Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has raised with the US administration an arms embargo on South Sudan since the outbreak of violence in that country in July 2016; and whether the Government has proposed draft Security Council Resolution language to encourage Council agreement.

An EU arms embargo has been in place since 2011. The UK has lobbied extensively in support of a UN arms embargo, both in New York and across the region. We have also voiced public support for the embargo. The US proposed a Security Council Resolution imposing an embargo in November this year and we continue to work with them to persuade our partners that this is an appropriate response to the current crisis and ultimately would protect civilians in any further outbreak of conflict. Russia has adamantly opposed the introduction of an arms embargo.