David Cameron in Kuwait to promote reform message

BBC News, 22 February 2011

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Only political and economic reform can ensure long-term stability in north Africa and the Middle East, David Cameron will say in a speech later.

Mr Cameron on a walkabout in Cairo's Tahrir Square
before arriving in Kuwait

He will tell the Kuwaiti parliament that only freedom, justice and the rule of law will allow countries to meet the aspirations of their young populations.

Visiting Egypt on Monday he said it had a "great opportunity" for democracy.

But the PM has been criticised for the number of British defence firms accompanying him on his trip.

Labour said many people would be "surprised" at the presence of defence firms on the trade mission given the condemnation by the UK and other countries of the violent crackdown against popular protests in Libya and Bahrain in recent days.

The prime minister has said the Libyan regime's conduct has been appalling and unacceptable - at least 233 people have died in the last week, according to Human Rights Watch - and that aspirations for Libyan democracy should be met with reform, not repression.

'Optimism'

Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi is clinging on to power and in an overnight appearance on state TV, he criticised "rumours" he had fled to Venezuela and insisted he was still in the capital, Tripoli.

Mr Cameron will be attending ceremonies in Kuwait marking the 20th anniversary of Iraq's invasion, which sparked the first Gulf war.

British governments have in the past promoted trade and security links with regimes in the Middle East, while ignoring what some of its allies have done to their people, our correspondent said.

But Mr Cameron will say this is a false choice and that only political and economic reform can ensure long-term stability.

Mr Cameron will also say there are grounds for "cautious optimism" in the region because the majority of protesters seeking change have done so "peacefully and bravely".

Arms sales

During his visit, which was originally planned as a trade-centred tour of the Middle East but was altered to include Egypt, Mr Cameron has been defending trade between British arms companies and some regimes in the Arab world.

The Foreign Office has revoked a series of export licences to Bahrain and Libya covering tear gas and gun components following the violence in both countries.

Mr Cameron said: "Britain has a range of strong defence relationships with countries in the region.

"I seem to remember we spent a lot of effort and indeed life in defending and helping to defend Kuwait, so the idea that Britain should not have defence relationships with some of these countries I don't understand. It is quite right that we do.

"We have some of the toughest rules on export licences and exports of arms anywhere in the world. Everything has to meet those rules."

Six of the 20 businessmen accompanying Mr Cameron are from defence and aerospace firms.

At the same time, defence minister Gerald Howarth is also attending an arms fair in Abu Dhabi.

'Legitimate'

But shadow defence minister Kevan Jones said that while the defence sector was a crucial export industry for the UK, he was concerned about the timing of the trip.

"Many people will be surprised that the prime minister, in this week of all weeks, may be considering bolstering arms sales to the Middle East," he said.

The BBC's Deputy Political Editor James Landale, who is travelling with Mr Cameron, said the prime minister believed it was perfectly legitimate for the UK to have defence contracts with allies such as Kuwait when equipment sold was used to defend that country's borders.

Mr Cameron arrived in Kuwait City from Egypt, where he had met caretaker Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and the de facto leader, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

Mr Cameron walked through Tahrir Square, the centre of the demonstrations that led to the fall of President Mubarak, and met figures from the protest movement, although not representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood - the banned Islamic group which is thought to have widespread public support.

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