South Sudan

Lord Skelmersdale Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Skelmersdale)]

My Lords, I should inform the Grand Committee that if there is a Division in the House, the Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, for tabling today’s debate, and for her tireless work in this area. Others have paid tribute to that and we know how much we owe her. I also thank other noble Lords for their contributions and work in this area.

The people of South Sudan have been through a huge amount. I, once again, congratulate them on their momentous achievement of independence last July, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, referred and which she attended. My right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary was in Juba to welcome that achievement. The UK was proud to appoint the first foreign ambassador to South Sudan. We have committed around £90 million a year in aid to South Sudan for the next four years. The challenge for South Sudan is huge. The country has some of the worst poverty indicators in the world and a generation that has known only war now needs to build the institutions of a democratic society, which is an enormous challenge.

We know how vulnerable the region is, as the noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, has just indicated and why this is such a huge challenge. That is why the UK has made such a strong commitment to the people of South Sudan, focusing on five broad areas: accountable, capable and responsive government; security and access to justice; health and education; food security, jobs and wealth creation; and a response to the humanitarian crisis that many have mentioned. The total commitment at the moment is around £60 million to those five areas and I hope that that will reassure noble Lords. The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, in particular, asked about that.

I shall highlight some of the examples of what UK funds are doing. We are helping South Sudan to fight corruption and our funds are supporting efforts to clean up the government payroll, improve budget execution and strengthen the anti-corruption commission and audit chamber. I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, is pleased to hear that. We are working to improve healthcare and education, and we will support 240,000 children through primary school, help print and distribute 12 million textbooks, and enable 37,000 women to deliver their babies in the presence of a skilled birth attendant. We commend the church for what it has done to support the education of girls as well as boys. We fully recognise the importance of that. We are also helping to improve the customs service.

Our humanitarian programmes are addressing emergency needs for refugees, returnees and internally displaced people. Through its contribution to the peacekeeping budget, the UK is supporting the UN mission to South Sudan—UNMISS. The programmes that I have described are all intended to help South Sudan build the foundations for peace and development, and, like the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, we recognise that it is difficult to organise good governance when facing a humanitarian crisis. Like the right reverend Prelate, and other noble Lords, we recognise that long-term commitment is vital.

Noble Lords have noted with grave concern the failure of Sudan and South Sudan to negotiate deals on a number of areas of difference, and the noble Lord, Lord Jay, and others, have referred to the halt in oil production. The decision to halt oil production puts the Government of South Sudan in a precarious financial and economic position. The noble Baroness, Lady Kinnock, was right in her figures. It will be extremely hard for it to cover essential expenditures using non-oil revenues, without entering into damaging debt obligations. Of course, long term one would wish to see the diversification of the economy, but we are a long, long way from that.

We could see the severe depreciation of the South Sudanese pound, spiralling inflation and an increase in poverty. If police and army salaries are not paid, the security situation could get worse. The UK has to assess implications for its own aid programme—the noble Lord, Lord Jay, is right. We will not falter in our commitment to the South Sudanese people but we will not fill the financial gap. We have started to refocus our programmes. We must be confident that they will still deliver basic services for the most vulnerable, even if the Government cannot pay salaries. The building of South Sudan’s institutions, and therefore the Government’s ability to govern properly, will be slowed in this situation, which will be a tragically wasted opportunity.

I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, and others will be pleased to note that the Government will continue to play a leading role in meeting humanitarian needs. We realise that these will be exacerbated by the economic crisis. A poor harvest, to which noble Lords have referred, and internal conflicts have added to the deep underlying food insecurity. More refugees from South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and more returnees from Sudan, will make things worse. In December, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development approved a two-year package of support for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Common Humanitarian Fund in South Sudan. DfID recently announced a further package of support to the World Food Programme to help it meet the needs of the 315,000 people affected by the conflicts in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei. Various noble Lords, starting, of course, with the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, asked me about that, and I hope that that helps to address it.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development has raised the issue of returnees with the Sudanese authorities on both of his recent visits to Sudan, in November and February. We have urged both Governments to allow more time for these issues to be resolved beyond the 8 April deadline.

