Ethiopia: Northern Tigray Region

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

On the noble Baroness’s two questions, I can say yes and yes. We are working specifically with the likes of Germany and France in this respect, which also have important equities in that area.

[Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)]

My Lords, all too often, women and children are the greatest victims of conflict. The UK is leading the way in the implementation of UN Resolution 1325, which recognises the importance of women’s involvement in peacekeeping. I visited and saw first-hand the UK contribution to the Peace Support Training Centre in Addis but, in light of recent events, is now the time to increase our commitment to that centre?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My noble friend speaks with some insight and, of course, great expertise. I share his view that one of the real successes has been the women, peace and security programme run by the Ministry of Defence and the FCDO. On his specific question on whether we increase capacity, obviously the situation at the moment is very fluid on the ground, but he makes a very important suggestion, which I will certainly take back and update him on accordingly.

Tigray Conflict

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Tuesday 24th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)]

My Lords, I was privileged to be the first Minister to visit Ethiopia, a few days after the election of Prime Minister Abiy in 2018. I left with a deep appreciation of just how vital a stable Ethiopia is to the wider stability of the Horn of Africa. I ask my noble friend what specific military and security assistance we are offering to try to ensure that the terrible events in Tigray do not stretch to a wider region?

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, the conflict is currently focused on the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, but, as my noble friend says, it is likely to have a negative impact on the political stability and security in other parts of Ethiopia. We strongly value our relationship with Ethiopia, and it has a key role to ensure that we promote stability and security across the region. I spoke earlier about the CSSF regional programming; we also work on capacity building in countries such as Somalia through the training of troops and will continue to work closely with our regional partners in order to assist their stabilisation efforts.

Covid-19: Foreign Aid

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I agree that we must ensure that, when a vaccine is available, people have the appropriate information. We are supporting H2H through our funding, but I shall take that back to the department and come back to the noble Baroness.

[Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)]

My Lords, I will build on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Collins. The 2012 overseas territories White Paper commits the Government

“to meeting the reasonable assistance needs of Territories where financial self-sufficiency is not possible, as a first call on the aid budget.”

In light of the financial impact of Covid-19, can my noble friend confirm that this very specific commitment to our overseas territories remains government policy?

[Baroness Sugg (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I can commit to our financial support for the overseas territories. They have seen a variation in the cases of Covid—only nine territories have had cases—but most are heavily reliant on tourism and have seen their local economies collapse overnight. We have committed to sharing the vaccine with the overseas territories and we will continue with our health support and our financial support.

Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy

Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I am sure the noble Baroness appreciates that the whole idea behind a one-year spending review is to ensure that we prioritise the issue of the economy, as she rightly said, but also other challenges that we face in the Covid crisis. That said, when we look at the context of the thresholds set, particularly at NATO, I am proud that the United Kingdom continues to stand by our commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence but also 0.7% on development.

[Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)]

My Lords, the UK has some of the most advanced military capabilities in the world—the F35 fighter, the Type 45 Destroyer and cyber, to name but three—but our real military advantage comes when we can network these capabilities. With the addition of space and cyber to the traditional domains of land, air and maritime, can my noble friend reassure me that multi-domain integration will be at the heart of this review?