Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Ethiopian counterpart on tackling ethnic and political violence in that country.

The UK is concerned by reports of violence and displacement of people in a number of regions in Ethiopia, and continues to raise the importance of human rights with the Government of Ethiopia at the highest levels. I raised this most recently with the Government of Ethiopia when visiting Addis Ababa at the end of July. The UK supports the efforts of the Government of Ethiopia to strengthen accountability and has been encouraged by their efforts to open the political space - in particular the release of thousands of political prisoners and the reform of legislation which constrained civil and political rights. We are committed to supporting civil society organisations in Ethiopia so that they can play an increasing role in monitoring rights.