Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure access of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to conduct an investigation in Sudan.

We have expressed our concern over reports of the use of Chemical Weapons in Sudan, most recently at the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention held in The Hague from 24-28 November.  We note that the Sudanese authorities in Port Sudan have established a national investigative committee to investigate reported use of chemical weapons. We have urged them to investigate fully and promptly.