Gaza Crisis

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, in July, the new Government resumed funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which had been suspended by the last Conservative Government. In August, the UN then admitted that some of its staff may have been involved in the 7 October Hamas massacre and fired nine of them. What is the Minister doing to ensure that UNRWA properly vets its staff? Does he agree that it is completely unacceptable that UK taxpayers’ cash may have been used to finance those Hamas atrocities?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I think the noble Lord knows that this Government, and the last Government, recognise the essential role of UNRWA in distributing aid into Gaza. However, that does not take away the concern about those who may have participated in the horrific events of 7 October. We have supported the Colonna review and will be ensuring that UNRWA and the United Nations take actions to ensure that that report is fully implemented. We are working with the Secretary-General and have resumed funding based on those assurances. It is appalling that nine members of UNRWA were involved in those atrocities, and we welcome UNRWA’s decisive action and support its decision to terminate the contracts of those individuals. This Government are absolutely committed, as were the previous Government, to ensuring that we can get aid into Gaza where it is most needed, and UNRWA is the vehicle to do that.

Sudan

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Friday 13th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, it is a particular pleasure to follow on from an excellent and powerful contribution from the noble Lord. This has been an extremely sobering debate, with some excellent contributions. I was struck by how many noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, have visited the area—I made a note of the noble Lords, Lord Alton, Lord Ahmad and Lord Bellingham, the noble Baronesses, Lady Anelay and Lady Ashton, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leeds, and, I am sure, a number of others. I feel at a bit of a disadvantage speaking in this debate and not having visited Sudan, although I have been to many other African countries. Many noble Lords have witnessed the tragedy of that country, and their insight has been very moving and has greatly aided our insight during this debate.

As many noble Lords have said, this dreadful war has now been going on for almost two years—there have been other tragic things in Sudan in the past, but this particular war has been going on for two years. The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, has already seen the deaths of up to 150,000 people, and 10.2 million people have been displaced, as many noble Lords have said, both internally and to other unstable areas in neighbouring Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan, where they are adding to the already overcrowded existing refugee camps.

Fighting has been widespread throughout the country—let us remember that this is a nation three times the size of France. Much of Khartoum has apparently been destroyed and many other cities have been severely damaged. In a country still grappling with the legacy of events in Darfur from two decades ago, this really is a tragedy. I thought that it was summarised well by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who said that both sides in the conflict are guilty of war crimes. The RSF is accused of atrocities against civilians, including killing, rape and pillage, while the SAF aircraft have reportedly bombed civilian targets and critical infrastructure. Even before the current conflict, Sudan was home to more than 1 million refugees, the second highest refugee population even in Africa. Now, alongside the impact of climate change on food security, the World Food Programme estimates that the civil war has left half of the country, some 25 million people, in need of humanitarian assistance, creating what has been described as the world’s largest hunger crisis.

Despite the growing urgency of the humanitarian situation, sadly, hopes for an imminent resolution to the war are reportedly slim, particularly given the fact that the SAF did not even bother to send any representatives to the recent ceasefire talks in Switzerland. Instead, there now seems to be a serious likelihood that the conflict will get worse, pushing millions more into famine and potentially seeing the violence expanding to neighbouring countries such as Chad and South Sudan, which would barely be able to cope with such things. Of course, as has been said by many noble Lords, this could result in a further large-scale exodus of refugees from the region.

There are numerous challenges facing the international community in trying to alleviate this situation—mainly the lack of safe, consistent and unimpeded humanitarian access, which has to be one of the biggest problems that organisations such as the World Food Programme face in scaling up their assistance. Until recently, the Tine crossing into North Darfur was the only authorised cross-border route from Chad. The World Food Programme has said that the arrival of the rainy season has massively slowed the transport of vital aid via that crossing. Convoys have been slowed by muddy, near-impassable roads and forced to reroute where bridges have been damaged or destroyed. On 15 August, the Transitional Sovereignty Council announced the reopening of the Adre border crossing from Chad for three months. We should welcome that; it will help in the supply of humanitarian aid. This crossing is the most effective and represents the shortest route to deliver humanitarian assistance into Sudan, particularly the benighted Darfur region, at the scale and speed required.

I am pleased to say that, since that crossing was reopened for humanitarian convoys, WFP trucks carrying more than 1,200 metric tonnes and enough food supplies for nearly 105,000 people—still only a small proportion of those who need help—have crossed into the Darfur region. The World Food Programme is working to get food for half a million people through the Adre crossing and into the hands of people across Darfur as soon as possible. Can the Minister update us on what assistance the UK is able to provide to that excellent work?

Sadly, both warring parties are hampering the delivery of aid. The SAF and the Government of Sudan have imposed lengthy clearance processes and bureaucratic hurdles, while there are many challenges in RSF-controlled areas, with security threats to aid convoys and attempts to elicit bribes or fees for granting access—appalling conduct. We can be proud that the UK, particularly under the previous Government—and, I am sure, under the current Government and the leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Collins, who is doing a superb job—is one of several countries working to resolve the current crisis. We have issued several joint statements alongside the US and Norway and, as many noble Lords have pointed out, we are the penholder on Sudan in the Security Council. I would be grateful if the Minister could update us on the current situation and what work is going on; I am particularly interested in hearing his response to the questions posed by my noble friend Lady Anelay on financial assistance.

I am sure that the current Government will continue to be a vocal advocate for accountability for perpetrators of atrocity crimes. As many noble Lords have pointed out, there have been reports of widespread sexual violence and child recruitment. Due to some excellent open-source reporting, we have some detail of who on the ground is responsible for these crimes. We continue to press both sides to honour fully the commitments made in the Jeddah declaration, including allowing unhindered and safe humanitarian access and complying with obligations under international law.

The UK has already imposed two rounds of sanctions on the SAF and three on those operating under the authority of the RSF. In April, we announced three further rounds of sanctions. I would be interested to hear from the Minister how the further work to extend those sanctions regimes is going. The UK is in good hands under the leadership of the noble Lord, Lord Collins; I know that he will do a superb job following on from my colleague and noble friend Lord Ahmad. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s responses to some of the excellent points made in the debate today.