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Correspondence

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instruct the Visa Correspondence Section of UKvisas to respond to the correspondence of 4 October from the hon. Member for Edinburgh West regarding Mr. Thomas William Case. [200367]

Mr. Mullin: UK visas replied to the hon. Member on 25 November.

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply to the letter from the right hon. Member for Walsall, North of 1 November regarding a constituent. [200607]

Mr. Mullin: I replied to the hon. Member on 30 November.

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will instruct the Visa Correspondence Section of UKvisas to respond to the correspondence by email of 15 November and 16 November from the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West regarding Mr. Muhammad Tariq. [200369]

Mr. Mullin: UKvisas replied to the hon. Member on 26 November.

Cyprus

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he is having with the Government of the Republic of Cyprus on the clearing of minefields in the UN buffer zone in Cyprus; whether this action is supported by the British Government; and if he will make a statement. [200305]

Mr. MacShane: We welcome the decision of the Government of Cyprus in June 2004 to work with the United Nations to start mine clearance in the buffer zone. The de-mining programme has the support of member states of the European Union and the European Commission and is funded by the European Union through its 'Partnership for the Future' programme at an estimated cost of €2.5 million. Work began on 18 November, conducted by two British companies, and is estimated to last for just over a year.

We also welcome a statement made by Mr. Talat, elected leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community, on 18 November in which he said that the Turkish Cypriots would soon sign an agreement with the United Nations which would allow them also to begin mine clearing operations.

The UK Government welcome any contribution to normalisation of the situation on the island. De-mining is an important step towards this.
 
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Darfur

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the supply of logistical and communications support to the African Union monitoring force in Darfur; and whether equipment supplied to the monitoring force as part of that support has been accompanied by instructions comprehensible to the troops comprising that force. [201978]

Hilary Benn: I have been asked to reply.

The UK is in the process of flying out 143 vehicles it has purchased for the African Union (AU) monitoring mission headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur. The vehicles (131 Toyota 4/4 Landcruisers and 12 three tonne trucks), have been purchased following the Prime Minister's announcement of a further £12 million of support for the African Union (AU) monitoring mission on 7 October 2004. Almost half of these vehicles are already on the ground, and the full number is expected to arrive by mid-December. They are fully fitted with the equipment requested by the AU, including communications equipment. All instruction manuals for this equipment are in English.

These vehicles will make the AU mission more effective, enabling the observers and troops to carry out more proactive monitoring, and to respond to specific incidents more quickly. This is part of DFID's ongoing support to the AU's efforts to resolve the crisis in Darfur: DFID has now committed more than £14 million to their operation, from the joint DFID-FCO-MOD Africa Conflict Prevention Pool. We continue to work closely with the AU to ensure that they have all the support they require.

DFID understands that there have been problems with communications equipment for the land bases which operates in German. This has caused problems for the AU but is being resolved by the donor who provided it.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on reports that 31 adults and two minors resident in Kalma Camp, Darfur, have been sentenced to death; and if he will intervene on behalf of those so sentenced. [202706]

Mr. Mullin: On 22 November five people were arrested in Kalma Camp, and charged with supporting one of the Darfur rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army. In a separate incident on 28 November, 28 people from Kalma Camp were charged with murder. Under Sudanese law, all could face the death penalty.

All those under arrest are receiving legal advice from the Sudanese Organisation Against Torture, which received funding for some of its activities from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Our embassy in Khartoum regularly raises abolition of the death penalty and the detention of Internally Displaced Persons with the Government of Sudan, and had detailed discussions during the joint Sudan/EU dialogue meetings in September 2004. We will continue to follow these cases closely.
 
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Departmental Websites

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department's .gov.uk websites comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines adopted by the Government in 2001; and if he will make a statement. [199631]

Mr. Mullin: All websites on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) web platform have been designed to meet both W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and Cabinet Office Guidelines for UK Government websites. The FCO has additionally implemented recommendations from the Royal National Institute for the Blind about enhancing website accessibility for the partially sighted.

DR Congo

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the reports of misbehaviour by UN troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo; what action he has taken as a result; and whether he has taken up the issue of abuse with the governments of the troops concerned. [202703]

Mr. Mullin: The UK and other Security Council members urged the UN to make a quick response to allegations of sexual exploitation by personnel in the UN Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC). The UN initiated an investigation into the allegations and called for troop contributing countries to ensure that the UN's investigations are followed up by appropriate disciplinary action.

In UN Security Council resolution 1565, adopted on 1 October 2004, the Security Council voiced its concern at the allegations. It requested the UN Secretary General to continue to investigate the allegations and for the UN and troop contributing countries to take appropriate disciplinary action in cases of misconduct. In November, the UN Secretary-General issued a statement voicing his outrage at the accusations and pledging to stamp out such behaviour. We support the resolution and the Secretary General's statement and, while there have been no allegations made against UK personnel serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), any such allegation would be thoroughly investigated and the appropriate action taken.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on recent reports of Rwandan troops operating within the Democratic Republic of Congo. [202705]

Mr. Mullin: We are very concerned by reports that Rwanda plans to send troops into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UK and the wider international community have made clear to Rwanda that any incursion into the territory of the DRC would be unacceptable. We are working with the Security Council, EU and regional partners to seek an urgent solution to the problem through a process of dialogue between Rwanda and DRC. My right hon. Friend the International Development Secretary has spoken to President Kagame to emphasise that unilateral military action is not the answer to the problem of disarming the Ex-Forces Armées Rwandaises/Interahamwe armed groups.
 
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Drugs (Burma)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of how much (a) heroin and (b) methamphetamine was produced in Burma in each of the last three years; what estimate he has made for the current year; how much he estimates will reach the UK; and if he will make a statement. [200031]

Mr. Rammell: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that opiate cultivation in Burma has declined from 81,000 hectares in 2002 through 62,000 in 2003 to 44,000 hectares in 2004. UNODC reports indicate that Burma is a major source country for the production and trafficking of methamphetamines. But there arc no reliable estimates for production.

There is no evidence that drugs produced in or smuggled via Burma reach the UK in significant quantities.

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