Mr Bowen Wells: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Bowen Wells: Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman clarify for the benefit of the House whether he is advancing the war aims to a greater degree than are the Government? He referred in his opening remarks to "securing the autonomy" of Kosovo. Is that the Liberal Democrats' objective?
Mr Bowen Wells: The Secretary of State relies on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide the bulk of the organisation, management and co-ordination of efforts in Macedonia and Albania to assist refugees, as she presumably will in Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary. When will she personally take on the UNHCR to make it an effective body, instead of leaving the refugees to the tender mercies of...
Mr Bowen Wells: Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. Are you aware that the International Development Committee will be issuing a report on the Kosovo refugees on Thursday, and that that might be the right occasion on which to hold a full debate on these issues?
Mr Bowen Wells: I wish to concentrate on two of the war aims enunciated by the Foreign Secretary this afternoon. The first—as has been reiterated many times by the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister—is to return the refugees to their homes. I wish to examine the implications of that war aim. The second was not mentioned by the Foreign Secretary today, but has been mentioned briefly by the Prime...
Mr Bowen Wells: Talking of fair trade, will the Minister consider the report, published today, of the World Trade Organisation on fair trade for bananas? Will he call together all the parties involved so that we can negotiate fair trade for bananas from the vulnerable producing states of the Caribbean?
Mr Bowen Wells: I wholeheartedly welcome the right hon. Lady's statement, not only on behalf of all hon. Members but, in particular, on behalf of those who, having been driven from their homes in Kosovo, are now desperate refugees in neighbouring countries. Will the right hon. Lady ensure that the voice of women will be heard in the organisation of the camps, and that they and their children will be...
Mr Bowen Wells: Is not the Prime Minister's failure in Berlin demonstrated by the fact that the European Union development budget for the next seven years was passed without alteration, in spite of the fact that we are highly dissatisfied with it, that it is the cause of much of the fraud and maladministration of the Commission and that it is not focused on the poverty base that we want to tackle?
Mr Bowen Wells: How credible do you think NATO would be if, having bombed, we did not put in ground troops and there was no outcome? Do you—
Mr Bowen Wells: I beg your pardon, Mr. Deputy Speaker. My point is that that would leave NATO's credibility in enforcing peace in complete tatters.
Mr Bowen Wells: I preface my remarks by saying that of course no hon. Member welcomes the sight of the atrocious behaviour of the Serbs in Kosovo, or, indeed, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia or Slovenia. The activities that we have seen on television are to be wholly condemned. I bow to no one in my fury and condemnation of such atrocious humanitarian offences, but we have to conduct ourselves in a legal way,...
Mr Bowen Wells: That is right. As a result of that action not being properly negotiated, many serious injustices took place and ancient passions were inflamed. We cannot ignore such passions because they keep coming to the surface, whether in Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Sierra Leone or anywhere where difficult human relationships have to be faced. That is why we should remind ourselves of what we are doing and...
Mr Bowen Wells: That is interesting speculation. I also looked up the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, of which I know the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing) is now a distinguished member. The 1991 report shows Douglas Hurd giving evidence and saying that he opposed the recognition of Croatia and Slovenia. I asked him why he eventually went along with the recognition. He said that we...
Mr Bowen Wells: I will not give way at the moment. On the television last night we saw President Yeltsin talking passionately about how the wrong action was being taken. We could see then the intervention of another partisan, this time on the side of Serbia. Russia is, of course, dangerously allied with China, which is a major friend of Albania and has been for many years. By ignoring our obligations to...
Mr Bowen Wells: I must give way to a fellow member of the Select Committee on International Development.
Mr Bowen Wells: The people of Kosovo will have to be protected and we shall have to find a means of doing so. [HON. MEMBERS: "How?"] I am being tempted to go on for longer than I anticipated. A ceasefire must be negotiated in the same way as one was negotiated last September. The idea that there cannot be negotiations and that a ceasefire cannot be—[Interruption.]
Mr Bowen Wells: We should not despair of securing a reasonable ceasefire and a protection mechanism. That can be achieved and the effort has to be made. However, I agree that we must prevent continued violence by the Serbs against the Kosovars and a regrouping and rearming of the Kosovars to fight a more vicious war.
Mr Bowen Wells: No, I shall not give way. I hope that the hon. Lady will have an opportunity to speak. I should like to make just one more point before I finish—I know that a lot of others want to speak. We have heard from the Government and from every quarter in NATO that ground troops will not be used except as peacekeeping forces. The wool is being pulled over our eyes. A bond to the peace table cannot...
Mr Bowen Wells: Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that resolution 1199 did not give explicit authorisation for the use of force? It merely stated that the Security Council decided should the concrete measures demanded in this resolution and resolution 1160 (1998) not be taken, to consider further action and additional measures to maintain or restore peace and stability in the region. The...
Mr Bowen Wells: I shall briefly remind the House of the history of the banana dispute. In 1947, the islands of the Caribbean were given the exclusive right to export bananas to the United Kingdom. That right was given in compensation for the fact that, during and before the second world war, the European nations, including our own, had been subsidising the production of sugar beet. Sugar beet is not an...
