Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, with regard to the Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability: Guidance Note, published in June 2017, when an assessment on Ethiopia was last conducted; and what is their assessment of the situation in Ethiopia, with particular reference to the mistreatment of the ethnic Tigrayan people.

HMG undertakes regular contextual analysis of the changing situation in Ethiopia, including of the drivers of conflict and the changing political settlement. This analysis, undertaken routinely by our own staff and by a broad range of external experts informs our policy and programmatic approaches.

We are deeply concerned by the growing humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia. The humanitarian response in Tigray is now at standstill owing to the de facto blockade of the region imposed by the Government of Ethiopia since July 2021 and also due to recent military action by Tigrinyan defence forces along the Tigray-Afar border disrupting a potential buffer zone to transfer humanitarian deliveries. The Minister for Africa raised our concerns about humanitarian access and ethnically targeted arrests with Minister Redwan in Addis Ababa on 20 January. It is vital that both sides put down their arms and come to the negotiating table. The protection of all civilians needs to be prioritised, human rights respected and those responsible for human rights abuses and violations held to account.