Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure unhindered humanitarian access to assist civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, in the light of the recent destruction of crops and the disruption of agricultural activity.

In the joint US, UK and Norway statement of 23 December we renewed our call for all parties in the Two Areas, as well as Sudan’s other conflict zones, to immediately allow full and unfettered humanitarian access. It is vital that both the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North make this a priority issue in the next round of African Union High Implementation Panel mediated peace talks, a point that we make consistently to both sides.