Earl of Courtown
Main Page: Earl of Courtown (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)(1 day, 12 hours ago)
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The Earl of Courtown (Con)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for giving the House the opportunity to respond to the Government’s Statement in the other place on two of the most serious conflicts in the world today. Given that these are two distinct issues, I will address the situation in Gaza first and then move on to the conflict in Sudan.
The Government have been right to praise President Trump for his success in securing peace in Gaza. When the announcement that a peace deal had been reached was made, many were surprised. After two years of conflict, peace seemed a long way off. President Trump’s determination to secure peace was game-changing, and he deserves credit for this huge achievement.
We also welcome the UN Security Council’s decision to pass a US resolution in support of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza. As the US ambassador, Mike Waltz, said, this is
“another significant step towards a stable Gaza”.
It is a step in the right direction, but there is still much work to do. The UN resolution included a mandate for the International Stabilization Force. On the UK’s role with the International Stabilization Force, the Foreign Secretary said in the other place:
“We do not expect the UK to contribute troops”.—[Official Report, Commons, 18/11/25; col. 636.]
Can the Minister please explain why the Foreign Secretary was not able to rule that out completely? What are the circumstances in which we would provide troops to play a role in the force?
The Foreign Secretary also confirmed that the UK is providing military and civilian deployment into the Civil-Military Coordination Center, which is US-led. This is an important contribution, and it is right that we play a full role in securing the peace. Can the Minister confirm what steps her department is taking to ensure that all Britons involved in these efforts are provided with the right advice to keep them safe? What contingencies has the Foreign Office put in place to support Britons working in the region, should the ceasefire fail?
Finally, we have been concerned for many months by the imbalance in the Government’s approach to Israel and Gaza respectively. Hamas must fully disarm: that is essential to the peace. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that Hamas will have no role in running Palestine?
Ministers will be aware that Germany has lifted its partial arms embargo on Israel in light of the ceasefire. Can the Minister update the House on the UK’s decision to suspend certain arms export licences? Have the Government commissioned new legal advice in light of the ceasefire? If not, when will Ministers do so? Can the Minister confirm what discussions Ministers have had with our allies to ensure that we remain focused on the return of the final three deceased hostages, so their families may grieve properly? I know I speak for the whole House when I say: may their memory be a blessing.
I turn to Sudan. The appalling atrocities that are being perpetrated in that conflict must be brought to an end. We have consistently called for the United Kingdom to spearhead efforts to secure a ceasefire, and the United Kingdom should play a strong role in sanctioning all those who are responsible for those atrocities. I understand that officials have been instructed to bring forward potential sanctions relating to human rights violations and abuses in Sudan. Can the Minister confirm when these sanctions will be implemented? As she is only too aware, we must move really quickly on all these items relating to Sudan.
On aid, given the extent of the physical obstacles to aid and the impassable routes, we know that His Majesty’s Government are looking into aid delivered by air. Time, once again, is the essential factor here. When will aid start being delivered directly to those who need it via air routes?
There have been concerning reports about British-made military equipment being used by forces involved in the conflict. Can the Minister please confirm what steps her department has taken to investigate these reports? When will those investigations be concluded and what action are the Government considering in light of these concerning reports? I look forward to the Minister’s response.
Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
I agree with the noble Earl: we thank the Government for bringing the Statement to Parliament and for this opportunity to ask questions of the Minister. Having asked for a Statement at every single opportunity since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, I note that this is the first one on Sudan since July—but it is welcome.
With regard to Gaza, we now have Resolution 2803 and, while it is positive that it is supported by the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states, it is worth noting that Palestinian statehood is not recognised as a right within it but is conditional. There is also a lack of reference to the continuing occupation.
The task ahead will be to move at pace with implementation and to begin peacebuilding. Peace remains an ambition, but the cessation of violence is an essential component. A credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood is now the agreed focus, and this is welcome. The most recent statements of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the right-wing elements of his Government, however, could not have been more clear: they believe that there should never be a two-state solution. How are His Majesty’s Government responding to this contradictory situation?
The UK can, as I have called for previously, provide an essential and practical service in the way forward, built on our expertise and experience in re-establishing education services, health services, law and order, and trusted judicial processes. Unless Hamas is disarmed, there will continue to be gangsterism and the threat will remain for Israeli civilians. The victims will also be Palestinian civilians. On the West Bank, I note even the Israeli President signalling his view this week of settler violence as “shocking” and crossing a “red line”. But a red line having been crossed, we would expect to see action, not impunity. I hope that the Government will continue their work on adding pressure to try to reduce the violence in the West Bank, which is now at unprecedented levels.
I have said previously that the task of reducing violence in the West Bank, the commencement of state building, and the work to clear rubble are a monumental task. It is 20 times the scale of the destruction of the Blitz in London in a quarter of the geographical footprint. But even this barely comprehensible destruction does not get close to matching the continuing horror in Sudan, a country that the House knows I have visited very frequently and that I love. In my ongoing work to support civilians, their bravery and resistance are a constant inspiration to me, but the urgency and scale of the atrocities need a comparable urgent and direct set of actions now.
In El Fasher in North Darfur, the latest credible estimates are that the total death toll in Gaza has happened in three weeks. It was signalled but not prevented, even though protection of civilian tools had been authorised by the Security Council and were available. The Minister will recall that before the Summer Recess I asked specifically what preventive actions were being taken. In the House, we discussed and even questioned the value of resolutions if they cannot be implemented. But this is the worst ethnic and genocidal atrocity since the mid-1990s, when the world was stained with Rwanda and vowed, “Never again”. It is happening now and it is about to get worse imminently unless action is taken.
It is now apparent that, as a result of a failure to prevent and the continuation of the supply of equipment and munitions to the RSF, it feels emboldened to commit further atrocities in El Obeid and Tawila. I say, with respect to our Government and other Governments around the world, that condemnation without action is not acceptable. As United Nations Security Council penholder, we have a global responsibility to secure co-ordination and then implementation of the protection of civilians.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact report on Sudan made depressing reading—I know that the Minister will have studied it closely. From my experience, it is accurate. It is depressing to read that policy decisions have been made as a result of budget reductions, not through policy choices themselves. It is not only depressing but an outrage. The Foreign Secretary said in the House of Commons that there needed to be action, and I agree with her. But she did not say what, so can the Minister for Africa state what actions are now being proposed by the UK to prevent the atrocities that could be happening in weeks?
The Minister stated that funds were raised in the London conference last year, and the new additional funds from the UK are welcome, but that London conference raised only a third of what was needed for the humanitarian emergency last year. We know the consequences of the lack of a Sudan-wide UN arms embargo, no designated safe places for education and health, no kinetic action to prevent intelligence gathering and drone attacks on civilians, and no no-fly zones—all these are emboldening the RSF, and the SAF and its NCP backers are preventing humanitarian aid from going into the areas.
I hope the UK can now steer a regional co-ordination mechanism for humanitarian assistance. I hope the Minister can appeal to the Prime Minister so that he makes it a priority for this country on the global stage to ensure that there is a cessation of violence, that there is a prevention of atrocities, and that we can signal the work on the future of Sudan being for the civilians of Sudan, not the warring parties, which currently feel as if they have impunity.