The situation in Sudan is now catastrophic. No part of the country, or indeed any neighbouring country, has been unaffected.
The level of human suffering in Sudan is unconscionable. An estimated 150,000 people have been killed and nearly 15 million people have been displaced, with over 30.4 million people in need of humanitarian support. However, the warring parties are constraining aid deliveries into Sudan, regularly attacking and obstructing convoys seeking to help desperate civilians. I am clear that continued fighting will only cost further civilian lives and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.
Both sides must end the violence and de-escalate tensions immediately. I strongly support calls for an immediate ceasefire and an end to all hostilities in Sudan. Working with our international partners, the UK Government must leave no stone unturned in pressing the warring parties into a ceasefire. The Government must also do everything within its power to hold those responsible for these atrocities to account.
As penholder on Sudan at the UN Security Council, the UK Government must follow in the footsteps of my colleagues in the previous Government and amplify calls for the warring Sudanese parties to achieve a ceasefire, increase much-needed humanitarian assistance and access, and ensure the protection of civilians. As the Shadow Foreign Secretary has made clear, the world can and should be doing much more on Sudan. I will closely monitor the UK’s action to encourage other countries that could be doing more to leverage their own influence.
I want to see an end to this appalling conflict and to the suffering of the Sudanese people. The UK must continue to call for immediate action to end the violence.
