Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Up to 1.4 million people have been displaced by the insurgency in northern Uganda, which has lasted for nearly 20 years. The Irish aid programme has provided support through the World Food Programme and to both Irish and local NGOs in support of the food and shelter needs of the displaced. In addition, Ireland has been to the fore of donor efforts to drive progress in brokering a permanent ceasefire between the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, and to encourage the parties' engagement in a peace process. While two unilateral ceasefires declared by the Government have not resulted in a deal with the LRA on a permanent ceasefire, the donor supported efforts of an intermediary are continuing and there are grounds for guarded optimism.

In Ethiopia, Ireland has joined with a number of donor countries and the Government of Ethiopia in a safety nets programme promoting a new and more determined approach to the needs of those facing chronic and intermittent food shortages. The process involves the commitment of additional resources, a progressive focus on empowering communities, groups and families to tackle their own welfare needs and eventually a move away from a dependence on food aid to a more orthodox social welfare system.

This new approach to humanitarian needs in Ethiopia is motivated, first, by a broad consensus on the huge needs in the country and the related need to increase the donor provision; second, by the clear commitment of the Government of Ethiopia to taking up the challenges involved and, third, by the acceptance by all sides that a broad based approach, balancing welfare and development needs, is required to break the cyclical disposition of Ethiopia to food crises.

The engagement in humanitarian assistance in both Uganda and Ethiopia represents one element of a wider engagement by Development Co-operation Ireland in both countries. Ireland's aid programmes to the two countries endeavour to strike a balance between long-term development needs, aimed at helping countries to break out of poverty, and short-term assistance to those whose very existence is threatened by vulnerability resulting from even the most minor change in their circumstances.