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Written Question
Military Attachés
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2023 to Question 1027 on Military Attachés, if he will publish an updated list of countries without a resident UK Defence Attache.

Answered by James Heappey

The Global Defence Network (GDN) utilises Resident and Non-Resident Defence Attachés (DA), who engage in Defence diplomacy in over three-quarters of the world’s nations. The table below has a list of countries covered on a Non-Residential Accreditations (NRA) basis, where a UK DA is not resident in country, but a DA elsewhere has the responsibility.

Country (NRA)

Location of DA

Angola

Mozambique - Maputo

Anguilla (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Antigua & Barbuda

Jamaica - Kingston

Armenia

Georgia – Tbilisi

Azerbaijan

Georgia – Tbilisi

Bahamas

Jamaica - Kingston

Barbados

Jamaica - Kingston

Belarus

Ukraine – Kyiv

Belize

Jamaica - Kingston

Benin

Accra - Ghana

Bermuda (British overseas territory)

USA – Washington DC

Botswana

Harare - Zimbabwe

British Virgin Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Burkina Faso

Ghana - Accra

Burundi

Uganda – Kampala

Cambodia

(In process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Cayman Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica – Kingston

Chad

Cameroon - Yaoundé

Cuba

Mexico – Mexico City

Djibouti

Ethiopia – Addis Ababa

Dominica

Jamaica - Kingston

Dominican Republic

Jamaica - Kingston

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kampala - Uganda

Eritrea

Sana’a - Yemen (temporarily relocated to Riyadh)

Ecuador

Bogota - Colombia

Grenada

Jamaica - Kingston

Guinea

Sierra Leone – Freetown

Guyana

Jamaica - Kingston

Guatemala

Mexico – Mexico City

Guinea-Bissau

Senegal - Dakar

Haiti

Jamaica - Kingston

Hungary

Croatia - Zagreb

Iceland

Norway - Oslo

Ivory Coast

Ghana – Accra

Khartoum

Egypt - Cairo

Kosovo

Macedonia - Skopje

Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Laos

(in process of transferring to) Vietnam - Hanoi

Lesotho

South Africa - Pretoria

Liberia

Sierra Leone - Freetown

Luxembourg

Belgium - Brussels

Malawi

Zimbabwe – Harare

Mali

Senegal - Dakar

Malta

Rome - Italy

Mauritania

Morocco – Rabat

Monaco

France – Paris

Mongolia

Japan – Tokyo

Myanmar

Thailand - Bangkok

Montserrat (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Namibia

South Africa – Pretoria

Niger

Cameroon – Yaoundé

Papua New Guinea

Australia – Canberra

Paraguay

Argentina – Buenos Aires

Peru

Colombia - Bogota

Rwanda

Uganda – Kampala

Seychelles

Kenya - Nairobi

St Kitts & Nevis

Jamaica - Kingston

St Lucia

Jamaica - Kingston

St Vincent

Jamaica - Kingston

Slovakia

Czech Rep - Prague

Slovenia

Austria – Vienna

South Sudan

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia

Switzerland

Vienna - Austria

Syria

Lebanon - Beirut

Tajikistan

Kazakhstan – Astana

Tanzania

Kenya – Nairobi

The Gambia

Senegal - Dakar

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Indonesia - Jakarta

Togo

Ghana – Accra

Tonga

Fiji – Suva

Trinidad & Tobago

Jamaica - Kingston

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan - Tashkent

Turks & Caicos Islands (British overseas territory)

Jamaica - Kingston

Uruguay

Argentina - Buenos Aires

Vanuatu

Fiji – Suva

Venezuela

Bogota - Colombia

Zambia

Zimbabwe - Harare

Supported by MOD from in the UK

Cape Verdi Islands

Congo

Gabon

Panama

Puerto Rica


Written Question
Nigeria: Christianity
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2024 to Question 13244 on Nigeria: Christianity, whether he has had discussions with his counterparts in (a) Benin and (b) Cameroon on the situation in Nigeria.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

Whilst I have not recently discussed rising insecurity in Nigeria with my counterparts in Benin and Cameroon, the UK Government remains committed to supporting Nigeria to address these challenges, including through our UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership, and continues to engage with a range of stakeholders to address these complex issues.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Visits Abroad
Friday 9th February 2024

Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what the cost to the public purse of his Department's Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 visit to (a) Morocco from 10 to 11, (b) Cameroon from 16 to 17, (c) Ghana from 23 to 24 and (d) Rwanda from 30 to 31 January 2024 was.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK-Africa Investment Summit Envoy's role was to engage with invited governments on Summit preparations and our bilateral trade and investment partnerships. His visits offered important opportunities to explore and test UK plans and ambition with African partners in advance of the Summit. In January, the Envoy undertook four visits to African countries. The cost of these visits was:

a) Morocco 10-11 January: £653.37

(b) Cameroon 16-17 January: £1,677.71

(c) Ghana 23-24 January: £3,198.23

(d) Rwanda 29-31 January: £4,713.89

The role of the UK-AIS Envoy has been crucial to engaging with African countries on our shared goal of intensifying trade and investment partnerships.


Written Question
Elephants: Poaching
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterpart in (a) the Ivory Coast, (b) Ghana, (c) Central African Republic, (d) Gabon, (e) Cameroon and (f) other countries in the region on taking further steps to help tackle the poaching of forest (i) elephants and (ii) elephant calves.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). We are increasing our funding and will invest a further £30 million between 2022 and 2025.

Defra Ministers and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials at Posts regularly discuss important conservation matters including poaching of elephants. For example, the UK signed a letter of intent in December 2023 with Cameroon’s Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development to deliver the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund.

Defra provides support for a variety of different projects that support rangers and protect elephants through the IWT Challenge Fund and direct programming, which are detailed below.

  • Defra’s grant scheme – the IWT Challenge Fund – has supported projects to change behaviours, strengthen wildlife crime legislation, and help communities to protect the wildlife they rely on for their livelihoods. More information is available at https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/.

  • Our support for rangers includes the British military’s Defra-funded Counter IWT Ranger Training Programme, which has helped wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
  • The UK is investing at least £12 million Overseas Development Assistance between 2024 and 2030 in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo through the £100 million Biodiverse Landscapes Fund. This programme aims to protect biodiversity and reduce poverty, with measures that intend to reduce human wildlife conflict and combat the illegal wildlife trade.

Information on total number of rangers is not available as we do not aggregate this data.


Written Question
Elephants: Poaching
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps with (a) international counterparts, (b) charities and (c) rangers to help tackle the poaching of elephants.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). We are increasing our funding and will invest a further £30 million between 2022 and 2025.

Defra Ministers and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials at Posts regularly discuss important conservation matters including poaching of elephants. For example, the UK signed a letter of intent in December 2023 with Cameroon’s Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development to deliver the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund.

Defra provides support for a variety of different projects that support rangers and protect elephants through the IWT Challenge Fund and direct programming, which are detailed below.

  • Defra’s grant scheme – the IWT Challenge Fund – has supported projects to change behaviours, strengthen wildlife crime legislation, and help communities to protect the wildlife they rely on for their livelihoods. More information is available at https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/.

  • Our support for rangers includes the British military’s Defra-funded Counter IWT Ranger Training Programme, which has helped wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
  • The UK is investing at least £12 million Overseas Development Assistance between 2024 and 2030 in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo through the £100 million Biodiverse Landscapes Fund. This programme aims to protect biodiversity and reduce poverty, with measures that intend to reduce human wildlife conflict and combat the illegal wildlife trade.

Information on total number of rangers is not available as we do not aggregate this data.


Written Question
Elephants: Poaching
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many rangers received funding from his Department to help tackle the poaching of elephants in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK is committed to combatting the illegal wildlife trade (IWT). We are increasing our funding and will invest a further £30 million between 2022 and 2025.

Defra Ministers and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials at Posts regularly discuss important conservation matters including poaching of elephants. For example, the UK signed a letter of intent in December 2023 with Cameroon’s Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection, and Sustainable Development to deliver the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund.

Defra provides support for a variety of different projects that support rangers and protect elephants through the IWT Challenge Fund and direct programming, which are detailed below.

  • Defra’s grant scheme – the IWT Challenge Fund – has supported projects to change behaviours, strengthen wildlife crime legislation, and help communities to protect the wildlife they rely on for their livelihoods. More information is available at https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/.

  • Our support for rangers includes the British military’s Defra-funded Counter IWT Ranger Training Programme, which has helped wildlife parks work together to strengthen law enforcement and share information to disrupt smuggling and poaching across Africa.
  • The UK is investing at least £12 million Overseas Development Assistance between 2024 and 2030 in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo through the £100 million Biodiverse Landscapes Fund. This programme aims to protect biodiversity and reduce poverty, with measures that intend to reduce human wildlife conflict and combat the illegal wildlife trade.

