§ Mr. AlisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current food situation in Ethiopia.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe people of Ethiopia are once again facing a famine. This follows the partial or complete failure of the rains in many parts of their country, particularly Eritrea and Tigre. The United Nations and the Ethiopian Government forcast that over 1 million tonnes of food aid will be needed in 1988, possibly substantially more. The early warning system has worked reasonably well. Unfortunately, conflict in Eritrea and Tigre has hampered the delivery of relief supplies.
Tigre in particular now faces a critical situation, with stocks of food almost exhausted and people leaving the rural areas and trekking to the towns. It is vital that no obstacles be put in the way of the distribution of relief supplies to those in urgent need. But even if free movement by road were assured, the road transport capacity is insufficient to meet the needs and will have to be supplemented by air operations.
Close donor co-ordination is essential. It is taking place in Addis Ababa and through the World Food Programme in Rome. It is supplemented by EC co-ordination in Brussels.
So far this year the United Kingdom has committed about £20 million for famine relief in Ethiopia ; this 479W includes our share of the cost of aid pledged by the European Community. Nationally, we have delivered this year 13,000 tonnes of food aid pledged in 1986. During 1987 we have pledged 37,000 tonnes through British nongovernmental organisations, the World Food Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is being delivered this year and early next. We have also provided £1 million for port and transport equipment, £300,000 towards the running costs of the Save the Children Fund/OXFAM trucking fleet and £500,000 for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees' programme of assistance to returned refugees.
In the light of the urgent needs in Tigre, the office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator has asked donors for contributions to enable them to mount an airlift. I have therefore decided to allocate a further £2 million. This will be used to help meet the cost of transport aircraft chartered by UNDRO to fly food into Tigre. Any balance will be used for other urgent needs in the light of advice provided by our embassy in Addis Ababa.
An FAO crop assessment mission is at present in Ethiopia and I shall consider a further food aid pledge in the light of its conclusions.
I shall keep the House informed of further progress in the famine relief operations and the role being played by Her Majesty's Government.