Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 7 March (HL5764), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.

The Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), the FCDO's main vehicle for clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), has a long-standing commitment to funding demining in South Sudan. Between 2018 and 2022, GMAP provided funding for UK NGO the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to clear 1,829,632 square metres of land in South Sudan. GMAP signed a new contract with MAG for Financial Year 22/23, which, as of end December 2022, had cleared an additional 168,563 square metres of land there. We are currently negotiating with MAG a new contract for South Sudan to run from April 2023.