Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment he has made of the food security situation in East Africa; and what steps his Department is taking to alleviate the problems.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Food insecurity remains a huge challenge across East Africa. Tens of millions of people throughout the region face 'crisis' levels of food insecurity. The UK is leading efforts to address the crisis. The UK will deliver £89 million of aid to Sudan in 2024/2025, up from nearly £50 million in 2023/2024. On 16 April at a UK convened humanitarian pledging event I [Deputy Foreign Secretary] committed £100 million in aid to Ethiopia which will reach hundreds of thousands of people. Since 2019 the UK has allocated over £1 billion in humanitarian funding to East Africa benefitting millions of people.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the humanitarian situation in the Gambella region of Ethiopia following the migration of people from South Sudan to the area.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Ethiopia hosts nearly 1 million refugees of whom 43%, roughly 420,000 people, originate from South Sudan. The vast majority of South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia reside in seven camps in Gambella region. Refugees experience pressing humanitarian hardships in Gambella due to a combination of factors including recurrent flooding exacerbated by a shortage of donor funding. Between 2022 and 2023 aid agencies recorded a near doubling of cases of severe acute malnutrition among children under five years at Kule refugee camp. The UK is lobbying humanitarian agencies to ensure aid is prioritised effectively and reaches the most vulnerable.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) implications for his policies of the (i) humanitarian and (ii) civilian protection situation in the Amhara region of Ethiopia and (b) adequacy of the accountability for alleged violations against civilians in that region since August 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We follow the conflict in Amhara and its implications for civilians closely and we have offered assistance to the Government of Ethiopia to find a peaceful solution. The UK has increased support to the Ethiopia Human Rights Commission who monitor the situation and who will be key in implementing the recently announced Transitional Justice Policy for Ethiopia. This aims to provide a mechanism for accountability for crimes committed in Amhara as well as other regions affected by conflict. We continue to speak out on specific incidents such as suspected extra-judicial killings in Merawit and consistently call for the protection of civilians in Amhara and Oromia, most recently at the UN Human Rights Council, and with Government of Ethiopia interlocutors. His Majesty's Ambassador met with the Amhara regional President in January and discussed a number of issues, including the ongoing conflict and prospects for dialogue.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential for famine in Ethiopia.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Food shortages in Ethiopia are at a critical level. Conflict and climate change have damaged crop production and driven people off their lands, leading over 3 million people into a state of critical food insecurity. In February 2024, I visited Ethiopia and witnessed the worsening humanitarian situation in the region. In response, I announced £100 million in new aid for our Ending Preventable Deaths Programme, which will support over three million people in affected regions.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the food security situation in Ethiopia as of 16 February 2024; and what steps his Department is taking to help support those most in need.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Multiple, overlapping crises are causing concerning levels of critical food insecurity across Ethiopia. The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need. We have already increased our humanitarian support this financial year by over 50 percent, from £46 million to £74 million in order to better respond to the immediate crisis, including a £23 million contribution to the Productive Safety Net Programme that will reach a further 350,000 people living in extreme poverty across Ethiopia. Additionally, I recently announced £100 million to the Ending Preventable Deaths Programme that will support over three million people across the country.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 9 February (HL1953), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assessment they have made of reports by the Mekelle branch of the Ethiopian Ombudsman Institution on 24 January that in five camps of internally displaced people in Tigray, 900 had died due to starvation.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A press release relating to the Ombudsman's report was issued on 30 January. It did not state what evidence the Ombudsman team were basing their observations on or what methodology they had used to determine cause of death. We use all available data sources to assess the severity of food insecurity across northern Ethiopia. In his recent visit to Ethiopia in February 2024, Minister Andrew Mitchell saw firsthand the worsening humanitarian situation in Tigray and announced an additional £100 million to end preventable deaths, targeting three million people across Ethiopia including those who are most at risk in the northern regions.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money was allocated to tackling humanitarian crises in Ethiopia in (1) 2019–20, (2) 2020–21, (3) 2021–22, and (4) 2022–23.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has been an overseas development assistance (ODA) donor to Ethiopia over the last four years. Our overall ODA allocations have been: £300 million in 2019-20, £254 million in 2020-21, £134 million in 2021-22 and £90 million in 2022-23. Since 2019, the UK has allocated over £400 million to tackle humanitarian crises in Ethiopia. UK funding has provided 950,000 Ethiopians with medical supplies and is delivering lifesaving nutrition, health, water and sanitation and protection support to the most vulnerable. In February 2024, Minister Mitchell announced an extra £100 million in humanitarian aid during his visit to Ethiopia in response to the worsening humanitarian situation.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an estimate of the number of people at risk of death from (a) hunger and (b) drought in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
During my recent visit to Ethiopia, I saw firsthand the seriousness of the humanitarian situation in Tigray. Across northern Ethiopia, including Tigray, El Nino is causing drought that is affecting 4 million people. According to assessments from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 1.4 million in Tigray will need immediate emergency food assistance because of drought.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of (1) internally displaced people in, and (2) the number of refugees from, Sudan and South Sudan.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since 15 April, over 1.4 million people are estimated to have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries since fighting broke out, 338,374 people have fled to Egypt; 550,407 to Chad; 413,516 to South Sudan; 93,310 to Ethiopia; 25,428 to The Central African Republic (CAR). According to the International Organisation for Migration, there are 2.2 million internally displaced persons in South Sudan, and more than 2.3 million South Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring countries in the East African region. The UK is monitoring the situation in Sudan and South Sudan closely, including the humanitarian and security impacts of the conflict on Sudan's neighbouring countries.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the response of the Ethiopian Government to the joint statement by the UK, US, Australia, Japan and New Zealand of 11 August 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Our statement called for the immediate de-escalation of violence and for the protection of civilians; we continue to monitor the situation. The Minister for Africa subsequently raised the issue in his meeting with Ethiopian National Security Adviser and the Ambassador raises the issue in all his meetings in Addis Ababa. We urge the Government of Ethiopia to find a political solution to end the violence in the country. We continue to monitor the situation, in concert with others, while maintaining life-saving humanitarian assistance, and the provision of basic services to the people in Amhara affected by conflict.