Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assistance the UK has provided to Intergovernmental Authority on Development monitoring and verification teams in South Sudan to ensure that they enjoy freedom of movement in that country.

The UK led efforts to secure a UN-mandated protection force to support the Intergovernmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) Monitoring and Verification Teams’ safe operation across South Sudan. In addition, we have committed £1.2 million of support to IGAD for the Monitoring and Verification Teams’ work, including assistance with logistical and transport capacity. As I did with the South Sudanese Foreign Minister, Dr Barnaba Benjamin, during the UN General Assembly in New York in September, we continue to stress to all sides that obstructing the work of the Monitoring and Verification Teams constitutes a violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.