David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the implications for his policies are of the position of the US State Department on Ethiopia’s use of anti-terror legislation to detain politicians and protestors, set out in its press release of 29 April 2016; and if he will make a statement.
James Duddridge
The UK Government is aware of both the European parliament’s Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia and the UN special rapporteurs’ report on Ethiopia’s alleged use of force against protestors in Oromia. We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.
We will continue to work with our partners, including the US, in urging the Ethiopian government to use restraint in their handling of the protests in Oromia.
