Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had on the withdrawal of Kenyan forces from the UN Mission in South Sudan with his counterparts in all the member states participating in that Mission.

We are concerned that a number of Kenyan troops have already been withdrawn from the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The UK High Commissioner in Nairobi raised these concerns directly with the Kenyan Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs on 8 November and emphasised the important role Kenya has to play in resolving the crisis in South Sudan and in providing security to ordinary South Sudanese through their participation in the peacekeeping force. The UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan discussed this issue with regional partners on 10 November in Kampala and our Mission to the UN in New York has discussed this with other Security Council Members and troop contributing counties. We understand that UNMISS are now looking at contingency plans.