Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the impartiality of any protection force deployed to South Sudan by the countries of the Intergovernmental Authorityon Development.

We welcome the decision by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to deploy troops to provide protection to the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism (MVM) in South Sudan. The protection force will be integrated into the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) structure, and under UN command, to ensure impartiality and alignment with UN Security Council Resolution 2155.