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Rev. Martin Smyth: I appreciate the hon. Gentleman giving way on that point and I agree with everything that he has said. Does he agree that the House should also pay tribute to those grandparents and others who are seeking to help those orphaned children and to those involved in education who are seeking to change the thought processes of political leaders and others in Africa so that they are more positive in dealing with the problem?
Hugh Bayley: I am conscious that I must make progress, but I wish to say that the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. The number of orphans will rise dramatically over the next 10 or 15 years, so we must use that time to find ways to provide care and support through the extended family, the state and the education system for children who lose their parents; otherwise, some of those countries will become failed states and descend into anarchy, with an uneducated population who are unable to contribute to the development of their country.
Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough): Does my hon. Friend agree that if we do as he suggests on education, we will start to create a win-win situation? One of the issues at the root of HIV/AIDS and poverty
is the poor access of all children, particularly girls, to primary and secondary education. Does he therefore agree that almost nothing represents better value for money when dealing with some of issues he has identified than an emphasis on education?
Hugh Bayley: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The message is that this crisis is so severe that we can only tackle it by mainstreaming AIDS policy in every area of our development assistance policy, and by Governments in Africa mainstreaming it in every area of their policy. If that does not happen, we will not have a significant enough effect on reducing infection, on mitigating the effects of the disease on the victims or their orphans, or on treating the disease. AIDS policy therefore needs to become part of mainstream development strategies.
One area where I saw that happening was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To declare an interest, as a member of the all-party great lakes region group, I visited the country three weeks ago, funded by the Congolese Government. There, we met members of MONUC, the UN mission, whose soldiers provide security so that the fragile interim administration can maintain peace and work towards elections in 20 months' time. MONUC requires all soldiers who join its mission, from any country, to undergo an AIDS training programme before they arrive. They must come with AIDS public health information packs and AIDS treatment and testing packs, and must carry out at least one project with the community and the country to deal with the AIDS crisis. AIDS action therefore needs to be woven into every part of its work, and that must also apply to every part of the Department for International Development's operations, whether in health, education or rural development.
MONUC has a responsibility for disarming the irregular forces—the so-called negative forces—in the eastern Congo and for aiding their repatriation to their countries of origin, Uganda and Rwanda. It finds it extremely difficult to persuade people to give up arms because it can provide no incentive for doing so. In Sierra Leone, the UN could provide cash in return for weapons, and it would like to be in a position to do the same in the DRC. I hope that our Department will consider that option. Perhaps it should not offer cash but initiate a "work for weapons" programme to build roads, as one of the difficulties facing the UN is that there are no roads to get those disarmed soldiers out of the country. We might therefore be able to create a win-win situation.
The interim administration is a huge step forward for the DRC after six years of civil war. It is, however, extremely fragile. If it achieves the task of running a free and fair election in 20 months' time it will be the first time that the country has held such an election for more than 40 years, and I hope that the UK will look at how to support the institution-building process and the election preparations so that that election can go forward safely.
The UK has provided a lot of money for AIDS. As the Secretary of State said, the budget when we came into office in 1997 was £38 million a year and it was £270 million last year. However, when I examined the policy information marker system to find out where the money went, I noticed that £54 million went to Africa last year, while £80 million went to Asia and £163 million was
provided through non-regional-specific allocations. I hope that the Secretary of State will examine the allocation of resources for Africa, which is where 70 per cent. of the HIV-positive population lives, relative to other parts of the world. I am suggesting not that he takes away money from other parts of the world but that he ensures that Africa receives sufficient resources.5.50 pm
Alistair Burt (North-East Bedfordshire): I am delighted to follow a succession of speeches by members of the Select Committee on International Development, each of whom is more distinguished than I. Their insights gave an indication of why it is such a pleasure to serve on that Committee. I noted that the hon. Member for Putney (Mr. Colman), who has just left the Chamber, said that he had been galvanised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech at the party conference in Bournemouth. I am the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the leader of the Conservative party for the next 48 hours, so hon. Members might like to tell the hon. Gentleman that I have developed a sixth sense for comments that might be a veiled attack on a leader. However, he can be reassured that his comments will remain confidential between us.
I also beg the House's forgiveness. I have the honour of being the Member of Parliament for the constituency in which the headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds resides. I am sponsoring a reception for the RSPB and it would like me to introduce a Minister at half-past six, so I would be most grateful if I could be excused from the winding-up speeches.
It is easy during such debates to be either too wide ranging or to create the impression of being overwhelmed by the multiplicity of issues that affect African development and stand in the way of Africa's progress. Africa will triumph and we should not deny for a moment the extraordinary hope and aspirations of its people that will break through. I would like to concentrate on one or two narrower aspects of development issues—I do not wish to suggest that I am neglecting other things about which hon. Members have spoken—because otherwise where would I start? Should one start by talking about trade and justice or AIDS, as the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley) did so movingly and passionately, if I may say so? I had the honour of being in the audience when Nelson Mandela spoke to the International Red Cross in London in July. Among other things, he said:
- "AIDS represents a tragedy of unprecedented proportion . . . claiming",
- "more lives that the sum total of all wars, famines and floods and the ravages of such deadly diseases as malaria."
