Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the status of the humanitarian truce between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The breakdown of the truce and return to conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Government is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia. It risks tens of thousands of deaths, both directly through fighting and indirectly through a further deepening of the already dire humanitarian situation. 22 months since fighting began, it is clear that there is no military solution to the conflict.
The UK is heavily involved in international efforts to de-escalate conflict, stressing the need for a political solution, humanitarian access and accountability for atrocities. We support the African Union's mediation efforts to this end, and encourage a redoubling of these efforts to avert further escalation. The UK urges Tigrayan troops to leave Amhara and Eritrean troops to leave Tigray. We urge the Ethiopian Government to restore services to Tigray and both parties to begin direct talks without preconditions. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa is engaging with all parties to the conflict to deliver these messages.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support the peace talks in the Tigray region in Ethiopia.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The breakdown of the truce and return to conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Government is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia. It risks tens of thousands of deaths, both directly through fighting and indirectly through a further deepening of the already dire humanitarian situation. 22 months since fighting began, it is clear that there is no military solution to the conflict.
There is currently no humanitarian access to Tigray by land or air. The UK is urging all parties to the conflict to ensure humanitarian access to northern Ethiopia, including by immediately reinstating the cessation of hostilities. We remain confident that progress towards peace can be made if talks begin. We have welcomed the commitment by both parties to ending the conflict through dialogue, and are now urging both parties to deliver on these commitments and to begin African Union-led peace talks.
The 19 September report by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations, such as extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual violence, and the starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare have been committed in Ethiopia since the conflict began. The breakdown of the truce risks further atrocities. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa is engaging with all parties of the conflict and urging them to prioritise the protection of civilians and cease fighting.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the (a) humanitarian, (b) political and (c) human rights situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The breakdown of the truce and return to conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Government is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia. It risks tens of thousands of deaths, both directly through fighting and indirectly through a further deepening of the already dire humanitarian situation. 22 months since fighting began, it is clear that there is no military solution to the conflict.
There is currently no humanitarian access to Tigray by land or air. The UK is urging all parties to the conflict to ensure humanitarian access to northern Ethiopia, including by immediately reinstating the cessation of hostilities. We remain confident that progress towards peace can be made if talks begin. We have welcomed the commitment by both parties to ending the conflict through dialogue, and are now urging both parties to deliver on these commitments and to begin African Union-led peace talks.
The 19 September report by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations, such as extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual violence, and the starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare have been committed in Ethiopia since the conflict began. The breakdown of the truce risks further atrocities. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa is engaging with all parties of the conflict and urging them to prioritise the protection of civilians and cease fighting.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the progress of peace talks in Ethiopia.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The breakdown of peace talks and return to conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Government is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia. It risks tens of thousands of deaths - both directly through fighting and indirectly through a further deepening of the already dire humanitarian situation. It will achieve nothing - 22 months since fighting began, it is self-evident that there is no military solution to the conflict.
The only way to resolve this conflict is to reinstate the cessation of hostilities and immediately begin political negotiations. The UK urges Tigrayan troops to return to Tigray, the Ethiopian Government to restore services to Tigray and both parties to begin direct talks. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa is engaging with all parties to the conflict to deliver these messages.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Tigray.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The humanitarian situation in Tigray is grave. An estimated 5.2 million people require life-saving aid including 400,000 people who are experiencing catastrophic famine conditions. The UK welcomes the resumption of overland humanitarian delivery to Tigray on 1 April. However, aid delivery remains insufficient and there is an urgent requirement for sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access. Since 1 April approximately 875 humanitarian trucks have reached Tigray including a convoy of 163 trucks which arrived in Mekelle on 23 May. The UN assess that more than 100 trucks are required each day.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the government of Ethiopia on (a) ending the conflict in Tigray and (b) the role that will play in encouraging businesses to return to and expand their operations in that country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
We welcome the cessation of hostilities announced on 24 March and the subsequent commitment to scale-up the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid to Tigray. There can be no military solution to the conflict. We have consistently called on all parties to the conflict to stop fighting and find a political solution to the conflict through negotiations. I have underlined this message in meetings in the past weeks with the Ethiopian Finance Minister and Education Minister. I also raised this issue with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy during our meeting on 29 January.
The conflict has contributed to a challenging economic situation in Ethiopia. Bringing the conflict to an end will help to return Ethiopia's economy to rapid growth, and give British businesses the confidence that they need to invest. Once peace is secured, the UK stands ready to support Ethiopia's recovery from the conflict, supporting economic stability and growing the pipeline of potential UK investments.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of Oxfam and Save The Children's report entitled Dangerous Delays 2: The Cost of Inaction, published on 18 May 2022.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The joint Oxfam and Save the Children report highlights the gravity of the humanitarian situation in East Africa. Following an unprecedented fourth consecutive season of failed rains, more than 15 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are experiencing extremely worrying levels of food insecurity. Due to the drought millions of people are also facing critical shortages of water with rates of displacement, school drop-outs and early marriage of young girls also on the rise. The drought has also led to the emergence of famine conditions in Somalia, while conflict continues to cause major levels of suffering throughout East Africa, driving famine conditions in Tigray in northern Ethiopia for example.
