HC Deb 10 June 1985 vol 80 cc634-5
43. Mr. Bowen Wells

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on the delivery of food aid to Ethiopia.

The Minister for Overseas Development (Mr. Timothy Raison)

Total food aid deliveries to Ethiopia so far this year are 680,000 tonnes. The European Community and its member states have delivered 204,000 tonnes since the European Council in Dublin last December, the Community share of which is 124,000 tonnes. We stand ready to provide up to 10,000 tonnes more bilateral food aid when we are satisfied about the arrangements to be made for its transport and distribution in Ethiopia.

Mr. Wells

Is my right hon. Friend aware of how frustrating it is when one tries to find out exactly what is happening from the European Commission? In the past month I have tabled several written questions, only to receive equivocal answers. Those answers are given in both committed and delivered terms, but we never find out what has been delivered to the people who need it and to those who are starving in the Sudan, Ethiopia and southern Saharan countries. Has not the problem of delivery been exacerbated by the fact that, despite my right hon. Friend's urgings, the European Commission waited nearly three months before getting started on the railway which could deliver food to the western Sudan and Darfur? The quantities that the European Commission has delivered are far short of what is needed and what it undertook to deliver at Dublin and before then

Mr. Raison

With respect to my hon. Friend, the figures that I gave are delivery figures. I am not saying that in every case they relate to what has been delivered to individuals. My hon. Friend will understand that it is remarkably difficult to give accurate figures for that. Nevertheless, I have given delivery figures.

My hon. Friend's point about the railway refers to the Sudan rather than to Ethiopia, which is the subject of the question. However, I think that he will know that progress is now being made towards getting the railway line to western Sudan working effectively.

Mr. Beith

Are not the revelations of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs about the double counting of EEC aid and the Department's budget pressures so important and urgent that they cannot await the normal process of Government response and debate in the House before something is done?

Mr. Raison

Hon. Members will have a chance tomorrow to debate all these matters. However, it is only right that we should reply to the Select Committee in the usual way, and we certainly intend to do so before the House rises for the recess.

Mr. Baldry

Does the assistant secretary-general in Addis Ababa, who has responsibility for co-ordinating activity, send the Government details of what aid has been delivered and whether it is getting through to those who need it? If so, how often are they sent to the Government? Is my right hon. satisfied with their detail?

Mr. Raison

We have the closest contact with Mr. Jansson through our embassy in Addis Ababa. I cannot say exactly how often such reports come, but from reading the telegrams I know how much detail there is and how regularly the whole question is discussed.

Dame Judith Hart

Has the Minister heard, perhaps on the radio this morning, the appeal of United Nations officers in the area for more vehicles to expedite deliveries in Ethiopia and, particularly, in Sudan? What response is he likely to make to that appeal? One's impression is that the right hon. Gentleman has a certain complacency towards the provision of vehicles.

Mr. Raison

The next question on the Order Paper is specifically about vehicles, and I shall give some information then. In Ethiopia, which is the subject of the question, there are, I believe, a large number of road vehicles available. I have been pressing the Ethiopian Government to make available the substantial number of trucks that they have available but which are not being used.

Forward to