Disclaimer: This is an English translation of a Swedish Parliament discussion on Ethiopia and is intended solely for information purposes. Translation was generated using Google Translate.
Documents from the debate
Thursday, January 23, 2025 The Chamber's agendas 2024/25:61
Minutes 2024/25:61 Thursday, January 23 Minutes 2024/25:61 Response to interpellation 2024/25:292 on Ethiopia
Interpellations
Interpellations are a type of question that is debated in the Chamber almost every week. The member submits the interpellation in writing to a minister in the government and receives a response both in writing and orally from the minister who comes to the Chamber. The debates are documented in the Chamber's minutes.
The Interpellations to Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Interpellation 2024/25:292 by Alexandra Völker (S)
In Ethiopia, drought, combined with serious conflicts, has led to more than 20 million Ethiopians being in urgent need of humanitarian aid. In the country, we have seen several conflicts in recent years that have had terrible consequences for civilians. In the Amhara region, the situation continues to be very unstable. We continue to receive recurring reports of attacks on civilians. There are reports of drone attacks that kill children, women and the elderly. The UN, among others, has expressed concern about reports of targeted killings of civilians.
In light of the above, I would like to ask the following questions to Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard:
What political initiatives does the Minister see as possible to take for peace and security for the civilian population in Ethiopia?
What initiatives does Sweden intend to take to promote the peace process in Ethiopia?
Anf. 117 Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker, Alexandra Völker has asked me what political initiatives I see as possible to take for peace and security for the civilian population in Ethiopia, and what initiatives Sweden intends to take to promote the peace process in Ethiopia.
To enable sustainable peace throughout Ethiopia, Sweden is working bilaterally, in cooperation with like-minded countries and through the EU and the UN for an inclusive national dialogue and a broad political solution, for human rights to be respected, for accountability to be demanded and for unhindered and safe humanitarian access.
Sweden, together with the EU and the UN, is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the Ethiopian government and relevant actors and is calling for political solutions to the conflicts in the country. Sweden's and the EU's assistance are important tools used to support the processes that Ethiopia has initiated to promote national dialogue, ensure transitional justice and implement disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants.
Ref. 118 Alexandra Völker (S)
Madam Speaker, with this interpellation I want to raise my eyes and direct them towards one of the countries that receives extremely little attention, despite the fact that it is an extremely serious situation with enormous suffering that prevails there.
According to UNICEF, Ethiopia is estimated to be one of the countries in the world that will have the largest proportion of children in its population by 2050. Ethiopia is also and will continue to be one of the countries most affected by climate change. The World Bank has stated that the drought that the country has suffered from in recent years, the most severe in 40 years, has hit parts of the population extremely hard. At the same time, floods have damaged both infrastructure and livelihoods in other parts of the country. Unfortunately, with the expected development ahead, things do not look any better, and this even risks erasing previous development if it is not addressed now.
Climate change is hitting the population particularly hard, given the conflicts that have characterized the country for a long time. These conflicts create a vicious circle and make it difficult for the country to develop as needed to meet future challenges. A long-term, stable and inclusive peace is a crucial issue for Ethiopia. When the war in Tigray ended, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. But at the same time, we could see the fact that the Amharas were not included in the peace negotiations and the peace agreement, and that this has created major challenges for the peace process.
The ongoing conflicts in the Amhara region are costing lives, affecting access to school and impacting humanitarian efforts. An estimated 4.1 million children are currently out of school in the Amhara region. Transport corridors are regularly compromised, making humanitarian aid more difficult. There have been several reports of drone attacks; a school and civilian homes have been destroyed, among other things.
The conflicts in the region make it difficult for organizations to operate in the area. For example, the World Food Programme has expressed the need for safe passage to continue reaching the most vulnerable families. It highlights the need for all parties to ensure the protection and security of civilians, including humanitarian actors and their assets and premises. The current situation threatens the World Food Programme’s ability to support almost half a million vulnerable people in the region. In September, only 49,000 of the planned 340,000 received emergency food assistance.
Ethiopia is a country with a great impact on the entire region. Contributing to an inclusive peace process should therefore be a priority for the government. The Folke Bernadotte Academy plays an important role based on the peace agreement that prevails, but we see that much more is needed.
Ethiopia is a country where Sweden has had a long-standing commitment. We helped build the Ethiopian Air Force, and we have had an over 60-year development commitment. Sweden therefore needs to take a more important and larger role in the future.
