Tigray Province: Ceasefire Agreement

Lord Boateng Excerpts

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, the whole House owes the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, a debt of gratitude for bringing this matter to our attention. All speakers in today’s debate bring a commitment to human rights and to Africa, for which we owe them too a debt of gratitude.

My own experience of Ethiopia has been as a boy growing up in Africa at a time when Ethiopia was very much at the heart of the development of the Organisation of African Unity, which became the African Union; then, as a man, it has been as a Minister and a diplomat working in Ethiopia and, more recently, as vice-president of the Bible Society, which has worked extensively with Ethiopians in their country.

Ethiopia is a great nation. It deserves to be treated with respect and Tigray is an integral part of it. The international community needs to approach Ethiopia and Tigray with a degree of humility because, frankly, like Britain it has a mixed record in that region. Ethiopia has experienced Britain as an aggressor in the 19th century, and the fruits of that aggression are still to be found in the British Museum in the form of the Ethiopian tabots—sacred Christian relics which were looted from that country and have yet to be returned.

In the 20th century, Ethiopia was a valued ally against Mussolini and European fascism. In the late 20th century and this 21st century, Ethiopia has been a development partner and played a hugely important role under Prime Minister Meles in our country’s initiative in relation to Africa and its development, which was launched in Gleneagles. The international community again did not cover itself with glory during the Cold War, I am afraid, when it set Ethiopia and Eritrea against each other. They were surrogates in the battle between West and East. The peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea suffered as a result of that, so we need to come to this issue with a degree of humility.

Having said that, as noble Lords have indicated, there have been the most appalling human rights abuses in that country in recent years. There have been human rights abuses on both sides of the war that saw, on 2 November, at least the hope of a transitional peace agreement that would bring some cessation to hostilities. That is what we now need to get behind, not just with fine words but with resources.

We will want to hear from the Minister, who brings a wealth of experience to these issues, a very firm commitment that His Majesty’s Government will ensure, despite the real pressures that we know exist on the budget of his department, that they bring to bear the necessary resources in support of this peace initiative—particularly but not just in support of the humanitarian relief that is needed, because there are some 5.2 million Tigrayans in desperate need of that relief. We need to be supporting the World Food Programme and others in making sure that they get it, but the Government should also provide resources for the necessary effort on behalf of the African Union to monitor the peace agreement; for support for civil society to rebuild the region; and, importantly, for resource to ensure that we move to a situation in which peace is upheld by justice.

There cannot be peace without justice, or without a process that recognises the enormous harm that has been done in the region. That hope for peace and justice has to be striven for with the full and active engagement of the African Union because, frankly, it is the African Union that has the best hope of bringing about a settlement in that country. One needs to praise the efforts of the former President of Kenya, President Kenyatta, and his work on bringing the various sides together. However, he and the African Union will need support and resources.

There is one particular initiative that I want to draw the attention of the House to, because it offers hope of peace and justice. It is the commitment of all the parties to the agreement described as the comprehensive transitional justice policy under the African Union framework. It will be the first time that that policy will have been implemented. The head of the Kale Heywet Church, one of Ethiopia’s largest evangelical denominations which will be well known to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, said about that policy:

“The possibility for reconciliation is there … But some claims for justice will have to be given up for peace, painful as it might be”.


That framework is being tried for the first time in Ethiopia and it will not succeed without resources or international backing. It was described by the chairperson of the AU as

“a Transitional Justice Toolkit … that is home-grown ... rich in its progressive methodologies and approaches and rooted in African shared values”.

It is not simply about criminal accountability—impartial investigation of that is absolutely vital—but about setting up measurable standards for reconciliation, reparation and memorialisation of the conflict. All of those things require resource and focus.

My question of His Majesty’s Government is: will they undertake to get behind that process and use all the energy and resource at our disposal to make sure that it is a success? If it is successful in Ethiopia, it can be applied elsewhere in Africa where there is conflict and where it is desperately needed. Respect for Ethiopia and respect for Tigray have to be at the heart of our approach to this peace settlement.

We should not forget that the gospel was preached in Ethiopia before it was preached in Britain. The peoples of Tigray spoke and speak a language that was known to our Lord when the peoples of these islands were covering themselves in blue paint and furs. We need to have a sense of perspective, but also—I want to end on this—we need to remember the messages that are coming out of Ethiopia now.

I will give noble Lords just one example. On Saturday I received this message from a Tigrayan who is living and has family in Adwa. “The Fano”—the Amhara region militia that has been continuing with the ethnic cleansing of Tigrayans in west Tigray—

“as of today control Adwa town. They arrived on 10 buses.”

They are notoriously brutal. Wherever there are Fano militia and Eritrean troops you can be sure there will be atrocities. This is the extent of the horror being visited upon the people of that region now. Their only hope is in this peace accord. It needs our resource; it needs our backing.