Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the reliability of the process for overseeing and reporting arms and ammunition recovered by UN and African Union peacekeepers from armed groups in their mission areas in Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur; and what is their assessment of the measures in place to prevent such arms and ammunition being recirculated or returned to the groups from which they were taken, or otherwise used inappropriately.

We understand from the Department of Peacekeeping Operations that the UN missions in Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur all have processes in place for the recovery and destruction of arms, ammunition and land mines. Many of these activities are carried out by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Details of their progress in destroying such arms and ammunitions are included in regular UN mission reporting.