In 2022 the UK has so far provided more than £72 million to the humanitarian crises in the region. In January, to enable humanitarian agencies to take early action and to support a scale-up of drought response activities, the UK allocated £14 million to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, with £3 million for flooding in South Sudan. Most recently on 26 April, I announced a further £25 million in aid to provide vital services to almost a million people in Somalia affected by the drought. The UK continues to play a leading role to galvanise interest and financial assistance for the drought from other donors. Our efforts helped to mobilise $400 million for the region at a recent UN event. Our response to the drought builds on long-established resilience building programmes in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia which have benefitted tens of millions of people.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Tigray; and what steps her Department is taking to assist the people of Tigray.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia, from north to south, is grave and is worsening. More than 400,000 people are experiencing catastrophic famine-like conditions in Tigray and this year nearly 30 million people throughout the country will require life-saving aid. In northern regions conflict has affected more than 9 million people - including 5.2 million people in Tigray, where humanitarian access is negligible. As I [Minister Ford] expressed in my statement of 1 April, the arrival of a humanitarian convoy in Tigrayan-controlled areas on that day was a welcome development, but we now need to see sustained humanitarian access.
Since the start of the conflict in November 2020 the UK has allocated more than £75 million in humanitarian assistance for Northern Ethiopia. This includes £15.6 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its food and nutrition operations in northern Ethiopia. This helped WFP reach more than 885,000 people with food assistance and approximately 219,000 people with nutrition support. We welcome the cessation of hostilities announced by the Ethiopian Government and agreed by Tigrayan authorities on 25 March. All parties to the conflict must now facilitate urgent humanitarian relief, especially to communities in Tigray who have not had food aid for months.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made as to whether starvation is being used as a weapon of war against the civilian population of Tigray.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The conflict in Ethiopia has caused huge levels of suffering. The UN estimates that more than 9 million people are in need food assistance in northern Ethiopia. The situation is most critical in Tigray where 5.2 million people require life-saving aid. Due to restrictions imposed the Government of Ethiopia and as a result of active conflict there has been negligible overland humanitarian access to Tigray since December 202 with less than 10% of required aid delivered since July last year. A critical shortage of food has seen partial food baskets distributed exacerbated by a shortage of fuel for relief operations.
The lack of access makes it very challenging to accurately assess the nutrition context in Tigray. The UN estimates that roughly 454,000 children are malnourished in the region of whom some 115,000 are severely malnourished. Roughly 400,000 people are assessed to be experiencing catastrophic conditions akin to famine.
We welcome the humanitarian ceasefire announced by the Ethiopian Government on 24 March and agreed by Tigrayan authorities on 25 March. It is crucial that this is translated immediately into the regular delivery of aid to Tigray by road following the movement of 21 trucks into Tigray – a third of which were UK funded – on 1 April. Since November 2020 the UK has allocated £15.6 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its food and nutrition operations in northern Ethiopia. This helped WFP reach more than 885,000 people with food assistance and approximately 219,000 people with nutrition support.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of current (1) rates of (a) starvation, and (b) malnutrition, and (2) the availability of food, in Tigray.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The conflict in Ethiopia has caused huge levels of suffering. The UN estimates that more than 9 million people are in need food assistance in northern Ethiopia. The situation is most critical in Tigray where 5.2 million people require life-saving aid. Due to restrictions imposed the Government of Ethiopia and as a result of active conflict there has been negligible overland humanitarian access to Tigray since December 202 with less than 10% of required aid delivered since July last year. A critical shortage of food has seen partial food baskets distributed exacerbated by a shortage of fuel for relief operations.
The lack of access makes it very challenging to accurately assess the nutrition context in Tigray. The UN estimates that roughly 454,000 children are malnourished in the region of whom some 115,000 are severely malnourished. Roughly 400,000 people are assessed to be experiencing catastrophic conditions akin to famine.
We welcome the humanitarian ceasefire announced by the Ethiopian Government on 24 March and agreed by Tigrayan authorities on 25 March. It is crucial that this is translated immediately into the regular delivery of aid to Tigray by road following the movement of 21 trucks into Tigray – a third of which were UK funded – on 1 April. Since November 2020 the UK has allocated £15.6 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for its food and nutrition operations in northern Ethiopia. This helped WFP reach more than 885,000 people with food assistance and approximately 219,000 people with nutrition support.