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Sierra Leone (Arms Sales)
3.31 pm
Mr. Michael Howard (Folkestone and Hythe) (by private notice): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on reports concerning British arms sales to Sierra Leone in breach of the United Nations arms embargo.
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Robin Cook): I am grateful to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for his question and I welcome the opportunity to inform the House of the action being pursued by the Government to ensure that the allegations to which he refers are fully investigated.
At the request of the Foreign Office, Customs and Excise is conducting an investigation into whether arms were supplied to Sierra Leone in breach of the UN embargo. The chairman of Customs and Excise has requested that while that investigation proceeds, nothing should be said that could prejudice it. I have made it clear throughout my Department that I want every assistance provided to the investigation, and I have no intention of saying anything that could prejudice its successful completion. Nor would I wish to say anything that might prejudice the rights of defendants in any future court case.
Those constraints are necessary and every Member of the House will recognise that I have a duty to observe them. But I am able, within that limitation, to outline to the House the events leading up to the investigation and the subsequent conduct of the issue in the Foreign Office.
I shall first set out the background to the allegations. In May 1997, President Kabbah, the democratically elected leader of Sierra Leone, was deposed in a military coup. In October, the UN Security Council passed resolution 1132, which imposed an arms embargo on Sierra Leone. It was promptly implemented in this country by an Order in Council prepared by the Foreign Office. Earlier this year, President Kabbah was restored to power in Sierra Leone with the assistance of military forces from the region.
In February, Lord Avebury wrote to an official in the Foreign Office reporting allegations that arms had been flown from Bulgaria to supply forces loyal to President Kabbah by arrangement through Sandline, a British company. The letter was drawn to the attention of our legal advisers, and on 10 March, the Foreign Office formally advised Customs and Excise of the allegations, with the suggestion that it commence an investigation. Foreign Office officials have since co-operated fully with the subsequent investigation, and Customs and Excise has full access to all relevant Foreign Office papers and officials.
I was first informed of the Customs and Excise investigation on the evening of 28 April by a special adviser who had a noted a letter to me from Sandline's solicitors. The next day, I minuted the permanent secretary, stressing the importance that I attached to full and open co-operation with the Customs and Excise investigation.
The private office of the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who has responsibility for Africa, my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Central
(Mr. Lloyd), received copies of papers on the customs investigation in early April, and they were shown to him for noting in mid-April. However, he was not fully informed of the allegations made by Sandline of Foreign Office contact until Friday 1 May. At no point was any ministerial approval given for the activities of Sandline. Nor was there any ministerial discussion of the activities of Sandline, or any meeting between Ministers and Sandline.
Sandline's allegation that it had approval for its activities from a member or members of the Foreign Office staff is--I believe--part of the customs investigation. We have been requested by Customs and Excise not to hold any investigation of our own while its investigation continues. However, I assure the House that I am determined to establish the full facts. I can therefore announce that it is my intention that, as soon as Customs and Excise is in a position to agree, I shall invite a person from outside the Foreign Office and the diplomatic service to carry out a full investigation. The report of that investigation will, of course, be made public. In the meantime, I commend Foreign Office officials for their prompt action in drawing the allegations to the attention of Customs and Excise and for initiating the investigation.
This Government have consistently supported the legitimacy of the United Nations. This Government abide by the resolutions of the Security Council and are committed to the rule of international law. I assure the House that we have not, and we will not, condone any breach of international law.
Mr. Howard:
I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for his reply and his assurance that there will be an independent inquiry into the matter and that the report of that inquiry will be published in full. It is essential that the whole truth of the murky affair should be exposed to public view and that appropriate judgments can be made and appropriate action taken.
The Foreign Secretary told us that the first he knew about the matter was when a letter from Sandline was drawn to his attention on 28 April. Can he tell us the date of that letter? Will he tell us a little more about the debate in which the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Mr. Lloyd) took part in the House on 12 March after, according to the Foreign Secretary's account, his officials had decided to ask Customs and Excise to conduct an inquiry into the matter? Why did the Minister of State, who had clearly been briefed on the matter in order to speak in the debate on 12 March, not refer to that inquiry?
Is the Foreign Secretary seriously telling the House that Foreign and Commonwealth officials had asked Customs and Excise on 10 March to conduct an inquiry, but told the Minister of State nothing whatever about it before he came to the House for a debate on 12 March? Is it seriously suggested that they did not inform him of their request? If that is so, does not that indicate that Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are wholly out of control? Is that not an utterly unacceptable state of affairs? Can the Foreign Secretary give us some assurance now of the action he will take if what must be the case, on the
basis of the account he has given this afternoon, is ultimately proved to be so by the independent inquiry that he has assured us he will set up?
Mr. Cook:
I am grateful to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for what I understood was his welcome for my announcement. As to the letter from Sandline, I speak from memory, but, if I recall rightly, it was 24 April. [Hon. Members: "Here is the answer."] I see that this note tells me that my memory is correct--it was 24 April. I am grateful to hon. Members for pointing out the prompt note, but I did not need it. It is probable that I would have heard about the matter on the Monday; except that, on the Monday and Tuesday--as the right hon. and learned Gentleman is aware--I was in Brussels. The difference between 24 and 28 April is a perfectly narrow period of time.
The right hon. and learned Gentleman asked a serious question about the debate in the House on 12 March. That is a matter of deep concern to me, and of proper concern to the House. I answered the right hon. and learned Gentleman's question by saying that the Minister of State first heard about the Customs and Excise investigation in mid-April. It is unsatisfactory that he was put at the Dispatch Box in Parliament to speak to the House without being informed that a Customs and Excise investigation had been requested on 10 March. That was unfair to the Minister of State and unfair to Parliament. That will most certainly form part of the independent inquiry which I have announced.
The right hon. and learned Gentleman asked, breathtakingly, what action I will take. It would be quite wrong of me to prejudge what the independent inquiry might find or what action will follow, but I can assure him that we are determined to get at the facts and that the facts will be followed by necessary action.
Mr. Donald Anderson (Swansea, East):
To put the matter in perspective, would not any attempt by any person to compare this matter with arms for Iraq be totally absurd, not only because of the immediate, prompt and positive response of the Foreign Secretary in setting up an independent inquiry, but because the aim was not to support a dictatorial regime with arms which could be used against our own troops, but to seek the re-establishment of a democratically and internationally recognised president?
Having said that, on 10 March my right hon. Friend's officials referred this matter to Customs and Excise for investigation. There is surely a fairly simple point at issue here which could be easily ascertained. Can my right hon. Friend say whether, between 10 March and now, it has been drawn to his attention whether a licence for the export of those arms was issued? If that could be done orally, is there any minute in the relevant Department to suggest that an export licence had been issued, as has been said today by Mr. Slowe, the solicitor acting on behalf of Sandline?
Mr. Cook:
No licence was given for the export of any arms; nor is there an allegation that any arms were shipped from Britain. The allegation is that they were shipped from Bulgaria, but that the contract may have been arranged by a British company. If the allegations are correct--I am not in a position to say whether they are--that gives rise to an offence within Britain under the terms
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