South Sudan

Lord Curry of Kirkharle Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord Curry of Kirkharle]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords very much for the opportunity to participate in this debate. Like others, I very much appreciate the fact that the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, has tabled this subject for discussion this afternoon. I declare an interest as trustee of a charity called AID, Anglican International Development, working with the Episcopal Church of Sudan. As has been referred to by the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness, Lady Cox, Archbishop Daniel Deng is a significant influence in South Sudan, and works very closely with the Government and government Ministers. I believe we ought to recognise that, and enable him to help in bringing about a peaceful solution if that is at all possible.

The position with regard to oil has been discussed in some detail this afternoon. However, the terms under which this agreement has broken down make a resolution unlikely in the short term because of the significant demands the north was making for the transportation of that oil: over $30 per barrel, which is excessive. We have a very difficult situation, which is making the dependence on aid even greater in South Sudan. This leads us to the comment made by the noble Lord, Lord Bates: we need to find ways to help South Sudan to diversify from oil and its dependence on aid. It is to that extent that we in AID are very keen to work with the church and the Government of South Sudan. The church is the only infrastructure in South Sudan reaching the population and local communities, whether it is to assist them in the development of better health standards through medical assistance, or through the development of food programmes, which is clearly a high priority for us.

My personal responsibility is to try to establish institutional links between universities, colleges and training centres here and in Sudan. This will enable provision of help through training and knowledge transfer to assist people to begin to feed themselves. As the noble Lord, Lord Bates, has mentioned, when I was out there and met the Minister, he said that food security was the highest priority of the Government, but that currently they are only 5 per cent self-sufficient in food. South Sudan has some of the most fertile land in Africa. The Nile flows through the country and in many areas they can crop twice a year. They could be part of the bread basket of Africa. However, such is the disruption to infrastructure from the civil war that they are failing seriously to satisfy their own food needs, and will do so for some time to come.

It is critical that our Government do what they can to help; not just through the emergency and short-term provision of aid, but in the long term by developing links with the Government of South Sudan. This is an emerging democracy that is going to need significant help. We have a specific issue at the moment regarding a microfinance project which we are operating in Juba. We have failed, as yet, to receive a licence to operate the project. We have been given a letter and permission to trade, but the Bank of South Sudan does not have a licensing system in place. This is a very small example of the need to assist the Government in establishing institutions so that democracy can proceed. The UK Government can, and ought to, do a lot to help this emerging democracy.