| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Oct 2006 : Column 167W—continued
Sudan
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps he has taken to encourage other donors to commit funding since the African Union Mission in Sudan pledging conference. [89736]
Hilary Benn: The African Union has extended AMIS’ mandate to 31 December 2006. Funding remains a crucial issue. The UK has already contributed £20 million this financial year. We are now looking to see what else we can provide. We have called on states who made commitments to AMIS at the 18 July Donors’ Conference to honour those commitments, and for others who have not yet contributed to AMIS to look again at what financial and in kind assistance they can give. We are also calling on the Arab League to honour the pledge it made in March and in September to fund AMIS.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on the Sudan Peace Agreement. [89738]
Hilary Benn: The Darfur Peace Agreement, signed in Abuja on 5 May this year, is a good deal for the people of Darfur. It gives them a greater say in Government in both Darfur and Khartoum, and also grants Darfur a share of the national wealth, including funds to rebuild and develop the region. Most importantly it includes enhanced ceasefire and security arrangements aimed at restoring peace and security to the region.
But insufficient progress has been made on implementing the Agreement, largely because a number of the rebel groups are yet to sign up to it. We are pressing them to do so, including through a diplomatic initiative with the EU, US and others on the ground in Darfur. The Government of Sudan must also fulfil its commitments, particularly on disarming the Janjaweed, as must Minni Minnawi, the only rebel leader to have signed the deal. We are encouraging both
the Government of Sudan and Minni Minnawi to reach out to the non-signatories to bring them on board.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his most recent estimate is of the number of (a) internally displaced people (i) in Darfur and (ii) elsewhere in Sudan and (b) refugees from Sudan in Chad. [89832]
Hilary Benn: The UN estimates that (a) the current number of internally displaced people in (i) Darfur is 1.9 million and (ii) elsewhere in Sudan is around four million, of whom around half are in the Khartoum area and (b) there are approximately 200,000 refugees from Sudan in Chad.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect on the aid effort in Darfur of the recent attacks on aid workers; and if he will make a statement. [89936]
Hilary Benn: The UK Government are immensely concerned about the attacks on aid workers in Darfur since July. We have made it clear to all parties that the fighting must stop and that any attempts to hinder the humanitarian effort are unacceptable. The situation is precarious and has the potential to deteriorate very rapidly.
Because of the rise in attacks, aid agencies have resorted to working remotely from regional centres and using commercial vehicles. This means that programmes are likely to be less effective as specialist staff are not on site. Having fewer international staff near the most vulnerable people increases the likelihood of attacks against them. The reduced presence of specialist health care means that any outbreak of disease, such as cholera could have potentially devastating consequences. We are discussing with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the possibility of further support to their security and co-ordination role, and we are looking at funding additional security training for our NGO partners.
Tsunami Funds
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the total support pledged by (a) the UK, (b) the EU, (c) the US, (d) Australia, (e) Japan and (f) other donors was following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean of December 2004; how much has been spent to date; and in which countries the funds have been spent. [90901]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 11 September 2006]: The information requested is as follows.
The UK Government has directly allocated the equivalent of around £290 million to disaster relief and reconstruction in the tsunami affected countries. This includes £75 million of our bilateral funds to the humanitarian relief effort. Of the £75 million, DFID has pledged to spend £7.5 million on helping countries in the region reduce people's vulnerability to natural
disasters. We have also allocated an additional £65 million of bilateral funds to the longer-term reconstruction phase.
The breakdown of bilateral commitments and spend to date by country (including the provision at regional level) is listed in the following table.
| £ million | |||
| Pledged | Committed | Spent | |
The regional commitment includes DFID support to the United Nations and £7.5 million for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities.
The work in Sri Lanka is focused upon the north and east of the country, but spending has been slower than anticipated due to the current crisis.
£59.2 million has been pledged for reconstruction and recovery activities in Indonesia, of which £19.6 million has been formally committed. The remaining £39.6 million for Indonesia (with expenditure running through to 2008-09) will be committed over the next six months.
Her Majesty's Treasury estimates that the Government will be contributing approximately £50 million through tax relief on public donations made through the Gift Aid Scheme.
The British Government also contribute through the European Commission (EC). The EC has already pledged €123 million in humanitarian assistance and up to €350 million for longer-term reconstruction. The UK's share of this is approximately £15 million and £40 million respectively.
The UK also contributes to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, who have both pledged resources in support of the tsunami-affected area.
The UK announced that Sri Lanka would be added to the list of countries eligible for the UK's new multilateral debt relief initiative (MDRI). Under this initiative, the UK will pay our share (10 per cent., or around £45 million) of Sri Lanka's debt service costs to the World Bank until 2015. All Paris Club debt repayments due to be paid to the UK by Indonesia in 2005 totalling £73 million have been deferred and rescheduled for payment over the next four years.
The European Commission and member states pledged more than €2 billion in assistance for tsunami-affected countries of which €566 million is for humanitarian assistance and the remainder for rehabilitation and reconstruction. €452 million (80 per cent.) of humanitarian aid has been spent. €902 million (60 per cent.) of rehabilitation and reconstruction aid has been committed and €367 million disbursed. The European Investment Bank is about to sign loans
totalling €170 million in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Additional loans of €396 million have been pledged by member states.
Latest figures for other donors show that the United States of America pledged US$350 million for humanitarian and recovery assistance and a further US$625 million for tsunami recovery and reconstruction. Australia pledged AUS$122.8 million in support of the tsunami, AUS$75.9 million of which was for emergency humanitarian assistance. Japan pledged up to US$500 million grant money as emergency assistance, of which US$250 million for international organisations and US$250 million for bilateral assistance.
