HC Deb 29 January 1991 vol 184 cc460-2W
Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list all allocations of famine relief made to African countries in 1990 and 1991, with the date on which the allocation was made and stating whether or not the supplies have arrived for (i) aid from the Overseas Development Administration and (ii) aid from the European Community.

Mrs. Chalker

The information is as follows:

United Kingdom Food Aid committed in 1990
Country Tonnage Estimated cost £million
Ethiopia 53,836 8.230
Mozambique 15,000 1.740
Sudan 10,550 2.807
Tanzania 2,065 0.201
Zaire 3,725 0.446

Other United Kingdom emergency relief in 1990
Month Country £ million
January Uganda 0.03
February Liberia 0.392
March Rwanda 0.05
April Sudan 3.0
April Ethiopia 5.0
June Sudan 0.033
June Sierra Leone 0.067
July Angola 0.5
August Mozambique 3.5
August Sierra Leone 0.084
September Ghana 0.034
October Ethiopia 0.5
December Ethiopia 2.5
December Sudan 1.2
December Angola 0.5

The hon. Lady will recall from my statement to the House on 19 December 1990 the most recent emergency aid package worth £7.2 million which is now being allocated to British non-governmental organisations and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. In addition, I have today announced a further £8.75 million package of famine relief for Ethiopia: It comprises 35,000 tonnes of food aid for 1991 worth some £6.5 million. £2 million in non-food assistance to enable the food to be delivered. £250,000 to UNHCR for Somali refugees in Ethiopia.

This new food aid includes an immediate shipment of 10,000 tonnes of food sent into the recently reopened port of Massawa. It has not been possible in the time available to give details of the dates on which the shipments arrived at their destination.

It has also not been possible in the time available to obtain full details of emergency aid provided by the European Community for African countries affected by the famine. However, in the case of Ethiopia normal and emergency food aid provided by the Community in 1990 amounted to some 115 mecu of £80 million, of which the United Kingdom share was some £18 million. Most of this food had been delivered by October 1990.

Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what improvements have been made in the famine early warning systems, and delivery mechanisms of relief aid used by the ODA since the 1984–85 famine.

Mrs. Chalker

We continue to rely upon the reports of the Food and Agriculture Organisation's global information and early warning system, supplemented by special reports from both the World Food Programme and international and British relief agencies. These reports draw on information from national warning systems, to which the European Community contributes. The quality of these has improved substantially since 1984–85. The recent WFP crop assessment missions to Ethiopia and Sudan played a crucial role in the planning of our current relief activities.

In 1984–85 air drops were necessary to reach those in need in Ethiopia. We now have three established land routes for delivering relief supplies—the southern line, the northern line through the recently re-opened port of Massawa and cross-border from Sudan.

The regular meetings on the Horn of Africa I hold with British NGOs have also helped both the ODA and the NGOs in planning our emergency relief operations.

These improvements have helped enable us to take early and speedy action in response to the threatened famine in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa.

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