HL Deb 16 March 1982 vol 428 cc517-9

2.45 p.m.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what reports they have received about the use of poison gas by Ethiopian armed forces in Eritrea.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Trefgarne)

My Lords, reports to this effect have reached us from press and Eritrean exile sources. Our Ambassadors in Addis Ababa and Khartoum could not substantiate them. The Ethiopian Ambassador subsequently denied that poison gas was being used in Eritrea. We would certainly view gravely well-founded evidence of an intention to use poison gas on people in Eritrea.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, will the Minister make inquiries about any evidence that has recently come to the attention of the Sudanese authorities? Will the Foreign Office consider sending a medical mission to the areas that are held by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front to examine patients there and to discuss cases of alleged victims of poison gases with the doctors who treated them? Will the Government also ask the Ethiopian authorities whether they will allow on-site inspection of the weapons dumps near Asmara, where these weapons are kept?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, I think that the evidence in support of the points that the noble Lord has made about patients and about the stockpiling of supplies of the chemicals is very largely circumstantial. As the noble Lord will recall from what was said yesterday, there is going on in this area a United Nations' initiative, which we think offers the best hope of success.

The Earl of Kimberley

My Lords, despite the fact that the evidence appears to be circumstantial, can my noble friend say whether he has any idea where the poison gas comes from?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, the noble Earl's supplementary question presupposes that it exists.

Lord Brockway

My Lords, will the Government seek to expedite the investigation by the United Nations Commission?—in view of the very dangerous escalation of chemical weapons, particularly in America, and in view also of the contrary evidence from Eritrea by the Government and by Mary Dines, whom we must all respect.

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, I doubt that the United Nations' Secretary-General needs any prompting from us as to the urgency of this matter. In any event, under the terms of the United Nations' resolution, he is required to report at the next session of the General Assembly.

Lord Harmar-Nicholls

My Lords, does not my noble friend agree that, since noble Lords are responsible for the accuracy of Questions on the Order Paper, and, one would imagine, the implications behind them, they ought to take greater care to see that there is some basis for suggesting certain things before placing the Questions on the official Order Paper of this House?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, there have indeed been some press reports and, as I said in the original Answer, reports from émigré sources about the possibility of the use of chemical weapons in this area, and that was doubtless the source of the inspiration of the noble Lord's Question.

The Earl of Selkirk

My Lords, can the noble Lord say who really is in command in Ethiopia? Is it the Cubans, the Russians, or the Ethiopians?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, the United Kingdom Government have on many occasions deplored the presence of Cuban troops, and, for that matter, Soviet and other advisers, in Ethiopia, but of course the responsibility for these matters lies with the Ethiopian Government.

Lord Avebury

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the information does indeed come from the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, and that there is every reason to believe that the information is reliable, since, after all, these are the people who are the victims of the attacks involving the use of chemical weapons? Cannot the noble Lord say whether the United Nations' initiative will include a mission of the kind that I have described, of doctors to the areas held by the EPLF, so that they can see for themselves the casualties? If the Ethiopians do not have any stocks of these weapons, why should they object to an on-site inspection by the United Nations mission of the weapons dumps near Asmara, where it is claimed chemicals are kept?

Lord Trefgarne

My Lords, I am inclined to repeat the answer that I gave yesterday to a rather similar question about the use of chemical weapons in another country, which was that anyone who prevents or obstructs the United Nations in its investigations doubtless has something to hide.