Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in South Sudan on stopping armed forces destroying food reserves and restricting access to food for civilians in that country.

We continually make clear to both the government of South Sudan and the Opposition that disrupting the efforts of humanitarian agencies to provide food for civilians in desperate need of assistance is absolutely unacceptable. In particular, the government must fulfil its commitment to improve access for humanitarian personnel to those who need our support. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Africa Director raised this issue with the First Vice President on 23 November. We also raise humanitarian issues alongside other donors with representatives of the Government in the context of discussions about the peace process, organised by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Committee in Juba, most recently on 22 November.