Latest estimates indicate that in total over US$13 billion was pledged or donated by the international community for emergency relief and the reconstruction effort in response to the tsunami. It is estimated that of the total amount 46 per cent. was provided from governments, 16 per cent. international financial institutions and 38 per cent. from private finance and donations.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the progress in each affected country of projects partly or wholly funded by his Department in response to the Indian ocean tsunami of December 2005. [88792]
Mr. Thomas: DFID allocated £75 million for emergency relief and £65 million for recovery and reconstruction to help communities affected by the Indian ocean tsunami of December 2004.
DFID emergency relief projects have ended. They were evaluated in late 2005 and the conclusions are in ‘Report on DFID’s response to the Indian Ocean Disaster’, copies of which are in the Libraries of the House and on the DFID website. The report found that DFID’s response was broadly successful, that support to UN agencies filled critical gaps in the relief effort, but that DFID needed to be more aware of weaknesses within the agencies.
Most recovery and reconstruction programmes are ongoing. Internal DFID assessments or independent evaluations are routinely used to monitor progress.
In Indonesia, DFID has committed £25.6 million so far to recovery and reconstruction:
a contribution of $10 million (£5,511,571) to the Multi-Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias (MDF) in support of the Government of Indonesia’s priorities for reconstruction. The MDF funds 16 projects, helping the recovery of communities, infrastructure and transport, capacity building and governance, and sustainable management of the environment. DFID rated the MDF top for both purpose and output in an annual review in August. In the past eight months, two independent evaluations of MDF have been conducted and a third is in progress;
a recent contribution of £6 million to the World Bank’s Support for Poor and Disadvantaged areas (SPADA) programme for Aceh for access to justice, improved regulation of private sector investment and better targeting of assistance. It is too early to assess;
£10 million for the livelihoods component of UNDP’s Emergency Response and Transitional Recovery (ERTR) programme enabling over 50,000 people to re-engage in income generation activities. An independent evaluation in March judged that ERTR had successfully mobilised funds for
reconstruction. DFID’s annual review in August concluded that ERTR was achieving its purpose;
a number of smaller initiatives to improve transparency in the management of reconstruction funds, build capacity of local governments and other agencies involved in reconstruction, and help consolidate peace in Aceh. All are covered by routine internal monitoring, the largest (£3 million) is currently being reviewed, and a review in May of the second largest (£0.6 million) concluded that the project was running well.
In Sri Lanka, DFID has committed £2.8 million to improve management of recovery and reconstruction: £1.3 million to the Reconstruction and Development Authority and £1.5 million to the North East Provincial Council. Limited capacity within local and central Government to manage and co-ordinate activities means assistance has been slow to reach some communities or has arrived in insufficient quantity. Furthermore, conflict in parts of Sri Lanka has limited access. Overall, the recovery programme is making progress and much has already been achieved; for example, the fishing industry, which lost over 15,000 fishing boats and on which communities rely, is expected to have recovered to pre-tsunami levels by the end of this year. These shortcomings, as well as progress, are monitored by DFID and are consistent with the findings of most evaluations.
In India, DFID has committed £3 million to a recovery and reconstruction programme co-ordinated by the UN for social equity, restoration of livelihoods, shelter, ecosystem restoration, HIV/AIDS, disaster preparedness, and programme management. DFID are currently undertaking an annual review of progress.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has (a) pledged, (b) committed and (c) spent on projects in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2005 in each of the countries affected. [88793]
Mr. Thomas: DFID has pledged £140 million in response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2005. £75 million was pledged to the immediate humanitarian relief effort, including £7.5 million to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities. This was exceeded as our total commitment rose to £76.214 million. A further £65 million was pledged to meet reconstruction needs in the Tsunami affected countries. The break down of commitment and spend to date by country (including the provision at regional level) is listed in the following tables.
| Humanitarian Relief (£ million) | |||||||
| Regional (inc DRR) | Sri Lanke | India | Indonesia | Somalia | Maldives | Total | |
The regional commitment includes DFID support to the United Nations and £7.5 million for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities. The £10.092 million that has not yet been spent includes this £7.5 million. We are considering options for spending this allocation. A further £2.48 million has not been spent because projects that we supported cost less to deliver than was originally budgeted. DFID is recovering remaining unspent funds.
| Reconstruction and Recovery (£ million) | |||||||
| Regional | Sri Lanka | India | Indonesia | Somalia | Maldives | Total | |
DFID's focus in the reconstruction phase for Sri Lanka has been to build capacity in-country to manage the longer-term recovery effort. This work is focused upon the North and East of Sri Lanka, but has been suspended due to the current crisis.
The money committed to reconstruction and recovery in India will provide technical assistance aimed at ensuring effective allocation of tsunami reconstruction funds.
£59.2 million has been pledged for reconstruction and recovery activities in Indonesia of which £19.6 million has been formally committed. The remaining £39.6 million for Indonesia (with expenditure running through to 2008-09) will be committed over the next six months as follows:
Up to £33.6 million to the Multi Donor Trust Fund to support housing, infrastructure, transport, capacity building, and projects which support the sustainable management of the environment.
£6 million to the World Bank's Support for Poor and Disadvantaged Areas programme to provide support to strengthen governance, promote growth and improve service delivery in the provinces of Aceh and Nias.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |