Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to support humanitarian relief for people affected by the conflict in Tigray in Ethiopia; and what recent discussions he has had with his Ethiopian counterpart on restoring peace to that region.

The UK is supporting life-saving assistance for people affected by the conflict in Tigray, including health and malnutrition treatment and water and sanitation delivered through UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGO partners. We continue to work closely with the UN and partners, in calling for sustained, free and unfettered humanitarian access across Tigray, in line with the guiding principles laid down by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Since the Foreign Secretary met the Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister in London on 25th November we have continued to press the Government of Ethiopia for a political solution to restore peace, including in my call with the Ethiopian Finance Minister on 16 December.