PRESS RELEASE : Sudan is now in the grip of the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis: UK statement at the UN Security Council [April 2024]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 19 April 2024.

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Sudan.

Thank you Presidency, and once again I thank Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo and Director Wosornu for her briefing, and now I have the pleasure of thanking his Excellency Mr Ibn Chambas for his briefing and also for underling to us the value of AU-UNSC cooperation.

I would like to make three points that are grounded in the aspirations of the Sudanese people, the suffering they endure, and their hopes for a peaceful future.

First, this week marked five years since the Sudanese people demonstrated their aspirations for self-determination when their protests ended decades of dictatorship.

These hopes have been dashed by the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces.

Second, Sudan is now in the grip of the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis.  Deliberate obstruction and targeting of aid convoys is preventing life-saving supplies from reaching those most in need.

Civilians are being murdered, women and girls are being raped. Villages are being looted and burned to the ground.

Through Resolution 2724 this Council joined the UN Secretary-General, the African Union, and the League of Arab States to call on the warring parties to silence the guns during the Holy Month of Ramadan.  But they ignored this united international call for peace and inflicted further hardship on the Sudanese people.

The United Kingdom is also concerned by the growing tensions in El-Fasher.  The humanitarian consequences of full-scale conflict in and around the city would be catastrophic.

We call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces and also armed movements present in the city to take measures to de-escalate and we underline all parties’ obligations under international humanitarian law, including to protect civilians.

Third, it is not too late for Sudan to return from the brink.  For this to happen, we need first, the warring parties should return to negotiations including through the Jeddah process, to agree a durable ceasefire, and support a political process designed to restore civilian rule.

The Sudanese authorities need to uphold their commitments to facilitate crossline and cross-border humanitarian access, and immediately restore the vital Adre border route.

Third, external actors providing material support to either warring faction are prolonging the bloodshed. Those who have influence with the warring parties need to use this constructively, to bring them to the negotiating table.

President, as we announced at the Paris conference, the United Kingdom will double its humanitarian aid to almost $110 million in the next year.  But without sustained humanitarian access, it will not reach those most in need, nor help to avert famine.

This anniversary is an unacceptable milestone in an unjustifiable conflict.  We once again call on the warring parties to end the fighting now, to remove barriers to humanitarian delivery, and to engage in a political process.

I thank you.