Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

15. What recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the humanitarian situation in Sudan.

[The Deputy Foreign Secretary (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

This year, the UK will nearly double its support for people in Sudan, with £89 million in aid. That is nearly double the amount we set out at the beginning of last year, but in the past quarter, we have augmented that figure as well.

[Alison Thewliss]

I thank the Minister for that answer. The Sudanese city of El Fasher is the western region of Darfur’s humanitarian hub, but the US ambassador to the UN has said that El Fasher

“is on the precipice of a large-scale massacre”.

What is the Minister doing to avert this impending crisis?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Member raises the position of El Fasher, and I specifically spoke about this with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, yesterday. She is absolutely right, and we are doing everything we can. As she will know, Darfur is a particular focus of the British Government—and indeed of Parliament, through the all-party group on Sudan and South Sudan—and, through a number of mechanisms, we are doing everything we can to try to ensure that the people in Darfur are protected.