Sudan: Protection of Civilians Debate
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Mark Sewards
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Sudan: Protection of Civilians
Mark Sewards Excerpts(1 day, 17 hours ago)
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Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
For the final Back Bencher contribution, I call Mark Sewards.
Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)
Three days ago, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that
“Member States with influence must act urgently to prevent large-scale atrocities”
by the RSF and allied fighters. But atrocities have happened: 460 people have died in a maternity hospital. What has the UK done since that statement was made, in conjunction with the Quad and the African Union, to try to help those people trapped in El Fasher? While I know that the Minister cannot comment on future additional sanctions, will he at least consider additional sanctions or travel bans for RSF leaders and their regional backers?
Stephen Doughty
As my hon. Friend knows, we keep sanctions under regular review. He asked an important question about what we have been doing diplomatically. I have mentioned what we will do later today at the United Nations. I can also confirm that the Foreign Secretary has spoken with Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan in the UAE, and the National Security Adviser has spoken with the US special adviser on Africa, Massad Boulos. We are regularly in contact with other members of the Quad and speak to the African Union regularly, and indeed hosted an event with it at the United Nations. I can absolutely assure my hon. Friend that we will use every diplomatic lever and every contact we can to try to bring an end to this terrible conflict—not just in the light of the atrocities of the past few days, but in the light of all the loss of life and violence that we have seen over the past years.