TONGE ADDRESSES ANTI-WAR MEETING

2.02.00pm GMT Mon 24th Mar 2003

Dr Jenny Tonge, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park was the principal speaker at a meeting of the Richmond Stop The War group in the Parish Rooms on Friday March 21st.

The meeting, chaired by Richmond vicar the Rev Julian Reindorp, had been called to discuss future actions by the group now that war has been declared against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Dr Tonge, on her third anti-war meeting in as many days, spoke of the destruction and horror she had witnessed in other war-torn areas, and her concerns for the future.

"Two-thirds of the people in Iraq are dependent on food aid and the United Nations aid workers have been evacuated," the MP said. "One third of Iraqi children are seriously malnourished and very few people have clean water because the damage caused by the Gulf War was never repaired. And we are going to make things worse."

But the Liberal Democrat spokesman for International Development defended her party's decision to support British troops in the Gulf and not to call for their withdrawal.

"I would be very worried if that happened," said Dr Tonge. "It would not stop the war, it would just prolong the agony. And we need them to secure the port so that the UN food aid vessel moored offshore can get in."

Dr. Jenny Tonge at Anti War Meeting

Dr Jenny Tonge has also called for Iraq to be swiftly handed over to the United Nations once the war is over.

In a statement on Monday March 23rd, the MP said: "To win any peace in a way that is acceptable to Iraq's people and neighbours, it is imperative that the United Nations leads the humanitarian and political reconstruction of Iraq."

"If the UN is to remain relevant and inspire confidence, a strong resolution for reconstruction must be achieved. Britain failed to get agreement at the UN for war, but we must not fail to get agreement on the peace."