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Somalia

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial assistance his Department is giving to Somalia in the financial year 2005–06; and if he will make a statement on his Department's programme for Somalia. [44133]

Hilary Benn: DFID's programme for Somalia amounts to approximately £12 million for the financial year of 2005–06 and is set to increase to around £21 million by 2007–08. We also expect to provide an additional £1.2 million to Somalia from HMG's Africa conflict prevention pool this financial year. Our programme is based on our commitment to reducing poverty by supporting peace and reconciliation in Somalia, contributing to humanitarian needs, improving governance, and expanding health and education services.

DFID has contributed to the new government's relocation costs, and are providing police advice, and support in economic analysis. With other donors, we are assisting planning for recovery, reconstruction and development through the UN/World Bank-led joint needs assessment. Access to basic services remains a major challenge. DFID is funding the publication of primary school text books and our humanitarian programme supports basic health care, supplementary feeding and basic livelihoods recovery. DFID is also funding HIV/AIDS prevention which complements the global fund support.

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total UK aid to Somalia granted (a) directly and (b) through multilateral sources was in each of the last five years; and what major projects have been funded. [44583]

 
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Hilary Benn: DFID's programme for Somalia amounts to approximately £12 million in the financial year of 2005–06 and is set to increase to around £21 million by 2007–08. We also expect to provide an additional £1.2 million to Somalia from HMG's Africa conflict prevention pool this financial year. Our programme is based on our commitment to reducing poverty by supporting peace and reconciliation in Somalia, contributing to humanitarian needs, improving governance, and expanding health and education services.

DFID has contributed to the new government's relocation costs, and is providing police advice, and support in economic analysis. With other donors, DFID is assisting planning for recovery, reconstruction and development through the UN/World Bank-led joint needs assessment. Access to basic services remains a major challenge. We are funding the publication of primary school text books and our humanitarian
 
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programme supports basic health care, supplementary feeding and basic livelihoods recovery. DFID is also funding HIV/AIDS prevention which complements the global fund support.

In the following table are details of the UK's aid programme to Somalia for the last five financial years up to the end of financial year 2004–05 and a breakdown of the UK's share of multilateral expenditure for the five calendar years up to 2003 (the latest periods for which figures are available).
Total DFID and gross public expenditure to Somalia: 2000–01–2004–05

	£000
2000–01	1480
2001–02	1739
2002–03	3124
2003–04	3973
2004–05	5320

Total imputed multilateral shares to Somalia

£ million
	EC	Other	UN	World Bank	Grand total
1999	1.6	0.0	0.8	0.0	2.4
2000	3.5	0.0	1.0	0.0	4.5
2001	2.9	0.0	0.9	0.0	3.8
2002	1.9	0.0	0.9	0.0	2.8
2003	2.8	0.0	0.8	0.0	3.6

Source:
Statistics on International Development and SRSG database date 19 January 2006

Somaliland

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the bilateral demining project in Somaliland in 2004–05. [44134]

Hilary Benn: DFID is funding HALO Trust in Somaliland at present to undertake demining and clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO). £244,000 was provided in 2004–05 and further support of £141,000 is committed for 2005–06. DFID is presently reviewing HALO Trust's latest report of its work.

DFID's explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and demining advisor visited Somaliland in 2003 to review mine action with the Somaliland authorities, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), HALO Trust and other relevant agencies. Although our adviser has not visited the area since then, he is in regular contact with the UNDP about mine action issues in the country.

As Somaliland is severely affected by the aftermath of conflict, we continue to take an interest in mine action and UXO clearance and keep the situation under review.

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he plans to establish an office of his Department in Somaliland; and if he will make a statement. [44135]

Hilary Benn: I do not have any plans to establish an office in Somaliland. Our programme continues to be run from DFID's offices in London and in Nairobi.

Women's Rights

Mrs. James: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had on the promotion of women's rights in developing countries. [44212]

Mr. Thomas: Eliminating gender inequality and promoting women's empowerment are essential to the achievement of all the millennium development goals (MDGs), not just MDG3 which focuses on women. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development and I are regularly involved in discussions both internally and with external contacts on issues relevant to women's rights and empowerment. For example, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State raised issues relating to social exclusion and women's rights in a high-level panel discussion during the millennium review summit in September and subsequently discussed the issue of gender equality in education when he gave evidence to the International Development Committee at their session on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings and the summit in October.

At a country level, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State had the opportunity to raise these issues during his visit to Bangladesh in December, where our strategy focuses on women and children. The Beijing high level group/education fast track initiative meeting which I attended in China on 1 December, also provided the opportunity to discuss the importance of girls' education, and to highlight the links between girls'
 
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education and reducing HIV infection. As part of our work on HIV and AIDS, we emphasise the unequal impact on women and their greater vulnerability, and on the occasion of world AIDS day, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched the progressive EU statement on prevention that emphasises women's rights.

Issues of gender equality and the impact of development programmes on women are considered in preparation of DFID country assistance plans, and over the next year, we will be looking to see how we can strengthen this process given the increased emphasis in our development assistance on direct budgetary support. We recognise that no serious strategy for achieving the millennium development goals can fail to address gender inequality and women's empowerment as a central concern, and we are working to ensure that gender issues are made a priority across our work.

Zimbabwe

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he last discussed with African heads of government the assistance required to promote constitutional government in Zimbabwe. [45085]

Hilary Benn: It is encouraging that the African Commission on human and peoples' rights, at its recent meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, issued a report which clearly condemned the human rights violations currently being perpetrated in Zimbabwe. This reflects the wide interest in Zimbabwe across Africa, and the growing impatience of its leaders with the poor governance under Robert Mugabe. I meet African leaders in my frequent travels to Africa (most recently to Kenya and Ethiopia), at international meetings and in the UK. Zimbabwe is frequently among the topics discussed.

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