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Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Governments position is on the French judicial authorities indictment of President Kagame of Rwanda for his role in the genocide. [104209]
Mr. Hoon: We understand that a French judge carried out an investigation into the shooting down of President Habyarmanas plane in 1994 at the request of the families of the French crew that died in the crash. The French authorities have issued arrest warrants for nine Rwandan officials. We are not aware of an arrest warrant for President Kagame.
We applaud the progress made in Rwanda since the genocide. The UK has been a leading donor for several years and we will continue to support Rwandan development and the countrys impressive efforts to move forward after the appalling events of 1994.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions her Department has had with representatives of Somalias transitional government; and if she will make a statement. [101977]
Margaret Beckett: My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Triesman of Tottenham, met the Foreign Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, His Excellency Ismail Mahmoud Hurre, on 1 November following extensive meetings during the United Nations General Assembly in September. Officials from our High Commission in Nairobi also meet representatives of Somalias Transitional Federal institutions regularly.
We urge all parties in Somalia to respect the Transitional Federal Charter, honour the agreements concluded in Khartoum and to resolve their differences through dialogue.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of reports that fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eritrea have entered Somalia in support of the Union of Islamic Courts; and if she will make a statement. [101978]
Margaret Beckett: The report of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia alleges that foreign fighters have entered Somalia in answer to calls for jihad that have been uttered by members of the Union of Islamic Courts. We have no reliable assessment of the numbers involved. We continue to urge all parties in Somalia to renounce violence and resolve their differences through dialogue.
Mr.
Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State
for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government played a
role in the hon. Member for
Mid-Ulsters recent visits to Sri Lanka to hold discussions with
the Tamil Tigers.
[103099]
Dr. Howells: The Government have played no role in the recent visits of the hon. Member for Mid-Ulster (Mr. McGuinness) to Sri Lanka. We understand that he travelled to the country at the invitation of a Sri Lankan non-governmental organisation, the Institute for Political and Conflict Transformation. We welcome efforts by participants in the Northern Ireland peace process to share their knowledge with Sri Lankans.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contacts her Department has made with organisations representing the Tamil people of Sri Lanka in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [104385]
Dr. Howells: Officials of our High Commission in Colombo have frequent contact with groups representing the full spectrum of views of Sri Lankas Tamil population. Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials also regularly meet visiting Tamil representatives and members of the Diaspora population resident in the UK.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the government of Sri Lanka on achieving a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers; and if she will make a statement. [104386]
Dr. Howells: The Government regularly discusses the implementation of the Cease-Fire Agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister met President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka in August, my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Timms), met the President in September and my right hon. Friend the Member for Torfaen (Mr. Murphy) met representatives of the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in November. Our High Commissioner in Colombo and his officials discuss issues relating to the conflict with Sri Lankan government representatives on a daily basis.
We strongly support the work of Norwegian facilitators to achieve peace in Sri Lanka. The continuing loss of life is tragic and unnecessary. We call on both sides to abide by their existing commitments, restated in Geneva in October, to uphold the 2002 Cease-Fire Agreement and demonstrate this in their actions.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what meetings her Department has held with humanitarian groups in Sri Lanka to discuss the effects of the conflict in the North and East of the country in the last 12 months. [104387]
Dr. Howells: Officials from our High Commission in Colombo meet humanitarian agencies regularly to discuss the situation in the north and east. They have participated in five multi-donor field trips to conflict affected areas since the beginning of October.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has held on the provision of peace keeping troops in Darfur with (a) the African Union and (b) the United Nations; and what (i) support, (ii) advice and (iii) resources she is willing to provide to that end. [101753]
Mr. McCartney: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development attended a high-level meeting on the future of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) in Addis Ababa on 16 November. The meeting was co-chaired by the African Union (AU) and UN, and reached consensus on plans to increase UN support to AMIS over three phases.
The first phase is a light package of support for command and control, logistics and planning. The second phase will enhance infrastructure, military and police training, ground and air assets. The third phase, agreed in principle, will involve a joint AU/UN peace-keeping operation of up to 17,000 plus 3,000 police.