The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and others asked about the UK’s role in the UN to address some of these issues. The Foreign Secretary called for an investigation when the conflict began in South Kordofan. There have been reports of indiscriminate tactics that target civilians, to which noble Lords referred. These tactics are likely to be violations of international humanitarian law and we agree that they deserve credible and independent investigation. The Security Council expressed its concern about the situation in South Kordofan and Blue Nile for the first time this month, under UK chairmanship. We will continue to press for the Security Council to put its weight behind calls to end the conflict and ensure humanitarian access.

The noble Baroness, Lady Cox, the noble Lords, Lord Alton and Lord Chidgey, and others asked about diplomatic relations and targeted sanctions. President Bashir and Defence Minister Hussein are already subject, as noble Lords know, to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court, and a Sudan-wide EU arms embargo already exists. The contact we do maintain with the Government of Sudan is consistently used to press for a cessation of hostilities and for humanitarian access. We continue to believe that the most effective pressure on the Government of Sudan is a united international position between the UN, the AU and the Arab League. It is this that we are working to create and maintain. Although I note what other noble Lords have said, I also note the support of the noble Lord, Lord Jay, for diplomatic relations, and his argument that they can in fact be of use in this very difficult situation.

As I have mentioned, there is an EU arms embargo on the whole of Sudan and South Sudan, and a UN arms embargo on Darfur. In answer to questions from the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, we continue to work in the UN sanctions committee to press for full respect by all states of these embargoes.

The noble Lord, Lord Alton, and others asked about the ICC in relation to enforcing arrest warrants on Bashir and Haroun, and talked about extending those warrants. We strongly support the ICC and its investigation into Darfur. Should any ICC indictee travel to a country that is a signatory to the Rome statute, we would expect them to be arrested. We continue to make our expectations very clear to others on this, and call on the Government of Sudan to co-operate with the ICC.

The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, asked me a number of questions. The framework agreement, which was initialled by the two sides in Addis Ababa earlier this month, is to be signed by the two Presidents at their summit next week. We are pressing both Governments to stick to their commitments and implement the agreement in full. He also asked what was being done to assist the repatriation process. I have mentioned briefly that the UK has also contributed £2.36 million to assist the South Sudanese returning from Sudan. However, the onus is on the Government of South Sudan to provide documentation and other support to their citizens.

In terms of VSO, we encourage employers to facilitate those who wish to work through VSO, and the effect on pension rights will be a matter for employees and their employers. I was asked about Sudanese Ministers who hold British passports. We do not hold information on any such Ministers, and if there is any information that the noble Lord wishes to pass on we would be extremely interested to hear it.

We welcome what the church is doing in terms of mediation efforts. I have commented on how we are trying to build greater resilience in terms of food security. On Juba international airport, in principle we support the mission. We appreciate that this has not yet gone through scrutiny, but hope that it will be deployed in the next few months. The noble Lords, Lord Teverson and Lord Jay, mentioned China, which is obviously a critical player in this region. I note with interest that China apparently urged restraint in relations between the north and south and did not want to let the issue of humanitarian access escalate. That is an encouraging sign.

In terms of an Olympic Truce, the UK is strongly supportive of its implementation, if only it could be seen to have some effect in this area. I welcome the noble Lord’s optimism. With regard to South Sudan signing the Cotonou agreement, the EU is providing technical and financial assistance to meet the requirements of this, and has earmarked sufficient funding for South Sudan so that it will not be disadvantaged in that process.

Our goal is to see two secure and prosperous states, drawing on their mutual ties and strengths, with their differences behind them. With our troika partners and the international community, we continue to call on them to swiftly resolve their differences on oil, on citizenship and on borders. We have invested in the process mediated by Thabo Mbeki and the AU high-level implementation panel, and will continue to do so. Noble Lords are right about the need to involve all international partners.

It is right too that, with independence, South Sudan should forge new relationships with the international community, with regional bodies and, bilaterally, with its neighbours. However, full and lasting peace with the Republic of Sudan remains vital for the security and prosperity of South Sudan.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees]

My Lords, that completes the business before the Grand Committee this evening. The Committee therefore stands adjourned.

Committee adjourned at 7.32 pm.