Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Special Report 2021 FAO Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to the Sudan, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on 21 March 2022, what steps she is taking to prevent acute hunger in Sudan over the next six months.

We are concerned at the food insecurity situation in Sudan as highlighted by the 21 March Food and Agriculture Organization report. The World Food Programme (WFP) has subsequently estimated that up to 20 million people will face "emergency" or "crisis" levels of acute food insecurity in 2022. To help address this in 2021 we contributed £27 million to humanitarian assistance, via partners including the WFP, the UN-led Sudan Humanitarian Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations. In 2021 our funding provided approximately 1.2 million people with lifesaving assistance (such as food, cash and voucher support, safe drinking water, shelter and sanitation), including providing over 500,000 vulnerable children with free school meals.

The overwhelming driver of current food insecurity in Sudan is the political and economic crisis. Since the military coup in October 2021, Ministers, British Embassy staff in Khartoum and senior FCDO officials have encouraged all Sudanese political actors to engage in the next phase of talks facilitated by the UN and African Union to resolve the crisis. This includes maintaining pressure on the military to engage in dialogue and deliver economic security; a message delivered on 3 March in meetings with Sudan's military leadership in Khartoum by senior FCDO officials.