Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has plans to make representations to the UN Security Council on the deployment of peacekeeping forces to north-east Nigeria to protect vulnerable local communities in that country.

The UK has no plans to make representations to the UN Security Council on the deployment of peacekeeping forces to North-East Nigeria as we do not assess their deployment to be the most effective way to tackle the conflict and create long term stability. We continue to support the affected nation states of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon to tackle the terrorist threat in North-East Nigeria and the wider Lake Chad Basin. We work closely with the UN to support the nations states' response and to support local communities. This includes support to the UN Development Programme stabilisation facility in North-East Nigeria and support to the work of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel. On 5 June 2020, we led a statement in the Security Council which reiterated our commitment to West Africa and the Sahel, including Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin. On 16 June 2020, we led a statement at the Security Council condemning the recent terror attacks in North-East Nigeria.