The UK continues to support AMIS. We have given £20 million this year, taking the total UK contribution to £52 million. We also provide both Military Observers and Civilian Police to AMIS through the EU. The 16 November meeting agreed on the need for UN funding for the force in Darfur. Assuming such funding came from assessed contributions, the UK would be liable for 7.4 per cent. of the total.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in the extension of the UN arms embargo to cover the whole of the Sudan; and if she will make a statement. [101958]
Margaret Beckett: The UK strongly supported UN Security Council Resolution 1591 which imposed an arms embargo on Darfur. There are no current proposals to extend this embargo to the rest of Sudan.
However, the UK is a leading proponent of Security Council action to help improve the appalling situation in Darfur. With our Security Council partners we will consider all options, including further measures, which may help achieve this.
In addition we are working with partners to ensure that the existing arms embargo is more effective. We are providing additional resources to the African Union and the UN Sanctions Panel of Experts whose combined responsibility it is to implement and monitor the embargo.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of freedom of speech in Thailand; and what discussions she has had with (a) the UK Embassy in Bangkok and (b) the British Ambassador to the United Nations on the matter. [102328]
Mr. McCartney: Our embassy in Bangkok continues to monitor the situation in Thailand and report on restrictions on the freedom of expression. We would like to see the lifting of martial law as soon as possible and the early re-establishment of full democracy. We have been working with our EU colleagues and others to urge the new administration to move rapidly in that direction.
Some restrictions were placed on the media both during and after the coup. A number of websites and local radio stations have been closed down.
There have been no discussions with the UK's Permanent Representative to the United Nations on this issue.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support the UK Government (a) have committed and (b) plan to commit to support democracy in Tonga; what discussions she has had with the New Zealand Foreign Ministry regarding its efforts to bring peace to Tonga; and what discussions she has had with the British high commission in Nukualofa regarding the current conflict. [102321]
Mr. McCartney: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is providing £20,000 for a constitutional adviser to advise the Government of Tonga on constitutional reform and development and on the drafting of a new constitution. This project is being jointly funded with the Commonwealth Secretariat. The adviser will offer assistance on developing and drafting a new constitution which includes making two assessment visits to Tonga. The first visit was in March 2006. The adviser will report back to the Commonwealth Secretariat on the outcome of each of the visits. The FCO has no plans at this stage to provide further support for the constitutional reform process in Tonga.
I discussed the issues of democracy and constitutional reform with the Tongan Prime Minister when I met him in Fiji in October.
Officials from the FCO and our high commission in Wellington met with representatives from the New Zealand high commission in London and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, respectively, to discuss the situation in Tonga.
Following the closure of our high commission in Nukualofa in March 2006 responsibility for the UKs relations with Tonga have been handled by our high commission in Suva, Fiji. Officials at the FCO have been in regular contact with our high commission in Suva to discuss the current situation in Tonga.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the impact of the (a) arms embargo and (b) restrictions on admission to the European Union included in the restrictive measures against Uzbekistan adopted by the EU on 14 November 2005. [101973]
Margaret Beckett: We believe that the EUs twin approach to Uzbekistan of restrictive measures while keeping open the channels for dialogue has had some impact. The EU measures and the EU-sponsored UN Resolution in November 2005 signalled to Uzbekistan that they could not normalise their foreign relations without movement on human rights and Andizhan. The EU has seen a new willingness to engage on the part of the Uzbek Government. Pierre Morel, the EU Special Representative to Central Asia, visited Tashkent in October. On 8 November an EU-Uzbekistan Co-operation Council took place, the first since 2004. The EU is now exploring Uzbekistans offer of an expert-level meeting on the events in Andizhan and a structured dialogue on human rights.
We are encouraged by the acquittal of the independent journalist Ulugbek Khaidarov on 7 November and the freeing of human rights defender Arabboy Qodirov on 13 November. We hope that these are signals of a readiness on the part of the Uzbeks to review cases against other human rights defenders and independent journalists in prison. We also note the dropping of the case against the non-governmental organisation (NGO), US Development Assistance Inc., and hope that this can lead to the resumption of the work of leading international NGOs in Uzbekistan.
