Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent Conference on Human Trafficking and Smuggling in the Horn of Africa held in Khartoum, what representations they have made to the government of Sudan concerning reports of complicity by Sudanese government security officials in the abduction of refugees from Eritrea to Sinai.

Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum raised the allegations of Sudanese government officials involvement in the abduction of Eritrean refugees with senior representatives from the Government of Sudan in early November. This was part of follow-up to the recent African Union (AU) Conference on Human Trafficking and Smuggling in the Horn of Africa, held in Khartoum, at which a new AU-EU regional process (the ‘Khartoum Process’) was proposed. Officials from the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office attended the Conference. The 'Khartoum Process' will help us to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the Government of Sudan on migration issues.