Sudan

Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Excerpts

Friday 13th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

I too am grateful to the Minister for arranging this debate, in which we are hearing extraordinary expertise—with some exceptions. In particular, there are former Ministers for Africa. We have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, who has had an extraordinarily distinguished career, and I look forward to hearing the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham. The speech given by the noble Lord, Lord Alton, was truly remarkable.

It is noticeable in what we have heard so far that the history of Sudan has been very present to us. I echo the words we have heard more than once: that this is not simply a conflict between two major power groups seeking power in Sudan. It is based in the fragility of a society that has seen war more than it has seen peace since Sudan became independent—both in what is now South Sudan and in Sudan itself.

Sudan is already a human catastrophe on an extraordinary scale. It is using vast quantities of humanitarian aid and, as was said by the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, that leads only to the most temporary of solutions. In Sudan and elsewhere, crisis follows crisis, and countries like our own are caught between the equally atrocious options of sticking plasters or ignoring the crises. We often have warnings. My right reverend friend the Bishop of Leeds spoke about his visit in June to Khartoum and the extraordinary Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, with whom I spoke about a month before the war broke out. He said, “We sit in Khartoum with two armed groups looking at each other over the sights of their guns, and imminently, there is going to be trouble”. It was not a surprise.

In that context, I want to acknowledge and welcome the cross-party support, the very hard work of the FCDO, and the Minister’s clear speech. I start with one word of caution. The Minister rightly said that we must return to proper, democratic civilian rule, but as we have seen elsewhere, peace with an authoritarian Government is better than no peace at all. I hope that that is not so much of a red line that we will not work to establish the ceasefire and stability that will enable civilians to take over.

We cannot, and do not, abandon victims of war to famine. However, beyond the cause of humanitarian aid, there lie deeper questions for this debate. How can we anticipate such disasters, and what means are there to prevent them or cure them once they happen, whether in Sudan or elsewhere? I think especially of the DRC. How do we wage peace—be those to whom Jesus refers in the Beatitudes as blessed, and known as children of God?

The security and defence review, led by the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, presents an important and welcome opportunity to build a new pillar in the way we structure our defence and security operations. It was a pillar notably absent from the two integrated reviews, an issue I will come back to in a moment. A peacebuilding option, well developed and acting in areas of fragility, would extend our influence, protect our interests and, as has been said several times, guard against fresh waves of migration. I already hear anecdotally from within the diocese of Canterbury that I serve, and its south coast, that those meeting people landing in boats find that a very high proportion are coming from Sudan.

The problem in Sudan is historically driven. It goes right back to the 1950s and to the settlement made by the Government of that time, which Churchill described as Munich on the Nile. The horrors of a long civil war have led to the division of the country once and its incapacity to avoid further divisions as we go forward. Therefore, I want to suggest to the Minister that we need to invest longer term in broader reconciliation resources, specifically designed with partners to find peaceful solutions.

In other words, the strategic defence review should be full spectrum, preparing this nation not only to wage war but to wage peace as well. I fear that may not be the case, but even if it does not happen in the SDR, I hope very much that the Government, in particular the FCDO, will look very carefully at putting such mechanisms in place—not least, in our current times in this country, for reasons of economy. Stopping conflict before it happens via peaceful political solutions should be central to any root and branch redesign of security and defence.

Our influence in sub-Saharan Africa remains enormous. Our expertise is very considerable, both in civil society among the Churches, where, for example, the Anglican Communion has its largest percentage of members, and through government and the long experience we have of understanding issues there. The work of peacebuilding not only saves lives but saves vast amounts of taxpayers’ money for defence, for migration control and from humanitarian aid. It can be used expertly in contexts where our military would, rightly, never operate in force, yet where strategic foreign policy must work, such as in the context of securing critical minerals for the global transition to renewable energies from countries such as the DRC. Reducing the need for emergency funding, reducing destruction and reducing the dangers of vastly increased immigration are in our interests.

The noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, made a very powerful point when she spoke of seeing Wagner in Khartoum. We are engaged in supporting Ukraine and, as a global power, we must look globally in the offshoots of that conflict, which we are seeking to diminish. The recent creation of the FCDO’s negotiations and peace process support team is an attempt at this, but it is, frankly, underfunded, understaffed and held within a limited FCDO remit. Thus, as my last comment, I suggest that we should see the creation of a joint reconciliation unit, staffed by intelligence, conflict analysts and military, civilian and trade specialists, complemented by experienced international negotiators and underpinned by relations with NGOs and faith groups, for most of these conflicts are in areas of high levels of belief. It should report to the National Security Council, because it is a matter of security. Crises happen, and they will go on, but we can do far better to be more effective and secure our own interests in the long term.