Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Government of Sudan about their denial of a visa to Dame Rosalind Marsden, consultant to the United Nations and former British Ambassador to Sudan.

As publicly stated by our Ambassador in Khartoum on 23 May, we are disappointed that the Sudanese authorities have chosen not to renew the visa for Dame Rosalind Marsden. The decision is unfortunate especially given the request of the Sudanese authorities for the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), and its partners to devote more attention to support for peacebuilding. In her capacity as a senior consultant to the UN in Sudan since July 2021, Dame Marsden has been supporting a series of integrated peacebuilding assessments, intended to help UN Agencies and partners design and prioritise support.