There are a large number of Swedes who worry every day about their loved ones in Ethiopia, not least in the Amhara region. Can we expect Sweden to play a greater role in the future?
Anf. 119 Jacob Risberg (MP)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Alexandra Völker, for asking the question, and thank you, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, for being here to discuss! Ethiopia is, as I said, a bit of a forgotten situation, at least in the Swedish media at the moment. This has been the case especially in recent years when we have seen the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the wars in Gaza and Sudan.
When the peace agreement in Tigray came in 2022, many of us were very happy. At the same time, it quickly fell into the media shadow. A lot of conflicts have returned during this time, including in Amhara and Oromia. According to Unicef, around 9 million children have been forced to drop out of school.
In January, Ethiopia and Somalia re-established full diplomatic relations, a year after relations were severed over Ethiopia’s signing of a cooperation agreement with Somaliland. As the conflicts continue, arbitrary detentions and forced evictions have increased over the past year. Thousands of civilians have been held in detention camps in Amhara, and in November, three prominent human rights organizations were banned, at a time when civil society and a free media are particularly important. We need to put pressure on Ethiopia.
It is also necessary that we continue to have strong Swedish assistance to achieve some kind of possibility of peace and stability. The Ethiopians not only have internal problems, but according to UNHCR, they also have 823,000 refugees from South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.
The aid to Ethiopia has, among other things, been used to promote women's participation in the peace process. This is an important track where Sweden has a somewhat unique role with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, as Alexandra Völker mentioned, precisely when it comes to the inclusion of women in the peace process. I must also mention the previous feminist foreign policy here.
We have had relations with Ethiopia since 1866, and in 1954 Ethiopia became Sweden's first aid country. We have a long history of trying to help Ethiopia and Ethiopians. We also have a large Ethiopian diaspora here in Sweden where, as mentioned, people are worried about their loved ones in Ethiopia.
I therefore urge the government to continue investing in Ethiopia and to continue investing in the unique areas where we contribute - with the Folke Bernadotte Academy -, to support civil society in Ethiopia now when it is most important and to also try to support a free press.
Anf. 120 Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! The Government is closely monitoring the situation in Ethiopia and takes very seriously the information that has been reported regarding widespread abuses and violations of human rights, international humanitarian law and refugee law. Sweden and the EU demand that independent investigations be carried out and that accountability be held.
Sweden supports the EU's conditions for concrete progress on increased accountability to fully normalize relations with Ethiopia. Robust transitional justice and accountability processes aimed at addressing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Ethiopia over recent decades are fundamental to ensuring sustainable peace throughout the country, enabling reconciliation and preventing future abuses and violations.
The Ethiopian government has initiated a process for transitional justice. Sweden, together with like-minded countries, is closely following this process and working to ensure that it takes place in accordance with international standards and in a credible and transparent manner.
An important part of Sweden's assistance to Ethiopia aims to increase respect for human rights. In addition, Sweden supports the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Addis Ababa, which, among other things, has an important role in ensuring monitoring of the human rights situation in Ethiopia. The support aims, among other things, to contribute to accountability and capacity development in the field of human rights, for example to strengthen the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission's ability to act against and monitor human rights violations and abuses.
Ref. 121 Alexandra Völker (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Foreign Affairs, for your answer, and thank you, Jacob Risberg from the Green Party, for participating in this debate! I would actually like to see more discussions on this very topic in the Swedish Parliament as well.
What is happening in Ethiopia is incredibly serious, and there are an incredible number of people affected. There are an incredible number of lives lost, and there are many who are truly suffering. It is also incredibly worrying for the future.
We need to calm the situation down. We need to have a peace process that truly includes the entire population and can bring Ethiopia into the future and also allows everyone to have their rights met. It's about living in peace, children being able to go to school and Ethiopia being able to have a chance to make the changes in climate work that will be required to make it possible to live there in the future.
It is very important that Sweden and the international community continue to act for this. Sweden, as has been mentioned here before, has in many ways a unique role to play precisely because of our very long involvement in Ethiopia. Now we need to take that role. We also need to take that chance. This is about the future we want.
We see in so many parts of the world that things are going completely in the wrong direction. We need to have a long-term peace that also stabilizes the region, because this could affect the entire region and have incredibly large consequences - even greater than those we see today.
I thank you for this debate so far, but I really hope that in his next speech the Foreign Minister can say a little more clearly what role Sweden can play in the future, in addition to what we are already doing today. Unfortunately, more is needed.
