Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with this counterpart in Sudan on UN proposals to drawdown peacekeepers in (a) Darfur and (b) other parts of that country.

During a bilateral meeting with the Sudanese Foreign Minister on 12 December, the then Minister for Africa raised the reconfiguration of the United Nations – African Union Mission (UNAMID) and in particular sought an update on the opening of a temporary UNAMID base in Golo, Jebel Marra. We continue to monitor closely the situation in Darfur and urge the Government of Sudan to extend their full cooperation to UNAMID. Our priority is to ensure that any changes that are made to UNAMID or the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) are done sensibly, with appropriate review points and that the missions are still able the fulfil the core components of their mandates.