HOON WRONG TO DISMISS LOOTING - TONGE

9.30.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Apr 2003

Following reports that looting in British controlled Basra has hit aid trucks, Jenny Tonge MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow International Development Secretary, said, "On Monday, Geoff Hoon told Parliament that he regarded looting by Iraqis as "good practise," dismissing it as the redistribution of wealth, but as the looters turn their attention to aid trucks, the real losers will be the most vulnerable, the sick, children and the elderly - those who can't fight there way to the front of the queue."

"The army are doing a fantastic job in difficult circumstances. Everything possible must now be done to ensure that they are able to ensure that limited aid does not succumb to the law of the jungle.

"Naturally, after years of Saddam Hussein's tyranny poverty stricken Iraqis are keen to improve their miserable conditions by looting the property from their former oppressors. But indiscriminate looting of aid and hospitals hits the weakest in society, and must be stopped. There cannot be any meaningful humanitarian effort without stability."