Ethiopia, Sudan and Tigray: Humanitarian Situation

Laurence Robertson Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention—I was actually going to come on to that point next—and she is absolutely right. The abuse of women and girls by the forces in Tigray has been abominable and appalling. The crime of rape has been used as an act of war, and multiple rapes, sexual slavery and the abuse of women have been the order of the day. It is utterly disgraceful, and I hope that when the conflict is over, and all conflicts have to be over eventually, there will be the most thorough investigation of every one of those cases. We have seen rape as a weapon of war in so many places—in Congo and many other parts of Africa, as well as in many other wars around the world—and I hope there is the most thorough investigation and that prosecutions will follow as a result.

To return to the account I was quoting, Michelle Bachelet has said:

“The investigation recounts a report of a massacre of ‘more than 100 civilians’ in Axum, Tigray by Eritrean forces”—

note: the Eritrean forces—

“on 28 November 2020. The victims were ‘mostly young men’ but one witness told the joint investigation team that others were targeted too. ‘EDF soldiers took a 70-year-old man and his two sons out of their homes. They took them to the nearby water tanker, ordered them to lay on the ground and shot all three of them in the head,’”

and so it goes on about a series of other occasions. Again, note that the Eritrean defence forces have become involved in the conflict as well, which is more than unfortunate in the sense that it indicates the danger that the war is about to spread.

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Yes, I will in a second. I do think that we have to recognise the seriousness of the situation we are in at the present time—that is why Michelle Bachelet has said what she has said—and I want to put that into historical context, once I have given way.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Robertson]

Is the right hon. Gentleman as confused as I am about the reports of the involvement of Eritrean forces? There are very strong reports that they are indeed involved and committing some of the worst atrocities, but at the same time there is also a denial that they are in that country.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, and he is absolutely right. The reports of Eritrean forces being involved are very disturbing because that clearly internationalises the conflict. Verification is obviously difficult when the Ethiopian occupying forces and the conflict itself make it impossible for independent investigators to get there to understand exactly what is going on. One plea I am going to make at the end of my contribution is that international observers be allowed in, so that they can assess what is on.

If I may, I think we should put this in the context of the tragic history of Ethiopia. It has been through all kinds of things, right back to the Italian fascists’ invasion in the 1930s and their removal by British and other forces during the second world war. It has been a party to the cold war, and there has been a massive flow of armaments into Ethiopia from the Soviet Union, the United States, Europe and arms dealers all around the world. It is a country that has seen the most appalling conflict and the most appalling humanitarian disasters, such as the famine of the 1980s.

I pay tribute to the International Development Committee for its report on the humanitarian situation in Tigray. I am delighted that its Chair, my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), is here, and I hope she is going to speak in this debate. If I may say so, I think the Select Committee puts the history of Ethiopia in summary form very well, and of course the enormous conflict that took place before Eritrea gained its independence and the further conflict that went on during the border dispute.

For goodness’ sake, there has been enough death, wars, conflict and loss of development opportunities without there now being a descent into a massive civil war across Ethiopia. It is always the most vulnerable and the young people who die as a result. The points in the Select Committee report about gender-based violence, on which my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) intervened earlier, are so apt and well put. I hope they become centre stage in any UN human rights investigation into the causes and continuation of this conflict.

The most immediate response to this conflict is the two events of 2019, when the Government of Ethiopia were pursuing a more democratic and participatory course and getting a lot of international support for it. There was then, effectively, the break-up of the Government by a change in the ruling party and by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front—removing itself from the Government. The Government in Addis then delayed the election that was to be held in Tigray. The TPLF in Tigray then decided to hold its own election, which it did.

It was claimed that this was illegal under the terms of the Ethiopian constitution and the whole thing descended very rapidly into armed conflict. We then get the deaths, rape and occupation, and huge refugee flows as a result. That is the immediate tragic history that Ethiopia and Tigray have descended into. I hope that in our debate today we can, at least, find out what the British Government think about this and what action they are prepared to take.

The issues we face are four-fold. First, we need to somehow or other get an immediate ceasefire in this conflict so that the food aid, medicine, water and all the other things can get in and so that the thousands who have gone mainly to the Sudan—and some who apparently have also gone to South Sudan, although I am not sure of the numbers—can return home.

Secondly, we need to recognise the consequences for those countries of the massive refugee flows. At the start of my contribution, I gave figures for the numbers of people who are refugees in Sudan—60,000 in Tigray and 1.1 million from Darfur. The media in this country complain about a few hundred refugees coming in across the channel. I am talking about a poor country hosting more than 1 million refugees without the infrastructure or wherewithal to cope with them. That, sadly, is the story of so many poor countries around the world.

Thirdly, who is going to be the interlocutor to bring about a ceasefire? The UN obviously must and should have a role in this. The African Union must and should have a role in this, but it appears that the degree of mistrust, particularly by Tigrayan forces towards the African Union, which is housed in Addis anyway, is one of the problems in bringing about a meaningful ceasefire. I do think there has to be involvement with the African Union, perhaps brought about by the UN itself. It is extremely important that we send that message today.

Fourthly, the arms sales to Ethiopia, Eritrea and Tigray are not huge on the global scale of things—I am not pretending there are massive arms sales—but nevertheless, in a conflict of this nature, rapid-fire machine guns and all those kind of armaments are the instruments of war. We are not necessarily talking about planes and drones and things, but more about those things. The UK sells quite little to Ethiopia. According to the figures I have from Campaign Against Arms Trade, UK arms exports approved to Ethiopia in the last three years amount to only £58,000, and most of that was related to armoured vehicles. Those questions were put. The three known military export applications are from Safariland Group, Harrington Generators and Boeing. I look forward to the Minister saying that there will be no further exports there. EU arms exports to Ethiopia over the last three years are more considerable, amounting to £36 million. I hope we put pressure on the European Union not to allow those arms sales to continue.

The urgent need, as I said, is for food aid to get through. Hundreds of thousands—nay, millions—are suffering from malnutrition or lack of food. There is a huge lack of medicines all across the country, as well as the war crimes investigations and all the rest going on. The situation is that well-armed and presumably well-fed and watered soldiers are able to kill each other in Tigray. Forces of the TPLF are active in Ethiopia and Ethiopian forces are active in the conflict against them. Arms are available for soldiers to kill civilians in a conflict that has to be resolved by a ceasefire and a coming together, so that people may decide their future in peace. All those soldiers are passing starving people—babies who are dying because of malnutrition; women who have suffered the most abominable abuse by those very same soldiers—and the war carries on with the arms that come from God-knows-where, from all around the world. It is the poorest people who suffer, in the worst possible situation.

I hope that we can send a message: we will give all the necessary aid and support that we can to get through this and, above all, we will take the political initiative and support Michelle Bachelet in her determination to bring about a ceasefire and some hope for the future. I am pleased that the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the all-party parliamentary human rights group and the all-party group on prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity are meeting tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock to go through all the issues. I urge Members to attend that meeting, which I understand will be online. It will be helpful for us to be better informed.

My purpose in calling the debate was not necessarily to blame the British Government for the whole situation there, but to thank the International Development Committee for what it has done and to ask our Government to give what aid is necessary and, above all—I repeat this—to use our political clout, whatever we have and wherever we have it, to get a ceasefire, to stop the killing, to stop the refugee flows and to let the people of Tigray, the rest of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan decide their own future in peace. That is the best message that we can give.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Bardell, although it is very depressing to be addressing this subject again. I asked an urgent question on the issue awhile ago and took part in the debate led by the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion). As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Ethiopia, I thank the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) for introducing this debate and for his continued interest. I have spoken with him and have attended debates with him. I know he approaches the debate as a friend of Ethiopia, as does the hon. Member for Rotherham.

The situation is very depressing. I am very pleased that the new Minister for Africa is with us today to reply to the debate. All too often we see the media and the world focus on other conflicts, understandably perhaps—in Syria, or the Balkans or other areas of the world. Conflicts in Africa tend not to be focused on. They tend not to be reported as much as those in other areas.