Information on total number of rangers is not available as we do not aggregate this data.


Written Question
Democratic Republic of Congo: Conservation
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Chris Grayling (Conservative - Epsom and Ewell)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will list conservation projects in the Congo Basin that have received government grants in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

In the last three year's His Majesty's Government has supported projects which have contributed towards conservation in the Congo Basin region, as follows:

Darwin Initiative. Further information about supported projects can be found at https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/project-search/

Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. Further information about supported projects can be found at https://iwt.challengefund.org.uk/project-search/

Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use (IFSLU) programme has supported:

a. Africa Palm Oil Initiative (now renamed Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative), managed through ProForest. Covering Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon and the Republic of Congo (RoC).

b. Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in Djoum-Mintom landscape, Cameroon. This project is implemented by two partners: APIFED, an NGO promoting women's and indigenous people's rights and Ecotrading, an enterprise specialising in sustainable NTFP sourcing and trade.

Forest Governance, Markets and Climate (FGMC) programme has supported projects on forest governance, legality, transparency and rights in the Congo Basin through a number of grants to leading non-governmental organisations

a. Client Earth (CE) - Using the law to address illegal use of forest resources and promote better forest and land governance. Covered Gabon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

b. Chatham House (CH) - Strengthening Forest Governance - preparing for the next 10 years. Covered DRC. Ended December 2022.

c. University of Wolverhampton (CIDT) - Strengthening Forest and Wildlife Monitoring & Law Enforcement in the Congo Basin. Covered Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), DRC, Gabon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

d. Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) - Strengthening forest governance through civil society monitoring and tracking illicit timber flows. Covered Gabon. Ended December 2022.

e. Fern - Consolidating good governance, tackling illegalities. Covered Cameroon and RoC. Ended December 2023.

f. The Proforest Initiative (PF) - Using deforestation-free commodity supply chains to support national initiatives to combat forest loss. Covered Cameroon. Ended December 2022.

g. The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) - Embedding community real time monitoring to sustain livelihoods and forests in Central and West Africa. Covered Cameroon, DRC and RoC. Covered June 2022.

h. Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) - Local to global: Leveraging lessons and opportunities from rightsholders to drive sustainable, equitable and inclusive climate action. Covered DRC and Gabon. Ended December 2022.

i. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Improving international and national governance frameworks and business standards for intact forests, climate and biodiversity. Covered Gabon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

j. World Resource Institute (WRI) - Consolidating Forest Governance through Transparency and Accountability. Covered Cameroon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

k. WWF - Strengthened multilateral engagement and collaboration with China's timber and palm oil supply chains to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. Covered Gabon. Ended December 2022.

l. Zoological Society of London (ZSL) - Driving transparent, legal and sustainable forestry practices through financial, market and governance incentives. Covered Cameroon, Gabon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

m. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Improving international and national governance frameworks and business standards for intact forests, climate and biodiversity. Covered Gabon and RoC. Ended December 2022.

Further information can be found in the FGMC's Annual Review at https://iati.fcdo.gov.uk/iati_documents/D0001101.odt

The UK has also made contributions to the Central African Forests Initiative (CAFI), a UN multi-donor trust fund, annually since FY2021/22.


Written Question
Botswana
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) FCO, (b) DFID and (c) FCDO personnel were posted in Botswana in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

FCO, DFID and FCDO have had fewer than ten staff posted in either Botswana, Cameroon or Chad respectively, at the end of each financial year since 2013-14. Data is not held for financial years prior to 2013-14.


Written Question
Chad
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) FCO, (b) DFID and (c) FCDO personnel were posted in Chad in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

FCO, DFID and FCDO have had fewer than ten staff posted in either Botswana, Cameroon or Chad respectively, at the end of each financial year since 2013-14. Data is not held for financial years prior to 2013-14.


Written Question
Cameroon
Monday 16th October 2023

Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) FCO, (b) DFID and (c) FCDO personnel were posted in Cameroon in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

FCO, DFID and FCDO have had fewer than ten staff posted in either Botswana, Cameroon or Chad respectively, at the end of each financial year since 2013-14. Data is not held for financial years prior to 2013-14.