Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much for coming, gentlemen.
Of course, I've been to Ethiopia three times. I know very well firsthand about the situation in Ethiopia that you have described and the concern the government has. I want to lay out the facts on what the Government of Canada has been doing and its concerns on this issue.
First and foremost, to my colleague over here, when talking about development aid, Canada does not directly support the Government of Ethiopia. Canadian aid goes through multilaterally and bilaterally. It goes through NGOs and international institutions to help with food security and things that are of critical importance to the people of Ethiopia. I have personally visited, and I know how important this program is to alleviate the famine that's taking place.
As you know, Prime Minister Meles is the chair of NEPAD. Ethiopia agreed to go in front of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. At that time, Canada proposed certain things for Ethiopia, half of which Ethiopia accepted. Ethiopia did not accept the other half. One that they accepted, which we hope works, is the national action plan on human rights. They agreed to the plan. They also said they would put appropriate mechanisms in place to address concerns that may arise from the 2010 elections. We'll wait to see what those will be.
Regretfully, the concern Canada has is on human rights and democracy in reference to the opposition's continued detention of Madam Birtukan Mideksa. The Government of Ethiopia did not accept our criticism that the democratic space in Ethiopia is shrinking. We remain concerned about these things in Ethiopia, including the continued detention of Madam Mideksa. Canada has called for her to be released. Along with our international partners, we've kept it a strong and continuing issue as to where and how improvements will take place.
We remain concerned about the elections. At this stage, along with other international partners, Canada is thinking about sending electoral observers for the 2010 election to see that it's a fair and a free election. We continue in our engagement to raise these concerns with the Government of Ethiopia. You've pointed it out and human rights commissions have pointed it out.
The question raised by Mr. Rae is this: Why do we continue an engagement with Ethiopia?
Ethiopia remains a central part of Africa. The AU is there, and a lot of international issues arise from there. Of most importance is the engagement regarding the massive famine that took place. I was there and I saw how CIDA worked to reduce the potential for famine in that country.
It does not take away the fact you have outlined. I want to thank you for coming here to highlight that. It doesn't take away the fact of the concern of the international community. We will continue to put pressure on the Government of Ethiopia. Through you coming in front of the committee, public pressure is being put on Ethiopia to continue to open up space for democratic development.
Recently, aside from my visit, the Minister of Foreign Affairs also met with Prime Minister Meles and the foreign minister when we were there for the African Union meeting.
That remains of concern to the Government of Canada, and I just want to put that on the record. We'll continue pushing on that.
I can't say anything else, and you can't tell me anything else that we do not know, but just to say, this is where we'll be heading now.