sudanapg.org

Two of Britain’s greatest actors to Portcullis House to retell the verbatim testimonies of Darfuri men and women.

Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan, David Drew MP, wrote to the Secretary of State for International Development on January 7th. The letter raised concerns about the effectiveness of the current funding mechanisms to underpin and sustain the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The Minister who leads on this issue is Gillian Merron, read her response here.

We are writing as chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Refugees and the Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan in order to bring to your attention an issue which is of particular concern to us and which we hope your Committee could investigate.

I write as chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan in order to bring to your attention an issue which is of particular concern to us and which we hope your Committee could investigate. The delegation was impressed with UK support to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan but feel that an urgent review is required of the way that support is delivered. The stakes are high for Sudan, but the larger picture is also critical. The mechanisms for donor support of the CPA will soon be rolled out in a number of other countries (in all likelihood in Darfur too) despite severe shortcomings. In August, I traveled to Sudan with Susan Kramer and Mark Lancaster. We have all raised the following concerns in the House since our return.

As you prepare to join Heads of State and Government from across Europe and Africa in Lisbon next month, as African and European aid agencies, human rights groups and think tanks, we write to urge you to put Darfur at the top of your agenda.
We believe that the Summit presents a unique opportunity for African and European leaders to renew a strengthened-and united-stand on behalf of the people of Darfur.

Members who recently traveled to Sudan gave an overview of their findings, outlining an urgent need for the international community to refocus attention on the CPA, and make every effort to ensure the peace process in Darfur is as inclusive as possible.

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the detention of Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Reform and Renewal political party in Sudan.

Mr Mubarak’s wife and children are British citizens and residents of Sheen, which lies within my constituency of Richmond Park. I met with them on my recent visit to Sudan and Darfur as part of a Parliamentary delegation, and was shocked and disappointed to hear of the circumstances surrounding the unlawful detention of their father.

I write to you as Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan after meeting recently with Jane Alao, a psychosocial counsellor at the Amel Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Nyala, South Darfur.

I am writing as Chair of the UK Associate All Parliamentary Group for Sudan to urge you to lend your support to proposals to send an interim EU force to Chad to protect refugees from Darfur.

I am writing today to urge you to do everything possible to ensure that further support for AMIS is guaranteed until the AU-UN hybrid force is in place. This appeal is in line with both the G8 Summit statement on Sudan/Darfur, and with the actions of Her Majesty’s Government up to this point.

Firstly, Abdelshafi claimed that the Government of Sudan has been relocating large numbers of migrants from countries such as Mali, Northern Nigeria, Niger, and Mauritania onto land from which Darfurians have been displaced. His delegation argued that the majority of these migrants were encouraged by the Government of Sudan to come to Darfur, not to fight, but solely to settle. What reports have your Department received of systematic settlement of migrants within Darfur? And what investigations are underway to establish whether, and to what extent, this is indeed happening?

Despite some progress, the APG is concerned with the slow implementation of the CPA. In addition to the issue of lack of political will and capacity, part of the reason for this slow progress has been that the $4.5 billion dollars pledged by donors at the Oslo donor’s conference in April 2005 have not yet been realised into cash.

Thank you for your letter dated January 12th, 2006. I understand the interest your group has in the matter. As we all feel great loss of life which occurred during the incident of December 30, 2005, I wish to make clear a number of points which, I am sure, will help you better understand the situation and the context in which it happened:

Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. The Liberal Democrats, along with the rest of international community, are appalled by the suffering inflicted on the people of Darfur and at the reports of large-scale violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

“Never again”, pledges a world which this week commemorates a million Rwandans who died in the 1994 genocide (West all but ignores Rwanda anniversary, April 7). Yet in western Sudan a similar catastrophe is unfolding amid a deafening silence. “The only difference from Rwanda is the numbers,” says the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, Dr Mukesh Kapila, who also witnessed the Rwandan genocide.