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12 Jan 2004 : Column 530W—continued

Leak Inquiries

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list occasions on which his Department has conducted an inquiry into alleged leaks from members of staff since 1997; and if he will list the occasions on which the names of those persons accused of leaking information from his Department have been made public (a) by the Government and (b) by way of another source. [146943]

Mr. Rammell: Since 1997 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has investigated 20 suspected leaks. In line with exemptions l(a) and 7(b) of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it has been the practice of successive governments not to comment on the outcome of such inquiries in order to safeguard security and investigative arrangements.

Ministerial Visits (Africa)

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which African countries (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have visited since June 2001; and what the (i) dates and (ii) main purposes of the visits were. [146937]

Mr. Mullin: The following table shows visits to African countries made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Foreign and Commonwealth Office ministers since 1 June 2001.

Country	From	To	Purpose of visit
	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Nigeria	5 September 2001	6 September 2001	Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting
Egypt	27 September 2001	27 September 2001	Part of Middle-East tour
Democratic Republic of Congo/Rwanda/Burundi/Uganda	21 January 2002	23 January 2002	Bilaterals
Egypt	8 October 2002	8 October 2002	Part of Middle-East tour
South Africa	12 May 2003	13 May 2003	Bilateral Forum
Nigeria	2 December 2003	4 December 2003	Accompanying HM Queen on State Visit
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Baroness Amos
Nigeria	25 July 2001	27 July 2001	Bilateral
South Africa	29 August 2001	3 September 2001	UN World Against Racism Conference
Nigeria	5 September 2001	7 September 2001	Commonwealth Foreign Minister's Meeting (Accompanied Foreign Secretary)
Zimbabwe	24 October 2001	26 October 2001	Bilateral
Ethiopia	5 December 2001	8 December 2001	G8 Meeting
Kenya/Tanzania	2 January 2002	10 January 2002	Bilateral
Senegal/Nigeria	6 February 2002	10 February 2002	Accompanying Prime Minister (Visit also included France)
South Africa	12 February 2002	16 February 2002	G8 Meeting
Senegal	10 April 2002	13 April 2002	Bilateral and G8 Meeting
Ghana	25 April 2002	26 April 2002	Bilateral
Mozambique	14 May 2002	17 May 2002	Bilateral
Lesotho/South Africa	29 July 2002	3 August 2002	Bilaterals
Nigeria	3 September 2002	5 September 2002	Bilateral
Mozambique	7 November 2002	8 November 2002	EU/SADC Meeting
Burkina Faso	27November 2002	29 November 2002	EU/Africa Dialogue
Angola/Ghana	4 December 2002	9 December 2002	Bilateral (Angola) and G8 Meeting (Ghana)
Senega]	18 December 2002	19 December 2002	Bilateral
Tanzania/Rwanda/Kenya	27 January 2003	31 January 2003	Bilateral
Cameroon/Angola/Guinea	25 February 2003	28 February 2003	Bilaterals
Cameroon/Angola/Guinea/Ghana	11 March 2003	12 March 2003	Bilaterals
South Africa	29 March 2003	1 April 2003	Bilateral
Botswana	1 April 2003	3 April 2003	Bilateral
South Africa	4 April 2003	6 April 2003	Bilateral
Mali	14 April 2003	15 April 2003	G8 APR Meeting
	Minister of State right hon. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
Egypt	17 January 2003	23 January 2003	Bilateral (Visit also included Saudi Arabia)
Morocco/Tunisia	14 September 2003	18 September 2003
	The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mr. Ben Bradshaw
Egypt	18 July 2001	25 July 2001	Bilateral (Visit also included Israel, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon)
Algeria/Morocco	23 September 2001	26 September 2001	Bilateral
	Minister of State Mike O'Brien
Libya	6 August 2002	8 August 2002	Bilateral
Egypt	11 December 2002	13 December 2002	Bilateral. (Visit also included Qatar)
Algeria	19 May 2003	21 May 2003	Bilateral/Familiarisation
	Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Mr. Chris Mullin
Ghana/Cote D'Ivoire/Sierra Leone	22 July 2003	25 July 2003	Bilaterals/Familiarisation
Kenya/South Africa	29 October 2003	5 November 2003	Bilaterals/Familiarisation
Nigeria	3 December 2003	8 December 2003	Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
Eritrea/Djibouti/Ethiopia	12 January 2004	20 January 2004	Bilaterals/Familiarisation