I remember feeling ashamed in 1994 of the fact that the world stood back and watched 800,000 people killed in Rwanda. I visited Rwanda shortly after. I do not want to be too graphic, but I walked through the bones of some of the people who had been slaughtered in that terrible conflict. The world stood and watched. We cannot do that again—we cannot just watch, as we see the crisis growing and the tragedies increasing. We have heard reports of forces moving through Ethiopia towards the capital, Addis Ababa, just recently. The report produced by the Joint Investigation Team highlights the most horrific crimes that are taking place. We have to focus on what is happening—we have to concentrate—so I am glad that this debate is being held today, with the Minister present, but it is not easy to know what to do.

As I said in my intervention, reports are conflicting. For the reasons that the right hon. Member for Islington North gave, it is very difficult to know exactly what is going on, who is to blame or how we stop it happening. There is, however, a growing humanitarian crisis, and it is also heading towards an economic crisis. The right hon. Gentleman touched on the problems that Ethiopia had in the mid-’80s. Since then, the country has made great strides and is far more resilient, but millions of people are still dependent on food aid every year. That situation is likely to get so much worse, the more the conflict grows.

I have the privilege of being the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Zambia and Angola. On my recent travels, I have spoken to companies who want to invest in Ethiopia. They have told me they will not and cannot do that when the conflict is raging—indeed, getting worse. That situation will make people in Ethiopia even poorer than they are now. We cannot simply stand by and watch that happen.

It is difficult to know what to do. The right hon. Gentleman mentioned Ethiopia’s past. It has a troubled past, but also a very proud past, as I said in the debate led by the hon. Member for Rotherham. Sizeable Christian and Muslim populations have lived peacefully together for many years. There are more than 80 tribes and 80 languages in the country, which have not in themselves led to problems. The country has enjoyed a great deal of peace, and economic growth that is the envy of the western world. It has so much going for it; it is seen as a country with huge potential. There is an awful lot in favour of Ethiopia and the way it can develop as a country. However, as we have so often seen—the right hon. Member for Islington North expressed great exasperation and frustration at this—we see the descent into war, which cannot benefit anybody. Even the victors, if there are any victors in this conflict, will not win overall; they will lose, too. That message must get through to all the players in this conflict in Ethiopia.

I do not have any solutions, but I repeat the questions I have asked before. Could the United Nations be doing more? I am not an expert on this, but is it time for a peacekeeping force to be sent by the United Nations? I really do not know the answer to that question, but I put it to the Minister: is that what we should be looking at now, before the situation becomes unmanageable? Could the African Union be doing more to bring about peace and a ceasefire in this conflict? Could more pressure be put on the Eritrean Government to withdraw any forces they have in Tigray? As we have heard in previous debates, many of the worst atrocities are being laid at the feet of people coming in from Eritrea.

Can we somehow find a way to get aid to the people who so desperately need help? We often hear people say that we should not be giving aid to countries that are dictatorships—actually, we do not, but it is important to note that the people in greatest need in the world are those in war-torn countries. The secret is to get under the radar and try to help those people as best we can.

The right hon. Member for Islington North also mentioned the arms that are getting through to the sides in Ethiopia. There was a very brief BBC report last night, showing what I think were rebel groups, who seemed so well armed. Who on earth is providing arms at such a level to those people? That needs to be addressed.

This is a deeply worrying situation. I do not expect the Minister to have any easy answers or to come up with any solutions today. All I ask of her—I know she will do it—is to speak to our Prime Minister and the Cabinet to see whether there is more that we can do to try to bring about the ceasefire that the right hon. Member for Islington North correctly called for, before this situation becomes an absolute catastrophe.

Ethiopia is a great country and one I am very proud to be a friend of. I have visited it many times and I want to visit again as soon as possible. I do not want to see Ethiopia disintegrate into an absolute shambles. We do not need that. There are more than 100 million people in that country, and they need some help. They need us to do everything we can to help them. That is not easy, as I say, but I know the Minister will do everything in her power to raise this matter at the highest levels of Government in this country, and hopefully we can try to find a way through.