§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make a statement on his plans to provide aid to Ethiopia in response to predicted food shortages next year. [139346]
§ Hilary BennSince the beginning of 2002 we have provided over £50 million in humanitarian support to Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Government's Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Commission (DPPC) and UN agencies are currently undertaking crop assessments. Official estimates of food shortages for 2004 will therefore not be available until the DPPC/UN appeal, which should be issued on 10 December.
We will then take these estimates into account, along with nutritional information and other indicators of the humanitarian crisis, when making our decisions about the provision of humanitarian assistance during 2004.