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Chamber and committees

Time to End the Ethiopian Civil War

  • Submitted by: Kenneth Gibson, Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party.
  • Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 2021
  • Motion reference: S6M-00981

That the Parliament acknowledges with sadness and alarm what it sees as the rising human cost of Ethiopia’s ongoing civil war, which, it understands, has already cost tens of thousands of lives since it began in November 2020, when the ruling party in the Tigray region, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), reportedly attacked federal military bases amidst escalating tensions with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed; further understands that, in the ten months since, Ethiopia's military, as well as its Eritrean allies, state police forces and local militias, have fought a bloody war against Tigrayan fighters, in which both sides have been accused of committing numerous atrocities, including systematic rape and mass civilian killings; believes that, according to the United Nations, there is an imminent threat to the lives of over 400,000 people in Tigray, already in famine-like conditions, and over 1.8 million people now in emergency levels of hunger; considers that this situation could slide into starvation without urgent and unimpeded food assistance; understands that the US International Development Agency (USAID) has accused the Ethiopian government of blocking aid trucks from entering the area, allegedly to starve the TPLF; further understands that, since this government-instigated blockade in June, Tigray has also been without basic services, including health care and telecommunications; expresses its sympathy to everyone affected by this conflict; acknowledges that, whilst many nations are understandably focused on Afghanistan, other areas of the world are in deep crisis, and calls on the international community to prioritise ending this brutal, tragic and ongoing conflict, and provide humanitarian assistance in Africa’s second most populous country.


Supported by: Clare Adamson, Siobhian Brown, Maggie Chapman, Bill Kidd, John Mason, Stuart McMillan, Emma Roddick, Paul Sweeney, Evelyn Tweed, Mercedes Villalba