Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 30 January (HL4652) concerning Sir Simon McDonald’s meetings with senior government figures in Khartoum, whether Sudan's refusal to grant humanitarian access to the Two Areas was discussed; and if so, what was the outcome of those discussions.

​Further to my written answer in HL4652, we continue to urge both sides to fully engage in the African Union-led peace process, including by reaching lasting agreements on a full cessation of hostilities and unrestricted humanitarian access. Most recently, during the visit of the UK Special Representative for Sudan and South Sudan to Khartoum, the Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on 24 January reconfirmed the government of Sudan's commitment to an international proposal for improving humanitarian access to the Two Areas of Blue Nile and South Kordofan. We continue to urge the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North to agree to these proposals to guarantee medical support directly to the areas under their control as a way to unblock a broader agreement on longer term access.