However, we continue to have serious concerns about the overall lack of progress on human rights in Uzbekistan. These are detailed in the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices latest 2006 Annual Human Rights Report and were behind our decision to co-sponsor a new United Nations General Assembly resolution on Uzbekistan in November 2006.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the restrictive measures against Uzbekistan adopted by the EU on 14 November 2005 were last reviewed (a) by her Department and (b) at the European Council; and what the findings were of each review. [101974]
Margaret Beckett: The UK played an active role when the EU, through October and early November 2006, reviewed the restrictive measures on Uzbekistan against the criteria set out in October 2005. At the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 13 November 2006, EU Foreign Ministers extended the arms embargo for 12 months and the targeted visa ban for six months, but also decided to lift the suspension of technical meetings under the EU-Uzbekistan Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA). This proportionate response by the EU balanced recognition of the lack of progress made by Uzbekistan towards the October 2005 criteria, with acknowledgement of the recent overtures made by the Uzbeks to open up a dialogue on both Andizhan and human rights issues. A structured dialogue through the PCA, will enable the EU to exploit new opportunities for dialogue to improve the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.
EU Foreign
Ministers undertook to review these measures again in three months
time. This review period signals to the Uzbeks that we expect progress
to have been made by then on the proposed EU-Uzbek experts talks on
Andizhan and the structured dialogue on human rights. It keeps up the
momentum for the
improvements we want to see in Uzbekistan. The review will include an
assessment on whether the dialogues on Andizhan and human rights have
led to substantive progress on the ground in
Uzbekistan.
We remain profoundly concerned about the situation in Uzbekistan. We continue to monitor the situation there closely. We shall continue to judge the Uzbeks by their actions, not just by their words, when we come to review the EUs remaining measures against the EUs criteria.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment she has made of (a) freedom of political and religious expression in Uzbekistan and (b) the Uzbek governments observance of human rights. [101975]
Margaret Beckett: We remain profoundly concerned about the situation in Uzbekistan. We monitor closely the level of freedom of political and religious expression there.
The Government of Uzbekistans response to the events of 12-13 May 2005 in Andizhan resulted in a further clampdown on political and religious freedom of expression in Uzbekistan. Those human rights defenders, independent journalists and members of the political opposition who questioned the Uzbek authorities version of events in Andizhan have been subjected to detention, harassment and trials, many of them behind closed doors. These have caused serious international concern.
We are also disturbed by the increasing reports of discrimination, harassment and criminal prosecutions of Muslims accused of religious extremism, as well as harassment of religious minorities, notably Protestant Christians. A new law, passed in June 2006, outlawed the illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious material in Uzbekistan.
Over the past year Uzbekistan has adopted legislation restricting the media and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), in contravention of its international obligations, expelled international NGOs from the country, and refused to allow international experts to visit. Our concerns are set out in detail in the latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2006 Annual Human Rights Report, of which I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.
Nevertheless, we are encouraged by the Uzbek governments recent agreement to open a dialogue with the EU on human rights. We hope that this will lead to substantive progress in lifting the restrictions on religious and political freedom of expression, as well as a resumption of co-operation by the Uzbek government with international experts in the UN and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The EUs response to these developments is set out in my answer today (UIN 101974).
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which UK observers she expects to be in Venezuela for the forthcoming presidential election; when those observers will arrive in Venezuela; and how long after the election she expects them to remain. [104384]
Mr. Hoon: The Government are supporting the European Union election observation mission (EOM) in Venezuela. UK observers form part of the team, which is approximately 120 strong. Most mission members are now in Venezuela. The leaders of the EOM are responsible for deciding exactly when the observers will finish their work and leave the country. We are also aware of an invitation from the Venezuelan electoral authorities to British academics, hon. Members, trade unionists and local councillors to observe the elections.
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