The minister confirmed the World Food Programme's analysis and announced an additional £16.7 million aid towards Tigray from regular programmes elsewhere in Ethiopia. He stated that while NGO access has improved, it is still restricted due to different combatant controls over land in Tigray. Only about 74 of 264 hospitals are operational. The minister emphasised the need for Eritrean troops to leave and expressed concern regarding potential conflict spread with upcoming elections and existing regional instabilities.

The Minister thanked Mr Doughty for his long-standing interest in Ethiopia and acknowledged the desire for a democratic and prosperous Ethiopia. He stated that the Foreign Secretary retains dialogue with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and expressed willingness to clarify aid funding discrepancies, though he did not recognise the specific figures cited by Mr Doughty.

The Minister thanked Mr Tugendhat for his work on this issue and confirmed engagement with US partners, including meetings with Samantha Power. He also mentioned regular dialogue with the World Food Programme and highlighted the importance of political dialogue in resolving the crisis.

The Minister thanked Mr Law for his comments on HALO Trust's work and acknowledged the worsening humanitarian crisis with nearly 23 million people requiring assistance across Ethiopia, predominantly in Tigray. He highlighted efforts to improve access for humanitarian aid and emphasised the need for Eritrean forces to leave Tigray.

The Minister thanked Mr Mitchell for his long-standing interest and acknowledged the severe humanitarian situation but clarified that the $6 million figure cited was likely a snapshot of a single programme or short period of time, as the UK remains one of the largest aid donors to Ethiopia.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. He is absolutely right that this requires a political solution; without a political solution, all the other actions that take place will not work. That is not to say that we should not do other things, but we need to look at the backbone of the long-term political situation. This conflict has been going on too long—over eight months. During that period, we have called for “unfettered”—in the right hon. Gentleman’s words—humanitarian access. I would not describe the access we have now as unfettered; I would describe it as better than when we started early on in the conflict. We are working very closely with the UN in this regard. The right hon. Gentleman mentions the issues around arms embargoes, which I will consider carefully. As he will appreciate, though, arms come in over many borders—porous borders—and the situation is quite complex, with regional influence well beyond just the African continent. The African Union should be, will be and is part of the solution, and we will work with it. I have spoken a number of times to my opposite number, Commissioner Bankole, and I even spoke a few weeks ago with the President of Ethiopia and briefly with the head of the African Union, Moussa Faki, about the African Union.

I thank my hon. Friend for her service as my predecessor in this role. She will appreciate that the awarding of a Nobel peace prize is not for the United Kingdom to determine. At the moment, our relationship with Prime Minister Abiy is one of trying to have a strong dialogue. The Foreign Secretary has a very good, honest relationship with Prime Minister Abiy. At the moment, we are better having a continued and quiet dialogue and diplomacy, rather than leaping to some of the solutions that my hon. Friend is pointing to—legitimate solutions elsewhere that might be right at a different time, but I do not think they would be constructive at this juncture.

I would not want the House to get the wrong idea. Internationally we said, “Never again,” but actually things are improving across the African continent. There are still problems, but things are moving in the right direction and have been since 1984. In Ethiopia specifically, prior to this conflict, the Ethiopian Government were much more able to find their own solutions, alongside us, but aid remains part of the process. The hon. Lady pushes me to provide statistics that I do not have available, but they will be reported to the House in the normal course of business.

Sadly, a high level of sexual violence is being directed at children—children are being forced to commit sexual acts—and I think it is likely that people under the age of 18 are being conscripted. I will be interested to hear from non-governmental organisations with more evidence, and that should be brought before the African Union, the UN and local authorities to ensure that perpetrators are held to account, because clearly it is unacceptable.

Sadly, all those things are happening, it is true. To put some numbers on the sexual violence, it is over 1,000, and we fear that probably at least 26,000 people are likely to require support in the coming months. That is based on UN estimates. It is very difficult to give more precise figures on the types of atrocities and the perpetrators, given that we do not have full access. As I say, there is very strong evidence that Eritrean soldiers are dressing up in Ethiopian uniforms, and there are counter-accusations of similar behaviour from other combatants.

I thank my hon. Friend for his support. Of course we are still contributing £10 billion of aid. That is an enormous sum of money in absolute terms. It is also enormous relative to the actual size of our economy—it is much larger than other members of the G7 and our international partners, such as the Americans, for example. Not only that, but it is not a permanent change; we are going to get back to 0.7% when the economic conditions allow. I know that there are other hon. Members in the House who want that to happen very quickly, but we will keep that situation under review and try to get it back. It certainly does not stop us helping more in situations such as that in Ethiopia.

This is an incredibly important issue, which was given a higher profile when Lord Hague was Foreign Secretary. It was raised up the international agenda. In fact, I was alongside him in a number of UN meetings when I was Minister for Africa under David Cameron, raising these issues. It does appear that sexual violence is being used more, not less. Some of that might be our awareness and our willingness to talk about it, rather than brushing it under the carpet, but it is really important that we flag that it is one of the worst areas of behaviour. We need to get away from it. I note that the House is discussing the issue in more detail—perhaps I will be able to provide more detail—on Thursday this week.

My right hon. Friend makes very strong points... We are already working with our colleagues and international observers to understand... Without a political solution things will get worse.

I am concerned about all the people... I continue a dialogue—in fact this issue comes up in every single meeting I have across the continent. It is a blight on the continent; it is a problem for the continent and the world, not just for Ethiopia.

At various points in the conflict there has been denial that troops are there, denial that they were there and committing atrocities... Guy Warrington, a senior member of the Foreign Office, will soon be visiting the area and taking up the post of ambassador there to work on this issue.

I thank the hon. Lady for the way in which she has addressed this and a number of other issues on Ethiopia behind the scenes as well as in public... Anything we can do to call out sexual violence against women makes it harder for the perpetrator to commit the crime.

It is important that we look at the situation as an international community rather than acting on a bilateral basis... Given the deteriorating situation, we cannot just call for these things not to happen and then rest on our laurels.

This is not a Government investment, but a CDC investment... If there were any question of the money being used to support the conflict in Tigray, we would not be involved; if the hon. Gentleman has any evidence of that, he should come forward.

I cannot give my hon. Friend the detailed breakdown that he is looking for... The ambassador is travelling to the region this week. We will work with our UN partners to work out what specialist support, what physical kit and which individuals across the region are needed.

I am afraid that I cannot provide the right hon. Lady with that clarity... We are very aware of the problem and very aware of the need to take action.