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North Korea

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make an appraisal of the threat posed by North Korea, with particular reference to its policy towards acquisition of nuclear weapons. [146483]

Mr. Rammell: The Government believe that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been pursuing two separate programmes for the production of fissile material, through the enrichment of uranium and the processing of plutonium. DPRK also has long-range missiles in service, and we believe it has the capacity to develop missiles capable of reaching the UK. We will continue to urge the Government of DPRK, bilaterally and in co-operation with international partners, to remove the threat thus posed to the international community by dismantling its nuclear programmes verifiably and irreversibly, and by continuing the moratorium on the flight-testing of long range missiles.

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have been held with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea regarding the elimination of its nuclear weapons programme. [147144]

12 Jan 2004 : Column 532W

Mr. Rammell: The Government makes regular representations to the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), through our Embassy in Pyongyang and through the DPRK Embassy in London, about its nuclear programmes. I also raised the issue with DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon during his visit to London in April last year. We continue to express our concerns and to encourage DPRK to comply with its international obligations.

Official Visits (Africa)

Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which African (a) heads of state, (b) prime ministers and (c) foreign ministers have made official visits to the United Kingdom since June 2001; what the (i) dates and (ii) main purposes of the visits were; and which United Kingdom ministers met them. [146939]

Mr. Mullin: There have been a number of visits by leaders and ministers of African countries to the UK. Visits may be planned by the visitor's own government or by the Conference and Visits Group (CVG) of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The following table shows all official visits organised by CVG since June 2001. Details of those visits organised by the visitor's own government are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Visitor	From	To	Purpose of visit	UK Ministers met
Angola
Foreign Minister Miranda	24 March 2002	27 March 2002	Sponsored visit	Foreign Secretary Baroness Amos
Botswana
President Mogae	17 September 2001	19 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister, SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Foreign Minister Merafhe	17 September 2001	19 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers (accompanying President)	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
President Mogae	8 June 2003	11 June 2003	Guest of Government Visit	Prime Minister SoS International Development Foreign Secretary
Foreign Minister Merafhe	8 June 2003	11 June 2003	Guest of Government Visit (accompanying President)	Prime Minister SoS International Development Foreign Secretary
Central African Republic
Prime Minister Ziguele	1 September 2003	7 September 2003	Sponsored Visit	Mr. Mullin
Ethiopia
Prime Minister Zenawi	22 February 2003	26 February 2003	Guest of Government Visit	Baroness Amos SoS International Development Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer Foreign Secretary
Foreign Minister Mesfin	22 February 2003	26 February 2003	Guest of Government Visit (accompanying Prime Minister)	Baroness Amos SoS International Development Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer Foreign Secretary
Prime Minister Zenawi	13 July 2003	14 July 2003	Progressive Governance Summit	Prime Minister
Ghana
President Kufuor	15 September 2001	21 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Foreign Minister Gbeho	15 September 2001	21 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers (accompanying President)	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Foreign Minister Owusu-Agyemang	28 November 2002	30 November 2002	Sponsored Visit	Foreign Secretary Mr. Rammell
Mozambique
President Chissano	18 September 2001	19 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Nigeria
President Obasanjo	17 September 2001	18 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Rwanda
Foreign Minister Murigande	11 May 2003	14 May 2003	Sponsored Visit	SoS International Development
SENEGAL
President Wade	17 September 2001	18 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Foreign Minister Gadio	5 November 2001	7 November 2001	Sponsored Visit	Foreign Secretary Baroness Amos
South Africa
President Mbeki	11 June 2001	15 June 2001	State Visit	Prime Minister
Foreign Minister Dlamini-Zuma	11 June 2001	15 June 2001	State Visit (Accompanying President)	Prime Minister
President Mbeki	13 July 2003	14 July 2003	Progressive Governance Summit	Prime Minster
Tanzania
President Mkapa	16 September 2001	20 September 2001	Africa meeting at Chequers	Prime Minister SoS International Development Baroness Amos
Zambia
Foreign Minister Mwansa	15 November 2003	20 November 2003	Sponsored Visit	Mr. Mullin

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