Tigray

Alyn Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Alyn Smith (Stirling) (SNP)]

Thank you, Mr Davies. It has always struck me that nobody ever criticised a speech for being too short, so I always endeavour to keep my remarks brief. It is a genuine pleasure to wind up the debate and to follow so many consensual speeches. I also congratulate the chair of the International Development Committee, the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), for bringing this very important issue up the agenda. We cannot lose sight of the tragedy that is unfolding.

The first casualty of war is truth, and that is certainly the case in Tigray. There has been wrongdoing on all sides, and it is difficult to calculate what is actually happening on the ground. There have been some very strong contributions to this debate. I was particularly struck by the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady), who gave us the context: that the situation in Tigray is a reversal of the progress that had been made. It did not need to be like this. There has been good, constructive aid spent. There has been progress made. What we are now seeing is a tragedy, in which we are genuinely witnessing sexual violence and starvation being used as weapons of war, while the world is watching.

The scale, as we have heard, is quite staggering: 900,000 Tigrayans are starving; 5 million are on the brink of starvation and experiencing chronic food insecurity; an estimated 15,000 cases of rape in the last seven months have been calculated by Amnesty International; and there are 2.2 million displaced persons so far, with many more in grave danger.

This has been a very consensual debate, and I am glad to hear it, because this is not for party political knockabout. However, where we in the SNP do very strongly diverge from the UK Government is in our deep sadness at the walking away from the 0.7% aid commitment. We cannot do more with less. We see that in Tigray; we see it elsewhere. The cut is a reversal of the UK’s good work on international development, as we have heard, and we regret it deeply. Particularly with so many former Department for International Development personnel being based in Scotland, in East Kilbride, we feel that very personally. We would again urge the UK Government to reverse course on those cuts.

I have a number of concrete questions for the Minister. As I said, I always seek to be brief. What discussions and what success have the UK Government had in their talks with the Ethiopian and Eritrean Governments about a ceasefire and about achieving humanitarian access? What emergency food aid will the UK commit to, particularly as winter is approaching? So many people are at the really grave risk of starvation, and we could see a globally significant tragedy.

What assessment has the FCDO made of the risk of the instability in Tigray spreading to other regions within Ethiopia, but also to other countries within the wider region? This could be the focal point of a far wider crisis than even now. The UK has authorised £65,000-worth of military exports to Ethiopia since 2018. That is not huge, but it is surely not appropriate. Can the Minister assure us that there will be no further arms exports to the region? That is surely the last thing that the region needs. On accountability, there have been war crimes committed in this conflict. What discussions has the UK been part of—within the UN in particular, I suspect—to ensure the accountability of war criminals in the region? We must hold them to account.

Tigray is going to need support on many things going forward, and where the UK Government make steps towards meaningful contributions, they will continue to have SNP support. This issue is too important for a party political knockabout.