Sudan

Baroness Anelay of St Johns Excerpts

Friday 13th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)]

My Lords, the Minister has set out very clearly the challenges that are faced by every single person in Sudan. Indeed, the conflict has persisted for over a year and has escalated into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

I welcome the statement the Minister made just a moment ago that there will shortly be an announcement about the appointment of a UK special envoy to Sudan. The All-Party Group for Sudan and South Sudan, of which I am one of the vice-chairs, has long called for that, and I congratulate the Government on doing it.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of opening a short debate about the impact of the conflict on children in Sudan. Today, I will pick up on some of the themes that the Minister has rightly mentioned with regard to the challenges of securing peace in the short and long term, and the need for humanitarian support. As the Foreign Secretary said on 2 August:

“Aid must be allowed to reach those in need. Starvation must not be used as a method of warfare”.


As the UK is the penholder on Sudan at the UN in New York and Geneva, can the Minister give us a little more detail today about the steps being taken by the UK to prevent further casualties and secure a ceasefire? He has given us some information, but I think we can go further just to find out what future debates are going to be called for at the UNSC and in Geneva at the Human Rights Council.

In opening, the Minister welcomed the agreement reached by the ALPS Group talks in Switzerland last month that the Adre border crossing would be open to humanitarian aid convoys. I understand that the RSF sent a delegation but the Sudanese Government did not, despite invitations and indeed extensive international pressure. One of the official reasons given by the Sudanese Government was their strong opposition to the fact that the UAE was going to be included in the talks, because they believe the reports that the UAE is providing military support to the RSF. Can the Minister say whether the UK Government believe that the UAE’s support is indeed being given to the RSF?

The talks went ahead, with representation from the United States special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, who made it clear that the agreements reached went beyond the opening of the Adre border, although that is of course vital, and mentioned the fact that the RSF gave commitments to implement a code of conduct among its own fighters. I hope the Minister will forgive my cynicism about the likelihood of that actually happening, given the widespread reports of the atrocities caused by the RSF, to which the noble Lord referred; sometimes we find the RSF posting videos of the killings and the rapes online, celebrating what they have just been doing in graphic detail. Of course, there is an extremely difficult barrier to achieving any success in peace, short and long term, and that is the battle between the two people who want to control the country.

It was extremely disappointing that, in December last year, the United Nations Security Council was put in an impossible position by the Sudanese Government’s formal request to terminate the mandate of UNITAMS —the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan. In the light of that, can the Minister say today what steps the Government are taking as penholder on Sudan to support the development of options for the deployment of a civilian protection mission in Sudan, in co-ordination with the African Union, the UN and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development? I know there have been discussions about this possibility. Sudanese people desperately need a respite from the warfare between those two leaders and the battle-hardened people behind them. As we know, the conflict has created this manmade humanitarian disaster.

In yesterday’s debate in Grand Committee and today, the Minister rightly referred to the increase in ODA payments—an uplift in contributions—to try to ease some of the humanitarian crisis there. I am, however, a little bit confused, because there has been a bit of a tangle about some of the announcements made over the summer and today. I do not see any problem with that; I think the Government are simply trying to make a series of announcements and that it is a case of where the money is and what it is going to do. I would be grateful if the Minister might untangle that, and if he is not in a position to do that today, I would of course be happy with a letter to me, which could be put in the Library.

For example, the Government announced on 22 August that they will provide

“£86 million in vital life-saving support for vulnerable people in South Sudan, Sudan and Chad to … Save lives … Tackle food shortages … Prevent gender-based violence … Assist displaced communities to adapt to the impact of flooding”.

Those are all vital and all huge efforts. How much of that is actually going to Sudan, considering that other countries are mentioned in that? In addition, does that £86 million include within it the £2 million in support for the 150,000 Sudanese refugees who are in eastern Libya? That extra uplift was announced by Minister Dodds on 12 July; is it part of it or in addition to it; where are we going on that? How does all that fit in with the Minister’s statement yesterday in Grand Committee about what the uplift was? I will not quote from it today—other noble Lords can look at it—but it does not quite fit in with what he was saying today and earlier announcements made this summer.

Last week, I attended the online launch of the report Beyond the Numbers: Hunger and Conflict in Sudan, published by the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps and the Danish Refugee Council. The report is based on the testimonies from people in regions which include Darfur, Kordofan and Khartoum. It reveals the direct and indirect ways in which the conflict and widespread violations of international humanitarian law have led to suffering and starvation on a vast scale. Will Carter of the NRC made the point at the launch that not enough has been done by the international community to tap into local forms of resilience and the support from the private sector. Does the Minister agree with his view?

The report concludes with a series of significant recommendations, I shall just pick out two and ask the Minister whether the Government support them and will take action on them. First,

“the UN Security Council, the UN leadership and member states should engage in proactive diplomacy that highlights the connection between conflict and hunger, as per Resolution 2417 and the G7 Famine Prevention Compact”.

Secondly, providers of ODA should

“Support Farmers in Boosting Food Production … as the key to addressing urgent food needs and stabilising the food insecurity crisis”.


After all, the FCDO sets the strategic direction for much of the UK’s approach to agricultural development. What are the Government’s plans to take action on this when it is safe to do so?

The conflict in Sudan has received just a fraction of the media attention given to Gaza and Ukraine, yet it threatens to be deadlier than either conflict, and, as the noble Lord said, it risks undermining security in the whole region.