HC Deb 27 February 1991 vol 186 cc496-7W
Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the figures given in the answer of the Minister for Overseas Development of 6 February,Official Report, column 146, on the uncommitted proportion of Overseas Development Administration humanitarian provision and the total level of that provision include the effects of the Minister's commitments of aid to Ethiopia on 29 January and to Sudan on 5 February.

Mrs. Chalker

The figures include 10,000 tonnes of food aid and £2 million for non-food items for Ethiopia, plus £250,000 for Somali refugees. They exclude 1991 food aid pledges for Ethiopia and Sudan of 25,000 tonnes and 20,000 tonnes respectively.

Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the answer of the Minister for Overseas Development to the hon. Member for Newham, South (Mr. Spearing) of 5 February,Official Report, column 75, whether the £5 million aid for Ethiopia to be paid in 1991–92 includes any of the £2 million for non-food assistance announced in the Minister for Overseas Development's answer of 29 January, Official Report, column 462–63.

Mrs. Chalker

No. The £2 million non-food aid is available in the current financial year.

Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what date the 10,000 tonnes of food aid sent to Massawa, announced in the answer of the Minister for Overseas Development of 29 January, Official Report, column 462–63, arrived in Massawa; whether the 10,000 tonne shipment was included in any of the announcements of famine relief made during 1990; whether it was sent through the world food programme; and when it was first committed.

Mrs. Chalker

The 10,000 tonnes of United Kingdom cereals food aid for Massawa I announced on 29 January is expected to arrive at Djibouti on 4 March 1991. The actual date of arrival at Massawa will depend on how quickly the world food programme can arrange for on-shipping to that port. The original arrival date was planned for mid-February. This in the event proved impossible because, due to the war in the Gulf, the shipment had to go via the Cape.

This shipment of food aid was not included in any announcement made in 1990. It was committed to the world food programme on 23 January 1991.

Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the commitment of 19,000 tonnes of food aid for Ethiopia, referred to in the Minister for Overseas Development's answer of 29 January,Official Report, column 461, was first announced to Parliament.

Mrs. Chalker

I informed the House on 15 October during ODA oral questions in reply to a supplementary question from my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South. I saidThe outlook in Ethiopia for next year is bleak. The FAO and US Agency for International Development crop assessment mission will give donors more detailed reports at the end of next month. Meanwhile, I have just announced 19,000 further tonnes of food aid for Ethiopia through the World Food Programme; a further 5,000 tonnes of cereals to the NGO CARE; £500,000 to the Save the Children Fund for the purchase of trucks and spares for the southern line operations; and £600,000 worth of vegetable oil to the UNHCR for Somalian and Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia. We shall continue to monitor the situation extremely carefully and provide further help. Our total emergency aid for Ethiopia so far this year is more than £16.5 million".