Examination of Witness (Questions 160-165)
1 FEBRUARY 2005
DR HUGH
ROBERTS
Q160 Chairman: How do you respond to
current British policy to Algeria, the Foreign Office, the British
Council and the World Service of the BBC? Are there any areas
where you think that we are failing, any improvements that you
would have in mind?
Dr Roberts: The Foreign Office,
British Council and the BBC. I have for a very long time felt
mystified by the refusal of the British Council to go back to
Algeria and I understand that it maintains this refusal, maybe
I am not up to date, but the last I heard was that it was still
adamantly refusing to go back.
Q161 Chairman: Because of the security
situation?
Dr Roberts: I find it impossible
to take that pretext seriously. Other countries are active in
the cultural sphere. The British Council had a high reputation
in Algeria and it was not an insignificant event when it closed
down and pulled out. While you could of course explain that and
explain it away for the period of really intense violence in the
mid-1990s, since the end of the 1990s, it has been pretty difficult
to explain in those terms and it is something which I think vitiates
attempts to renew and develop British-Algerian relations.
Q162 Chairman: Are you saying that the
Alliance Française and the Goethe Institute are in place?
Dr Roberts: I would not swear
to those particular institutions being there, but what is clear
is that there are very intense cultural exchanges between France
and Algeria in particular, as you would expect, in terms of visits
in both directions and so on. The security question is not invoked
to justify cold feet at all and I do not think it does justify
cold feet. There is that question: why does the British Council
refuse to go back? I talk to the Foreign Office from time to time.
My feeling is that, had developing British-Algerian relations
been a priority for the Foreign Office, it could and would have
done other things. My assumption is that the reason why it has
not done very much over the last decade or more is because it
has attached a very low level of priority to the Algerian relationship.
I think that it has allowed a lot of potential opportunities to
go begging as a result.
Q163 Chairman: Commercial?
Dr Roberts: Commercial in the
long term, yes, although clearly there is a tendency amongst British
businessmen to feel inhibited about the Algerian market. That
inhibition seems to me to be to do with—it may be self-reinforcing—the
feeling that this is a French preserve or culturally alien and
so on, but of course those factors do not really prevent British
businessmen engaging with the rest of the Arab world. It is as
though Algeria is somehow regarded as peculiarly forbidding in
cultural terms from the point of view of British business. My
point being here that I think that if one had wanted to develop
relations, one could have done a lot and that there has not therefore
been the will. In that context, I am struck here that there seems
to be an element of irresolution in our diplomatic approach, because
particularly recent ambassadors have taken a higher profile in
Algiers, have given interviews, have articulated a British interest
in improving, upgrading and so on relations and yet there has
not been follow-through. Interviews of this kind might then be
followed by a decision to make it harder for Algerians to go to
the consulate over visa applications, things of this kind. It
is as though there is no coherence in the British approach to
and relating to the Algerians. As a result I think the Algerians
feel very, very strongly that this is not a relationship in which
they can have any confidence. If one wants to exploit the opportunities
that arguably exist—certainly in the business sphere, this
is a country which has grown rapidly in population terms and will
continue to grow as an important market—one does need to
give some consistency over time to the way one approaches the
Algerian partners.
Q164 Chairman: Clearly there is a new
focus on relations with the Arab world as a whole. I am asking
how we can improve matters. How would you advise the Foreign Office
in that respect concerning Algeria?
Dr Roberts: I think that I should
like to see action. I should advise action on a number of different
dossiers. Action first of all to get the British Council back,
secondly, action to tackle whatever inhibitions are operating
at the level of British business circles. In other words, some
sort of initiatives in relation to British business circles about
informing, arranging seminars, contacts, breaking the ice, breaking
this source of inhibition, supporting the improved knowledge of
and familiarity with and that of course means promoting exchanges
and links of various kinds. There is a lot of scope in the cultural
and academic sphere to promote and encourage exchanges. One should
not under-estimate the fact that the Algerians have been convinced
for years that they need mastery of the English language. It is
as though the British still assume that Algeria is still really
Alge«rie française. It is not at all. The Algerians
know they have to have English and they are going to the Americans
rather than to the British in order to make their entre«e
into the English speaking world, which seems to be another opportunity
we are missing. I should be in favour of a sort of multi-level
approach which explores the possibilities for activity in these
various spheres.
Q165 Chairman: Finally from me on this,
the World Service of the BBC, that there is again an enhanced
emphasis on the Arab world. What, from the vantage point of Cairo
where you live, can you say about the quality, the impact, of
the World Service on the North African littoral countries?
Dr Roberts: There is a predisposition
in all of these countries to respect the World Service. If you
want my own judgment on its performance, I think that radio is
far superior to the television in terms of the seriousness of
its coverage, especially its political coverage; there is far
less cliche« in the radio coverage, but even there, there
is a certain amount of cliche«. On the whole, it is not bad
and it is certainly not something to be worried about. Where Algeria
is concerned, I would say this: that I think there has been a
tendency in the World Service to rely on people, a rather rapid
turnover of people covering Algeria, who do not really know the
place. This ultimately suggests a lack of commitment to doing
the country justice and it carries with it the implication of
a certain indifference to the place, which is a pity. I think
that may be the way the BBC World Service actually operates: it
distrusts the idea of the specialist or the person who really
knows the terrain. That is something which comes across in errors
in the discussion, in the coverage they provide.
Chairman: I understand we are about to
have a division, but may I thank you for your evidence? May I
thank you also for the memorandum, which is most helpful? We know
that you have come especially from Cairo and we are delighted.
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