Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) continuing role of Thabo Mbeki in the South Sudan peace process and (b) effect of Thabo Mbeki's continuance in that role on prospects for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development talks on that peace process.

Former President Mbeki has chaired the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) since its inception in 2009. Mandated to support implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 in the wake of the Second Sudanese Civil War, the AUHIP supported the process that led to the independence of South Sudan and facilitated mediation efforts related to a number of Sudanese conflicts. The focus of the AUHIP will need to be considered in light of the removal of President Bashir by the Sudanese military on 11 April, but continued engagement by the African Union will be vital to supporting a transition to inclusive civilian rule in Sudan. While the AUHIP has been engaged constructively on some discreet areas of the broader regional conflict, the core South Sudan peace process has been led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, which delivered the Revitalised Agreement on the Conflict in South Sudan, signed on 12 September 2018. ​