Anf. 122 Jacob Risberg (MP)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Foreign Affairs, for your answer! This is our fifth debate today, so I'm starting to feel a little dizzy.
What the Foreign Minister is saying sounds quite promising. We have been working with Ethiopia for a long time. I just want to ask a few questions about things that we really must not forget.
Can the Foreign Minister promise to continue to focus on Ethiopia as long as she is Foreign Minister and also to continue to promote Ethiopia in the EU circle? In much of the work, there must also be EU pressure. Sweden cannot act alone, but Sweden is a key player here given the long history we have in terms of relations with Ethiopia.
I also wonder if the Foreign Minister can promise to continue to invest in aid that goes specifically to civil society and women's participation in the peace and democratization process. Then I believe we can reach an agreement on this issue, and then I would be very happy and satisfied.
Anf. 123 Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! The conflicts in Ethiopia cannot be resolved by military means. The permanent ceasefire in the Tigray region between the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front has now been in force for just over two years. It is now crucial to find solutions to the ongoing conflicts in the Amhara and Oromia regions. Sweden, together with the EU and the UN, is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the Ethiopian government and relevant actors, where we call for dialogue and political solutions to the conflicts in the country.
Sweden's strategy for development cooperation with Ethiopia 2022-2026 contains a clear focus on peaceful and inclusive societies. The strategy therefore extends until 2026, which is the time of the next election. That is all I can say in advance. Then I hope that I will remain after the election.
Through our assistance, we are thus playing an important role in promoting sustainable peace in Ethiopia. Sweden supports and cooperates closely with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, the National Dialogue Commission and civil society actors. I would like to assure Jacob Risberg that gender equality and the rights of women and girls are something that permeates Sweden's work around the world.
Through our embassy in Addis Ababa, we participate in the steering group for the UNDP fund, which was established to support the national dialogue process. This gives us an important platform to monitor and influence the process in the right direction.
Sweden is also contributing SEK 52 million in aid during the period 2024-2026 to the ongoing process of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration, via UNDP's special fund for this purpose.
The questioner has mentioned the Folke Bernadotte Academy, which is important here and which contributes technical support to this process. This year, a special position has been appointed at the embassy in Addis Ababa, among other things to be able to follow and contribute to the process on site.
The path to sustainable peace in Ethiopia is likely to be long and complicated. It is therefore of utmost importance that the international community continues to engage. Sweden will continue to work actively with the EU, the UN and other partners to contribute to stability and achieve sustainable peace throughout the country.
(Applause)
Ref. 124 Alexandra Völker (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister of Foreign Affairs, for your answer!
The purpose of the interpellation debate was for us to focus on Ethiopia, as I said earlier. In a situation when it sometimes feels like the whole world is on fire, it is very important that we really are able to see what it is like everywhere, because this has incredibly big consequences. It is important that we focus on our immediate area, but we must also be able to see our entire planet and all the conflicts and all the suffering that is going on.
Ethiopia is an incredibly clear example of how peace processes that do not include the entire population are not functional and sustainable in the long term. It is about seeing the entire population. It is about including women. Just as Jacob Risberg has highlighted here, it is incredibly important that we also continue to support civil society, because it will be absolutely crucial going forward. The Foreign Minister's response is also gratifying.
I think we have every reason to return to this issue in the future, because it really gets far too little attention despite the seriousness of the situation and how this could affect the entire region and have incredibly far-reaching consequences. But I thank you for the debate today.
(Applause)
Anf. 125 Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Madam Speaker! Sweden has a comprehensive and long-standing engagement in Ethiopia. We intend to continue that - I want to be very clear about that. The Government will continue to follow the situation in Ethiopia closely. We are in close contact with the EU External Action Service, the EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa, EU Member States, the UN, civil society and other relevant actors.
Sweden and Ethiopia have a tradition of trade relations spanning over 130 years and a tradition of development cooperation spanning over 70 years. Today, there are many Swedes with Ethiopian roots, and several Swedish companies work in and with Ethiopia. Sweden is in active and ongoing dialogue with these actors about the situation in the country. Ethiopia's economic reforms offer an opportunity for increased prosperity for the population, but peace is a prerequisite for this. This is something that Sweden and many others consistently highlight.
I want to thank you for the debate, and I want to thank Alexandra Völker for shining a light on Ethiopia. It is needed, and it will continue to be needed. Many thanks!
The interpellation debate was hereby concluded.
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