Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the halting of cross-border humanitarian operations on (a) the delivery of UK aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad and (b) those displaced within Sudan.

The UK condemns in the strongest terms the decision of the de facto authorities to stop humanitarian personnel and supplies from entering Sudan from Chad. The UK will do all we can to press for this further serious restriction on humanitarian access to be urgently lifted. On 27 February, the UK called the UN Security Council to convene for a closed consultation in response to this issue. We used this opportunity to condemn the decision and called for the re-instatement of permission for humanitarian supplies and workers to cross from Chad as well as for crossline access from Port Sudan into areas of Sudan under control of the Rapid Support Forces. We are currently urgently reviewing UKAid that may be affected to ensure our aid can still reach those in need. Given further increased risk of famine in Darfur as a result of this decision, we have also been urging the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to make a formal warning of the risk of famine in Sudan, through the issuance of a White Note under UNSC Resolution 2417.