Written question asked by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 24 January 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 5 February 2002. It was answered by Denis MacShane (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 February 2002 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the Supplementary Report of the Monitoring Mechanism on Sanctions against UNITA appointed pursuant to Security Council resolution 1295 (2001), paragraph 3, in relation to the situation in Angola.

Answer: Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the supplementary report of the monitoring mechanism on Sanctions against UNITA appointed, pursuant to Security Council resolution 1295 (2001), paragraph 3, in relation to the situation in Angola. [31193] Mr. MacShane: We welcome the supplementary report of the monitoring mechanism. We believe the report accurately highlights the continuing destabilising impact of UNITA in Angola. It describes the problem of the ongoing flow of arms to UNITA, albeit at a reduced level and contains detailed evidence of the role of sanctions buster, Victor Bout in supplying arms to UNITA. We are working in the UN Angola Sanctions Committee to ensure that all breaches of sanctions detailed in the report are appropriately followed up. We believe the monitoring mechanism has an important role to play in ensuring the targeted sanctions against UNITA are fully implemented and enforced and fully support Security Council resolution 1374 (2001) of 19 October 2001, extending the mechanism's mandate for a further six months.

Secondary information