§ Mr. Hargreavesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Minister of State's recent meeting with the Ethiopian ambassador.
§ Mr. Harrisasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations the Minister of State made to the Ethiopian Government about human rights in that country and about the release of political prisoners, including members of the former royal family.
§ Mr. RifkindI assured the Ethiopian ambassador on 23 October that we were considering sympathetically how we might provide further emergency assistance. My right hon. and learned Friend announced our further assistance to the House on 24 October and the initiative that we are taking in the European Community.
I pointed out that, while Britain and Western countries accepted their moral responsibility to provide 815W humanitarian assistance, the response from some of Ethopia's allies had been less than satisfactory, and I reminded the ambassador of the need to demonstrate without doubt that supplies were being properly used. I also took the opportunity to reiterate forcefully the concern I expressed to Ethiopian Ministers in Addis Ababa in July at the continued detention of political prisoners, including members of the former royal family.
§ Sir Frederic Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has about the amount of military aid given to Ethiopia by each industrialised country in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. RifkindWe have given no such aid in any of the last five years. We have no information about what other industrialised countries may have done.