Sudan

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Wednesday 5th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Avebury]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they propose to take at the United Nations Security Council on the attacks by Sudanese armed forces on civilians in Blue Nile state.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we are greatly concerned at the ongoing violence in Blue Nile state since hostilities started on 2 September. We continue to work closely with our international partners to push for an immediate cessation of hostilities, including through the UN Security Council, where we will again underline our concerns tomorrow, 6 October.

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, President al-Bashir has launched a full-scale onslaught against the people in the area of Kurmuk using armour, artillery and helicopter gunships, and has refused UN offers of mediation, effectively tearing up the framework agreement on which the Security Council relied in its last resolution of 1997. Does my noble friend not agree that it is therefore necessary for the UN to adopt new measures to prevent this conflict escalating into a cross-border war between the peoples of north and south and to protect the people of the Blue Nile and South Kordofan from incipient genocide?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, there were several questions in there, but I think it would be premature to make such a strong statement on whether this is incipient genocide. We recognise that it has taken a very long time to negotiate an end to the conflict between South Sudan and Sudan and that it has left a number of unresolved conflicts in the border region in Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. We are extremely concerned that conflict has broken out in a violent form since Sudanese troops deposed the governor of Blue Nile province on 2 September. The noble Lord will be well aware that it is extremely difficult to arrange humanitarian access into the region or, indeed, for outsiders to discover exactly what is going on within the region, but we are doing our best.

[Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that there are three UN missions in Sudan and South Sudan, with over 38,000 military and police personnel? The mission of those forces is of course to take the UN’s responsibility to protect into consideration, yet we see aerial bombardment, mass graves, extrajudicial killings and a denial of access to humanitarian aid. Against that background, why, as we have just heard today, do we hear only expressions of concern from the United Nations, the African Union, the EU and the British Government? Will the UK at least call for a monitoring mission charged with securing a ceasefire and ensuring essential humanitarian access for the suffering people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, the noble Baroness knows better than I do just how large Sudan is and how complicated it is for others to influence what goes on there. South Sudan, a new state, is one of the least developed states in the world. I am told that it has about 150 kilometres of paved road in a country that is roughly the same size as Nigeria. Therefore, a tremendous amount of assistance needs to be provided for South Sudan. With regard to the UN, the noble Baroness will also be aware that there are severe problems in getting consensus within the Security Council because Russia is not entirely persuaded that the level of intervention she is proposing is something in which the international community should engage.

[Baroness Cox]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that I was in South Sudan last week, when I had the opportunity to meet some of the many thousands of civilians who have had to flee from the continuing offensives by al-Bashir’s regime in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Abyei? As has already been said, the Sudanese Government are denying access by aid organisations to the people whom they have displaced, and thousands of them have been forced to flee into South Sudan, which is already facing crises and an impending food shortage recognised by the UN. Can the Minister indicate what help Her Majesty’s Government might give to those displaced people, many of whom have already died of hunger?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I am well aware of the situation. A member of my family was working at a food station in South Sudan and saw children dying in front of her, so I am very well aware of what is going on. Apparently some 400,000 people have been displaced from South Kordofan and Blue Nile, some from Blue Nile into South Sudan and some into Ethiopia. It is very difficult to get NGOs into Blue Nile or to get food into Blue Nile. Various agencies—some governmental, some non-governmental and some international—are doing their best. The Government of Sudan have protested that there are cross-border efforts to provide food into the region. This is not an easy situation; we are doing all that we can.

[Lord Chidgey]

Given his earlier remarks, is the Minister aware that Edward Luck and Francis Deng, the UN advisers on genocide prevention, have highlighted the grave concerns about the air attacks made by the Sudanese air force on civilians? Is he also aware that the International Crisis Group reports that conflict in the Blue Nile region could well trigger a renewed civil war—a war in which everyone would be losers, but most particularly the Sudanese people? Given the failure of the international community to resolve these conflict issues in the CPA, does not the United Kingdom have a particular responsibility to take the initiative and mobilise international political intervention as a matter of extreme urgency?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, perhaps I should say that China has a particular responsibility in trying to improve relations between Sudan and South Sudan. Oil has been part of the cause of the long conflict—60 per cent of Sudanese oil is exported to China. We need the assistance of the Chinese in bringing pressure to bear on Khartoum to stop using its forces for what to some looks very much like ethnic conflict, but which is certainly an attempt to impose order on these border regions without consideration for local conflicts and to override local wishes and local governments.

[The Earl of Sandwich]

Does the Minister recall that back in February President al-Bashir and his Ministers were all in favour of the Arab spring, the awakening in north Africa and the necessity of speaking to their opposition parties and bringing them into government where necessary? What has happened to that aspiration and why cannot the Government here have more influence on the process of democracy? Hundreds of thousands of southerners are locked into the north; they have no representation; there is a political party, but he is not talking to them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

The statement that hundreds of thousands of southerners are locked into the north is part of the problem. The borders having been drawn, those who live north of the border are formally Sudanese and not South Sudanese. This is a very large and ethnically diverse country and it needs governing with a great deal more delicacy than a highly authoritarian centralised Government in Khartoum appear to wish for. One should certainly mention, among others who should be playing an active role, the Arab League. Qatar has been very helpful in attempting to provide a structure of negotiation in Darfur, unfortunately not involving all the rebel forces in Darfur. Britain is willing to work with all others—the Ethiopian Government, the Qatari Government, the Arab League, the Chinese as far as we can and the Russians, as far as we can again, to bring all pressures we can to stop this fighting.

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, since the UN Security Council is meeting tomorrow in any case to consider the situation in Abyei, could my noble friend ask for this problem to be placed on the agenda so that it can at least consider the evidence that is available, such as the 25,000 refugees who have fled across the border into Ethiopia, the Satellite Sentinel project evidence concerning the movement of large forces on the ground, and the evidence that my noble friend Lady Cox talked about of people fleeing from the Blue Nile into the south?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I in no way underestimate the threats to personal safety across this large region. Members of the APPG for Sudan will know that there have also been stories of fairly large-scale conflict across South Sudan. Cattle-raiding now takes place in South Sudan with AK-47s as part of what is happening. There are some complicated issues, and it is certainly the case that the comprehensive peace agreement might break down. Her Majesty’s Government are well aware of that and we are talking with other Governments within the UN and other international contexts to see what help we can provide.