HC Deb 23 January 1985 vol 71 cc969-71
5. Mr. Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current state of relations between the United Kingdom and Ethiopia.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Malcolm Rifkind)

We have normal diplomatic relations with Ethiopia. In recent months, ministerial visits have enabled our two countries to discuss our relations more deeply. We continue to provide those in need in Ethiopia with very considerable amounts of emergency food aid.

Mr. Janner

Will the aid that we are able to give to Ethiopia now be increased in order to meet the danger of the reported outbreak of cholera in that country? Secondly, is this nation, or any nation other than Israel, making any effort to settle or re-settle anyone who is suffering in, or is a refugee from, that sad land?

Mr. Rifkind

The United Kingdom has given about £30 million of aid over the past two years. That is a major contribution towards dealing with the real problems of Ethiopia.

On the second part of the hon. and learned Gentleman's question, it would be reasonable to assume from our existing knowledge that most of the Ethiopian refugees in the Sudan will ultimately wish to return to Ethiopia when circumstances permit.

Mr. Bowen Wells

Will my hon. Friend tell the House why he has declined to support the World Bank's special fund for Africa, which is designed to prevent a recurrence of the famine and starvation in Ethiopia and other sub-Saharan countries?

Mr. Rifkind

We have great sympathy with the initiative proposed by the World Bank, but any specific contribution that the United Kingdom made to it would be at the expense of other existing bilateral and international commitments. We must bear that in mind. I hope that the World Bank's initiative will continue to make progress as an important contribution to the problems.

Dr. Owen

Is the Minister aware that the cholera epidemic in Ethiopia is extremely serious and will almost certainly spill over into the Sudan? There is a great shortage of medical personnel and nursing staff—

Mr. Yeo

Why does not the right hon. Gentleman go?

Dr. Owen

I would consider myself dangerous. I would not offer my services, even in that limited role.

Will the Minister consider discussing with Health Ministers and with his right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development whether it would be possible to mobilise medical and nursing teams from the United Kingdom to be sent to the Sudan and Ethiopia?

Mr. Rifkind

I acknowledge the force of the right hon. Gentleman's point. There is no doubt of the seriousness of the difficulty. The United Kingdom has committed some £14 million to Ethiopia, and my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development will give careful thought to the best way in which that money can be used to make a contribution, both bilaterally and in co-operation with other interested parties.

Mr. Baldry

The whole House warmly welcomes the extension of the United Kingdom's Hercules airlift to Ethiopia. However, is my hon. Friend aware that that airlift will be as nothing without long-term, preferably bilateral, aid to back it up and to assist in the development of agriculture in Africa so that the problem of hunger can be tackled?

Mr. Rifkind

I appreciate my hon. Friend's point, but the present priority is to deal with the immediate problems of hunger and starvation in Ethiopia. In the case of longterm developmental aid, the needs of Ethiopia, which are certainly significant, must be balanced against the interests of the various other countries in Africa, who also have serious needs, and with which we have close bilateral relations.

Mr. Tom Clarke

In view of the disappointment expressed publicly by the Secretary-General of the United Nations about the fact that warnings of famine in Ethiopia which were uttered well over one year ago appear to have been ignored, should not the British Government, in the light of the close relationship that the Minister has mentioned, be encouraging Ethiopia to take the United Nations more seriously? Should not the Government be setting an example themselves?

Mr. Rifkind

The United Kingdom did not ignore the warnings. Although we did not have a formal bilateral aid programme with Ethiopia, in the two years before the famine the United Kingdom gave food aid worth more than £15 million. I agree that Ethiopia should take the United Nations as an important international agency, as should all countries.

Sir John Biggs-Davison

Did my hon. Friend's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry), in which he mentioned the Royal Air Force contribution, mean that the Hercules aircraft will be kept there for as long as is necessary?

Mr. Rifkind

My right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development recently announced an extension of the Hercules airlift until March. The matter will then be reviewed to see what will be appropriate.