Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Blaker (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 11 February 2009.

Zimbabwe

Question: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I am sure that the House shares with many in Zimbabwe the hope that today marks the opening of a happier chapter in the history of that country. Can the Minister assure us that the United Kingdom response will be that, as good friends of the people of Zimbabwe, we will seek to guard their future well-being by measuring the progress of the new Administration against the specific European Union benchmark set for Zimbabwe in 2006 in accordance with the Cotonou agreement before releasing aid for anything other than emergency humanitarian purposes?

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord is of course very knowledgeable about that country and its developments. I assure him, as he will have deduced from my initial reply, that the Government will cautiously analyse the progress of Zimbabwe towards more normal political operations and constitution. We recognise the challenges before the parties in this shared Administration, and of course we wish the people of Zimbabwe well and therefore want to see power-sharing work. However, the noble Lord will understand that at this stage the Government are in the position of monitoring rather than reaching any definitive conclusion.

Secondary information