This information is contained in a series of important replies to question tabled in the House of Commons by Andrew Mitchell, MP.
Andrew Mitchell is not just a Conservative member of parliament, he was previously Minister in the Development Ministry, and his views and concerns are therefore taken seriously.
James Duddridge, the British government’s Africa Minister, gave the following information.
The British government has:
decided not to ask the Eritrean government to allow its ports to be used for aid deliveries, prefering to put pressure on Asmara to pull its troops out of Tigray,
confirms it is considering an air-bridge (along with the EU), but at this point assess that airdrops would not be a viable response to the current situation,
can estimate how many are close to starvation, but has no figure for how many have already died.
The questions and answers are reproduced below in full.
Tigray: Humanitarian Aid
Source: Hansard
Mr Andrew Mitchell
Conservative
Sutton Coldfield
Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Eritrean Government on using their ports for humanitarian supplies to be transported to Tigray in Ethiopia.
Answer
James Duddridge
Conservative
Rochford and Southend East
Commons
Answered on
20 July 2021
The UK Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and shares the concerns outlined in the report on 24 June by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ensuring assistance gets to those who need it most remains our priority in Tigray. We continue to explore all options with partners to expand humanitarian access by both air and land. We have not discussed access for humanitarian supplies with the Government of Eritrea given the destabilising role their forces continue to play in the conflict . We are focussed on securing the complete, immediate and verifiable withdrawal of all Eritrean troops from Tigray in order to help humanitarian relief efforts.
On 14 June I [Minister Duddridge] announced that the UK will allocate a further £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 nutritional support. 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. We continue to urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.
It is the natural right of the Ethiopian government to shoot down any illegal flight breaching its air space.