Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Ethiopian air force strikes on the Mai Aini refugee camp have killed three Eritrean refugees and injured four.

We are deeply concerned by recent airstrikes in northern Ethiopia. The Minister for Africa raised her concerns about this with Minister Redwan in Addis Ababa 20 January.

We call for a ceasefire by all sides, including the Ethiopian Government, to end hostilities. We support the call by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of all civilians, including refugees. The indiscriminate targeting of civilians, no matter the weapon used, is against international law, and is entirely unacceptable.

The Foreign Secretary, as Chair of the G7 Foreign and Development Minister's meeting, made a statement on 12 December 2021 that called for an additional independent investigation on human rights violations as recommended by the Joint Investigation report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. The UK supported the Human Rights Council resolution of 17 December that mandates an independent and transparent mechanism for investigation and redress of human rights violations. The UK will continue to support the UN in the need for independent, transparent and impartial investigations and will work to ensure that those responsible for these atrocities are held to account.