ETHIOPIA: BOMBING OF FAMINE RELIEF DELIVERIES

HL Deb 26 March 1990 vol 517 cc721-2WA

Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will raise in the UN Council the Ethiopian Government's policy of bombing the port of Massawa and convoys of lorries carrying relief supplies to the liberated areas of Eritrea and Tigray; and whether they will propose that UN observers be stationed in Massawa and along the route from Massawa to the drought-stricken areas, in order to dissuade the Dergue from destroying further humanitarian aid deliveries.

Lord Reay

Massawa and the surrounding area is a war zone and it is not practical to bring in relief supplies by this route. The Ethiopian Government and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front have reached an agreement to carry food relief into famine-affected areas of northern Ethiopia by a southern route from the port of Assab. This is now in operation.