We cannot forget the age-old problems of famine, conflict and debt, but I want to direct my attention away from such matters and reflect a little, as did my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), on the importance of governance to the future of Africa and the role that that must play in its future development. My interest in Africa, and especially South Africa, is
coupled with that of two other hon. Members—the hon. Members for Burnley (Mr. Pike) and for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes). They are two Christian friends with whom I have shared many journeys to that country. Our visits and interest date back to 1986 when we visited South Africa in the teeth of the apartheid regime and our visits have continued up until Whitsuntide this year when the three of us made what was our fifth or sixth visit—either singly or together—since that time. We have seen the extraordinary changes that have taken place in South Africa and have been privileged to share contacts with people in government and business, and churches and township communities. The hand of friendship has been extended to us by all races in all parts of the country. The three of us are touched by South Africa and our friendship is marked and defined by our experiences there. We shall always support its people.I believe that the development of Africa will increasingly become of mainstream political importance for people in the UK and Europe. European history is bound up with Africa and we retain the connections of the centuries that neither time nor contemporary politics can change or deny in any way. We are as much a part of Africa's future as it was of our past.
It is argued that Africa will become of greater importance to us in the future. The nature of global politics is changing and Africa's importance will be fully realised in due course, for in the long term events are moving in a direction that is changing the geopolitical balance. Two examples illustrate that. First, we are beginning to recognise that a world of major power blocs put together is breaking down. Blocs based on former security issues or older established trading patterns are no longer as rigid or certain as they were. The old context of security and ideological issues that defined European, western and world politics for so long is becoming redundant. Terrorism is taking some of the place of conventional warfare. Trade and development is arising as the longer term alternative to colonialism. Secondly, the new politics of the world will be based on different matters and issues than those of the past. Sustainable development, environmental concern, trade justice, migration and world population issues are intimately bound up with developing nations and have significant economic consequences for the rest of the world. Africa is the eloquent symbol of the crossroads at a moment of history.
Hon. Members are aware that it is not a question of whether Africa will arise from its difficulties alone or by way of outside assistance. It is not going to be that sort of world. We all have a vested interest in working with each other to overcome common problems. There will be two crucial aspects to that. One will concern the way in which the outside world works in harmony with African nations. Concordats, such as NEPAD or millennium development goals, will be the key to that. Of growing importance, however, will be the changing nature of the demands of developing countries themselves and their growing confidence in advocating them.
The recent collapse of the World Trade Organisation talks in Cancun was a graphic example of that. I have my doubts about whether the collapse is the good news it was celebrated to be at the time. The euphoria that greets such a result is often assessed differently in the
cold light of the following weeks, but the new-found expression of confidence among developing nations must be recognised and applauded. If such a demonstration of the change in the world order is to be of lasting significance, however, those countries that are assuming a greater and more powerful role on the world stage must have the political infrastructure to sustain such a position. That brings me back to South Africa.Over the years, my hon. Friends and I have witnessed the remarkable transfer of power in that country from the apartheid regime to the new democratic Government. The decade or so since the effective transfer of power provides a reasonable time scale for looking at markers of real development to signal the progress of an emerging democracy. I recognise the Government's extraordinary achievements, but I post a warning that I trust in years to come will prove unnecessary.
Our recent visit to South Africa included an opportunity to meet Members of Parliament from the African National Congress and a variety of Opposition parties. We spent time with Magosuthu Buthelezi, the Minister for Home Affairs and the leader of the Inkatha Freedom party. We visited the Mpumalanga provincial Parliament and spoke to a wide range of friends and contacts. It is impossible to avoid or ignore the uneasy sense that an already immensely powerful Government are becoming increasingly strong in South Africa. The ANC dominates the national Parliament and is in full control of the vast majority of provincial legislatures as well. In light of the ANC's background, it is entirely understandable that it is puzzled and uncertain of opposition and believes that its future security, and that of its country, is bound up with it being in even greater control than it is now. A BBC press release from the summer entitled "ANC tightens grip on power" describes the process of Members crossing the Floor of the House under a law that allowed them to do that within a time scale without losing their seats. It enabled the ANC to gain new members and alter the balance of power in different legislatures.
There are other concerns. Helen Suzman, a campaigner for freedom from apartheid and known as a beacon of liberalism and freedom to virtually everyone in the Chamber for a significant part of our political lives, recently wrote of her sadness at feeling marginalized in the new South Africa. The part played by her and others in history is not quite given the prominence it was in 1994 and should continue to receive.
In September 2003, the Helen Suzman Foundation published an article by a reporter, Sarah Crowe, entitled "Local Media Freedom is Not Set in Stone", which was introduced with the statement:
- "Vigorous white journalists are liable to be accused of racism, while their black confreres risk condemnation for lack of patriotism."
- "Never before has the South African media been so free, so diverse and so large. But ironically there are now probably more self-imposed limitations on the media than in the past.
Today the media finds itself choking on the sweet air of new freedoms, trapped in a racial purgatory characterised by patriotic praise singing or thinly-veiled bigotry. There is a great need now for a more astute and nuanced response from editors and journalists.
Under the administration of Thabo Mbeki, it is a truism that if you're black and critical of the government you're either unpatriotic or, worse still, dominated by or thinking like whites, while if you're white and critical you're a racist."
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