TNAG-1326-FCO40-1738-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1984 — Page 186

20. Britain has taken the lead in the international

relief effort.

Already, over the past two years, we

had provided £13m of relief aid to Ethiopia. In the

last few days, we have sent 6,000 tons of food aid,

worth over £lm, to Ethiopia. We have allocated £5m

worth of extra assistance to Ethiopia and other

drought-stricken countries in Africa. Over and above

all that, the deployment of an RAF team and Hercules

aircraft to Ethiopia will greatly improve arrangements

for distributing aid within the country. And, in the

European Community, we played a major part in achieving

the agreement reached last week on the provision of

£20m of additional disaster relief for Ethiopia, of

which the British share will exceed £4.5m. We are

continuing to press for further assistance from the

Community.

21. I cannot speak of official aid to Ethiopia without

paying tribute to the magnificent and extraordinary

response by the British public to the appeal for help

by the voluntary agencies. I have been particularly

struck by the valiant efforts being made by those

working with those agencies on the ground in the

drought-stricken areas. I am sure I speak for the

whole House in saluting the marvellous voluntary

contribution to the whole relief effort. That the

agencies and the public have risen so nobly to the

challenge is something of which we can all be proud.

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