UK programme to train and equip a new Sierra Leone Army. A small UK military advisory team has been deployed to oversee basic training of the new Sierra Leone Army and to assess their longer-term training requirements. As part of this train and equip programme, we will be providing boots and uniforms. We will also be providing rifles and ammunition. We will be delivering this equipment shortly.
As a condition for proceeding with this programme, we have sought and secured assurances from President Kabbah that he will pursue a twin track--diplomatic and military--approach to obtaining a lasting political peace; that recruitment for the new Sierra Leone Army will take place without ethnic discrimination; that children will not be used by the Sierra Leone Armed Forces or the Civil Defence Force; and that equipment supplied by the UK to the Government of Sierra Leone will be used only in accordance with international human rights standards and international humanitarian law.
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Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list all those task forces and policy reviews with external members established by his Department since May 1997 which have set up (a) sub- groups, (b) working parties and (c) other subsidiary committees. [79264]
Mr. Byers:
Two task forces and policy reviews with external members established by my Department since May 1997 have set up working groups
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