Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to help ensure (a) churches and (b) faith-based organisations are able to make an effective contribution to the peace process in South Sudan.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-led peace process, the High Level Revitalisation Forum (HLRF), includes civil society, political and religious groups currently excluded from South Sudan. The British Government has repeatedly underlined the need for a broad range of actors that represent the whole of South Sudanese society to be represented in the HLRF including civil society and faith-based organisations. The UK Special Representative continues to engage with a wide range of civil society groups to support their inclusion in the process. Through our diplomatic engagement, we will continue to make this point at the highest levels, both directly to IGAD and to all parties to the conflict.

The UK is supporting local peace-building initiatives in South Sudan, including by providing funding to the South Sudanese Council of Churches (SSCC). The SSCC, which comprises the seven main churches, have developed an Action Plan for Peace. This includes reconciliation and mediation efforts, and support for inclusive dialogue within and across communities. This UK funding – via the Conflict Stability and Security Fund - is also enabling the SSCC to lead mediation and reconciliation efforts between national level leaders who have the power to stop the violence. A number of UK Ministers have met with SSCC representatives to hear directly about the role the churches are playing to end the conflict.