Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to support the provision of humanitarian aid in the Tigray region.

The UK Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia. More than 350,000 people are assessed to be in famine-like conditions - in total more than anywhere else in the world. A region-wide famine in Tigray is now likely if conflict intensifies and impediments to the delivery of humanitarian aid continue. The UK with other G7 leaders have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and unimpeded humanitarian access as set out in the G7 Summit Communique of 13 June. All G7 nations and the EU, along with a growing number of other nations have also joined the UK's call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

On 14 June, I announced the UK will allocate £16.7 million to the crisis in Tigray. This will support civil-military coordination to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition. This allocation is on top of the existing £27 million in 2020-21 already directed to the response, and an additional £4 million allocated to support nutrition and vaccinations in Tigray. This brings UK total funding to support response to the crisis to £47.7 million. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa has visited Tigray regularly to assess the situation and guide our response. The UK's Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs, Nick Dyer, visited Tigray in May. Our Ambassador in Addis Ababa also visited in the week of 14 June. During these visits we have heard many harrowing reports of atrocities committed by all parties to the conflict. As I stated in my recent tweet of 23 June, we urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, respect international humanitarian law and agree an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.