Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Malloch-Brown (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2008.

Somalia: Troops

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will make representations to the Government of Ethiopia about the presence of its troops in Somalia.

Answer: The Government support the Djibouti agreement as the first opportunity for many years for Somalis to bring lasting stability to their country. We have stressed to the Ethiopian Government the importance of their troops behaving in accordance with international standards in all their operations. We continue to encourage Ethiopia to work with the Somali leaders and the UN special representative of the Secretary-General to find an appropriate mechanism for managing their troops in Somalia, and enabling their withdrawal, while preventing further deterioration of the security situation and preserving the fragile progress towards peace that has been made in Djibouti.

Secondary information