Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sudanese counterpart on the ongoing civil war.

The UK continues to pursue all diplomatic avenues to end the violence in Sudan. FCDO officials regularly engage the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), as well as a wide range of civil society actors to further the UK's objectives in Sudan: securing a ceasefire and creating the conditions for the resumption of democratic, civilian-led government; ensuring humanitarian aid can be delivered to all those in need; and protecting civilians.

Within his first month in office, Lord Collins spoke with Ramtane Lamamra, the Secretary-General of the United Nations' Personal Envoy to Sudan and former Sudanese PM Abdalla Hamdok to stress the importance of a coordinated international response to resolve the conflict. On 24 July, the Foreign Secretary publicly called upon the warring parties to commit to the ceasefire talks hosted by the US, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Switzerland and condemned the fact that the SAF did not physically attend. I [Minister Dodds] have met with representatives of the Emergency Response Rooms at the forefront of the humanitarian response in Sudan. On my trip to the region, in South Sudan I spoke to refugees to better understand the challenges they face. Additionally in Addis Ababa, I met with representatives of Sudanese civil society and with the African Union to discuss how to further our objectives on Sudan.