Birtukan Mideksa

Lyn Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department has made representations to the government of Ethiopia on the detention of Birtukan Mideksa; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron
We have raised the detention of Birtukan Midekssa with the Ethiopian authorities on a number of occasions since her arrest on 29 December 2008. On 2 February 2009 my noble Friend the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, the right hon. the Lord Malloch-Brown did so with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, pointing out the potential damage to Ethiopia’s image of imprisoning an opposition leader politician.

We will continue to urge the Ethiopian government to resolve this issue quickly.